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Category / Labour Party
AIWA! NO!
Wired on people, events and life; giving 'voice to the voiceless'.
Armed police stand guard near London Bridge after the attack. Photograph: Daniel Sorabji/AFP via Getty Images
After the terrorist attack in London last week, political parties in the UK are blaming each other.
A man recently released from prison for a terrorism offence killed two people in a terrorist attack that has been leapt upon by politicians ahead of the election next week.
London Bridge attack was one of dozens of convicted terrorists released early from prison in Britain; reaction from Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
Terrorism is the use or threat of action, both in and outside of the UK, designed to influence any international government organisation or to intimidate the public. It must also be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
Examples;
- serious violence against a person or damage to property,
- endangering a person’s life (other than that of the person committing the action),
- creating a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public,
- action designed to seriously interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.
The attacker, Usman Khan, had been attending a conference on the rehabilitation of offenders. He killed Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, and was himself shot dead by police.
UK counterterrorism police on Saturday searched for clues into how a man imprisoned for terrorism offenses before his release last year managed to stab several people before being tackled by bystanders and shot dead by officers on London Bridge. Two people were killed and three wounded
Terrorism crimes are difficult to police in that the sentencing, rehabilitation and parole are all emotive subjects that are best debated outside of an election cycle.
Terrorism crimes and terrorist-related offences are subject to the criminal justice system in the same way as all other crimes. The CPS reviews the case and makes a charging decision in line with the Code for Crown Prosecutors. However, terrorism offences are distinct from other types of crime in that individuals who commit terrorism-related offences have political, religious racial and/or ideological motivations, unlike typical criminal motivations, which may be personal gain or revenge, for example. The CPS and Metropolitan Police have specialist units that were set up specifically to undertake terrorism cases and there are four other police Counter Terrorism Units (CTUs) around the country.
Britons are less certain about Labour’s policy than the Conservative’s on all issues except the NHS
YouGov’s latest polling shows that 70% of Britons see Brexit as the most important issue facing the country. Given this, it’s vital that parties make their policy crystal clear approaching the general election. But have they?
Randhir, I concur with you all the way to the skys. Thinking about it; people say: “The referendum was never explained to us.” Never thought for e.g.; we would need to renegotiate new ways of doing business with E.U., and rest of the world at the same time. And that it would take upwards of 4 years and still counting till we enjoy the frankenstein monster of ‘phenomenon’ called Brexit. No major new domestic policies; and UK’s influence on geopolitical stage almost coming to ZERO. Nobodoy wants to listen to someone about global affairs when they cannot put their own small hut in order///CRIMSON TAZVINZWA
That’s pretty hilarious that the issue of Brexit should be separated from General Election issues. Brexit is precisely why the election has been called by the Conservatives – LEON PACZYNSKY
Senior opposition sources confirmed late Tuesday the party had suffered a “sophisticated and large-scale” attack on Monday, with a second hit reportedly following a day later.
Sources told Reuters it was unclear if it was the same hackers as on Monday or a copycat attack but there was currently nothing to link either incident to a foreign state.
A Labour spokesman made no immediate comment on the second attack.
The first incident was thought to be a “distributed denial-of-service” (DDoS) attack, where a network of computers is used to flood the target with requests, overwhelming its server and slowing it down or causing it to crash.
Mr Speaker, I want to thank the Prime Minister for an advance copy of his statement. I want to start by paying tribute to the survivors of the fire, and those family members who have campaigned with dignity for justice these past two years. 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire of June 2017, a horror that not only rocked that community but that shook an entire nation.
It brought a community together to help and it must bring our nation together to say never again. It was a tragedy and an avoidable tragedy. All the survivors deserve a new home and the support they need. All those responsible for this avoidable tragedy must be brought to justice and every necessary measure must be put in place to prevent a fire like Grenfell ever happening again.
We welcome the report of the first phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry which we will study in detail. We expect the government and other agencies cited will respond in full to the recommendations it contains. However, given the limited scope of the inquiry agreed by government, and the fact that phase 1 only looks at what happened on the night of 14 June 2017, many questions inevitably remain unanswered and the recommendations do not cover the range of issues that need urgent action from Ministers.
The Prime Minister talks about the “whole truth” but that is not yet with us. In light of the particular focus on the actions of the London Fire Brigade in phase 1 of the inquiry report, we urge that the recommendations made of the London Fire Brigade are given the full response they require.
At the same time, we pay tribute to the heroic actions of firefighters in our country every day, including on the night of the Grenfell Tower fire. While our natural instinct is to run from danger, they are trained to run towards it. Those brave firefighters saved lives that night and without their public service many more people would have died.
The government’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire has been too slow and too weak on every front, from rehousing survivors to dealing with Grenfell-style ACM cladding on hundreds of other tower blocks across the country. The Prime Minister and the government must now act urgently on their failures since the Grenfell Tower fire:
The failure to learn the lessons from previous high-rise fires with no proper response to coroners’ recommendations made in 2013 following the Lakanal House and Shirley Towers fires.
· The failure to rehouse survivors with some families still living in hotels and in temporary accommodation more than two years on.
· The failure to re-clad blocks identified with dangerous, Grenfell-style cladding. Disgracefully 8 in 10 residential blocks are still yet to have that ACM cladding replaced.
· And the failure to identify suspect non-ACM cladding with tests on potentially dangerous cladding still not complete more than two years on.
The government’s response has been inadequate, uncaring and frankly insulting. Grenfell Tower would not have happened to wealthy Londoners. It happened to poor and mainly migrant Londoners.
I’ve met with Grenfell survivors on many occasions since that dreadful night and they have all emphasised the wonderful community that existed around Grenfell Tower. That is what working-class life is like in London. And while this phase of the report makes criticism of the London Fire Brigade, we should remember; it was not firefighters that deregulated building safety standards. It wasn’t firefighters who ignored the concerns of tenants. It wasn’t firefighters who ignored a coroner’s report and failed to put sprinklers in high rise blocks and it wasn’t firefighters who put flammable cladding on Grenfell Tower.
Likewise, Mr Speaker it’s disgraceful that over two years on there has been no major review or assessment of the ‘stay put’ policy. The Fire Brigades Union has raised this with government ministers on numerous occasions. Concerns about the ‘stay put’ policy were raised with government years before Grenfell. Will the government today stop dragging its feet and act?
The past nine years have seen this Conservative government’s cuts degrade our Fire and Rescue service. We now have fewer firefighters, fewer fire appliances and slower response times. While firefighters selflessly risk their lives to protect others, the government has chosen not to provide them with the resources and support they need.
Between 2010 and 2016, the government cut central funding by 28% in real terms, followed by a further cut of 15% by 2020. These cuts have led to 11,000 fewer firefighters (a 20% cut). As Mayor of London, the now Prime Minister was at the forefront of the cuts to our Fire Service. In the eight years that he was Mayor, the London Fire Brigade was required to make gross savings of over £100m, cutting of 27 fire appliances, 552 firefighters, 324 support staff, two fire rescue units, three training appliances and closing ten London fire stations.
Mr Speaker, Grenfell must never happen again. It happened because of the negligence and recklessness of a Conservative government, a Conservative Council and a Conservative Mayor of London. The night of 14 June 2017 will never be forgotten but just as importantly it must never happen again. The fact that this government has dragged its feet – that the exact same cladding is on similar high rise blocks, that sprinklers have not been fitted, that thousands of people will go to bed tonight and tomorrow night not feeling safe – should shame this government.
Mr Speaker, I pay tribute to the firefighters. I pay tribute to the local community. But most of all I pay tribute to the solemn dignity of those survivors and bereaved who have continued to campaign for justice, so that no one else ever has to suffer like they have. Whoever forms the next government owes it to them to say: never again.
