General Press Comments

[Andy Edwards]

As Home Secretary I absolutely support police and so many others who are willing to stand up to help promote and protect fairness in this country. It's an important job and it's a tough job. And this Government will continue to support efforts by police as well. But support does not mean protection from valid criticism. The Lawrence report pointed out many recommendations to make policing better and more effective- including the Victims' Bill of Rights that is seeing unqualified, cross-party support. Or I guess was. This Government support police, no question. But we can also all do our jobs better; that was the crux of the Lawrence report. Any suggestion that we are trying to attack those that work to keep us safe is just poor spin.

Changes have been made and are in the process of being made after the release of the Lawrence report. It was accepted, and our valiant police forces throughout the country are working on doing better and engaging with the communities they protect; of the 70 recommendations, work has already started on almost all of those recommendations. I don't see why that's a bad thing- or why now we need to malign a report which again has resulted in legislation the Conservatives are voting for now.

[Elizabeth Tanner]

Conservative attempts to paint me as anti-Police are doomed to fail, just like everything else the Conservatives have attempted to do since William Croft took on the leadership. What Mr Croft and the shadow frontbench seem to ignore is that the police themselves have accepted that there were failings in police conduct, and have complied with and accepted various reports that have highlighted those failings. What my focus is, and the focus of the Home Secretary and the rest of the Government, is to enable the police to rebuild that trust with communities. With police and communities once again working together, hand in hand, we can truly tackle the causes of crime we saw spiral out of control under the Conservatives.

[Alex Cardigan]

The last time the Conservatives were in government, there were race riots on our streets. Just as the ones in 1981 were, those last year are just as shameful an indictment on race relations in this country. My hypothesis, comparing Brixton in 1981 and 2000 alike, is simple: under Labour, the battle for equal rights, and resentment in ethnic communities, is as relevant as ever, whatever assurances we receive from the government. Lip service is not enough, and the Lawrence Report should be implemented in full, not half-heartedly.

Earlier today at PMQs, we heard a Conservative MP bemoan Britain being "swamped" by migrants. This is dangerous rhetoric, and that of an ugly politics. It, more than that, is also palpably false. People come here to make a life for themselves and work hard in doing so. It is an act of real courage to move away from your homeland to make a life for your family, and one I have nothing but admiration for. I will be unequivocal in that viewpoint.

This latest language surrounding the Lawrence Report, a report which is a matter of public scrutiny and improving our police force, is yet another example of a really quite ugly brand of politics from the Conservatives. We need action not words from Labour in contrast.

[Clarice Ashbridge]

Conservatives believe that everyone, no matter their race or ethnic origin, should be treated as equal under the law. That is why we have worked constructively with Labour in Parliament to pass the Victims Bill of Rights, a piece of legislation which I was proud to support following the excellent amendments put forward by Evelyn Redgrave and accepted by the Home Secretary. Making the way the law works better for all victims of crime regardless of their ethnic persuasion is one thing I am sure we can all agree.

But I do not accept the allegation that the Metropolitan Police, or any police force in this nation, are institutionally racist. To say so is a smear on all police officers, and it used as ammunition by the likes of Jack Docherty and Tommy Wright, the Home Secretary's terrorist sympathising friends, to try and rewrite history and attack the men and women who have often given their lives in order to fight crime and keep our homes, our streets and our communities safe. The Prime Minister can obfuscate all she likes, but it's less what she says and more what she doesn't say that matters: she is too cowardly to mount a proper defence of our police, and would rather meekly agree that they are all racist. It is a shameful abdication of her responsibility as Prime Minister.

[Alex Cardigan]

Lady Ashbridge's inflammatory comments in the press earlier today form yet more dangerous rhetoric from the Conservatives. She said she believed that all should be treated equally under the law, yet has also rejected the enormously well-researched public inquiry that gives us a plan to do just that. In doing so, she has rejected the views of the Met itself.

The Macpherson Report was commissioned after the murder of a 18-year-old British citizen of Caribbean descent by a gang of white youths. He was held down and stabbed to death in public. That report, a public inquiry, there to improve both the way our police force operates and the lives of ethnic minorities in this country, said that the police were institutionally racist. The Metropolitan Police admitted themselves that the findings of the report on institutional racism were accurate. That for me is book open and closed, and should move the debate on to how we solve the problem that has been identified and admitted.

This bizarre move rightwards from the Conservatives is totally unjustified. The Met does not need to be coddled or defended against evidence that shows they can do better - our force wants to see improvements, wants to follow the evidence, and wants to be as effective as possible, not to be hidden away from the truth.

[Sir Nicholas Mountstuart]

We have heard a lot over the last couple of days over the Conservative Party's rightwards lurch, in particular the Chancellor and the Home Secretary have thrown their tuppence-worth in. For all the finger-jabbing and the faux-hysterics; the face of the matter is this; Labour want to demonise everyone who is interested in engaging with a proper discussion on immigration, something which a lot of people have legitimate concerns about, but which New Labour wants to stifle at every opportunity, with cheap buzzwords and mock offence. Let me spell it out - the Conservative Party isn't interested in making up policy on the back of a fag packet, we leave that to the focus groups that the New Labour is so fond of. The Chancellor and the Home Secretary's lack of rudimentary knowledge about the workings of Parliament unfortunately don't surprise me. After all, we know the contempt that the frontbench and their army of spinners hold for scrutiny in the House of Commons - this EDM calls on the Leader of the House to make time for a debate on English language requirements for inward economic migrants, nothing more, and nothing less.

[Sir Jack Anderson]

If this EDM is so innocent, perhaps the Shadow Chancellor can illuminate why no one else on the Conservative frontbench is willing to sign it?

[Sir Nicholas Mountstuart]

I am pleased to have introduced Early Day Motion 3 which calls upon the Government to give the Bank of England enhanced independence by removing the power of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to arbitrarily appoint the four external members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) without any parliamentary oversight. I am calling for a new model whereby within thirty days of a nomination, the Treasury Select Committee should be able to report to the House of Commons as to whether they would approve the competence and independence of the members of the Monetary Policy Committee, and if not - would be compelled to give reasons for considering that members of the Monetary Policy Committee do not meet the criteria, and to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reconsider their nomination. Following reconsideration, if the Chancellor was determined to press ahead with an individual appointment, he would be required to set out his reasons for doing so to Parliament.

As Shadow Chancellor, I support the principle of enhanced independence of the Bank of England from political interference, and call upon the Government to complete the job that they deliberately left half finished in 1997. The Chancellor's predecessor and political mentor was only interested in a 'Bank of Brown', it is the Conservatives who will put an end to New Labour's economic control freakery and put a stop to the Bank of Jack.

[Will Frost]

Three times the Prime Minister was given the opportunity to confirm to the country that she does not believe the police to be institutionally racist, and each time she refused to do so. The issue presented here is not simply about the Macpherson Report, but really the Government's total state of paralysis when it comes to defending the police in fear of angering their most radical MPs and supporters. And Labour is not the only party that has failed to rise to the occasion on this matter. For Mr. Cardigan to suggest that the Shadow Foreign Secretary is being "inflammatory," for her remarks confirming that one can both support equality and back the police is political correctness gone mad. The political left of this country are so obsessed with saying the "right," thing, that despite all of their endless lecturing they're not really saying anything of substance at all.

Under this Prime Minister, the New Labour political machine has adopted a deeply worrying new communications strategy. Rather than attempting to present a genuine counter argument to the proposals put forth by their political opponents, they've decided to simply brand any idea with which they disagree as "racist" in the hopes of ending the debate. It is an insidious tactic, that has far reaching implications that extend far beyond the walls of Westminster. The British people should be free to speak their mind, free to engage in reasoned debate, and free to participate in the marketplace of ideas. And Government Ministers should be leading by example and encouraging debate, not stifling it.

[Owain Jones]

Maybe the Tories live in a sheltered world blind to the reality of policing in many communities across the UK over the past decades or they choose to ignore it because they either don't care or actively support racist institutions. As someone who grow up in a mixed race community in London I can tell you from lived experience that the police are institutionally racist and root and branch reform is needed. If you had seen young innocent Black and Asian men beaten up by the police without any hope of redress because the policemen knew they could act with impunity you wouldn't be peddling the nonsense that the police are beyond reproach. Supports to reform the police should be supported and I hope to the recommendations of Macpherson report implemented in full and knowing the home secretary to be a firm support of justice and equality I feel good progress will be made.