Shabana Mahmood had been answering testy justice questions in the Commons. Her shadow Robert Jenrick pressed the Lord Chancellor on whether the MoJ would support the imposition of whole life sentences for convicted rape gang members:
“Two weeks ago three grooming gang members were sentenced for the most appalling rapes of children at Bradford Crown Court but they only received six, seven, and nine year sentences respectively… Will she commit to using the sentencing review to mandate full life sentences for these evil people?”
Mahmood refused to commit to that:
“We have a shared objective in making sure that these evil individuals feel the full force of the law… we will be legislating to make grooming an aggravating factor and this government will make sure that victims get the justice they deserve.”
This is the first time full sentences for rape gangs members have been put to Labour. No commitments above the addition of aggravation to sentences and just five small inquiries…
Defence Secretary John Healey was putting in an army sprint to get to the Commons to deliver his ministerial statement on Russian maritime activity. He can barely talk…
Some sympathetic laughter from MPs. Took him a few minutes to recover…
So far Cooper has spoken about the failings of the Prevent and other systems when it comes to Rudakubana. Watch below:
The Home Secretary says the inquiry will look at the radicalisation of young people towards violence. She says the government is speaking to online content providers to ask them to remove certain content. Ahead of the Online Safety Act’s full imposition…
The inquiry will be non-statutory to begin with. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp had questions for Cooper as to why information was withheld. Cooper snapped back at the Tories’ record on Prevent-related disclosures…
UPDATE: The entire debate is being taken up by MPs and Labour complaining about the internet.
Last week the Speaker closed Strangers Bar in Parliament after a spiking incident and subsequent Met Police investigation. This was “while security and safety arrangements are reviewed.” Changes are already taking place…
After there were considerations around putting CCTV in the bar Guido can report evaluation work has already started on fitting cameras inside. The builders are in…
CCTV has been the main ask of concerned parliamentarians since the spiking incident because authorities initially claimed they would be unable to investigate without camera footage. Guido is also told maintenance staff are looking at fitting access restrictions from the terrace side to the bar. A heightened security presence for some time would not be surprising either…
Richard Holden has introduced his Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill to the Commons. The Shadow Paymaster General notes that only pre-Reformation canon law prohibited first-cousin marriage – and currently “certain diaspora communities” are experiencing high rates of the practice, specifically Irish Travellers and British Pakistani diasporas. Rates have actually increased in last few generations. Most Brits think first cousin marriage is already illegal…
At today’s Lobby briefing Downing Street couldn’t state what its position was on the matter and just said it would set out its position later. MP Iqbal Mohamed, part of Corbyn’s “Independent Alliance,” argues against Holden in the Commons that the state should not ban the practice and it should be approached as a “health awareness issue” because it is a “highly sensitive issue.” Mohamed claims that many people believe it is a good thing to do which “builds family bonds.” Quite something…
UPDATE: At the morning Lobby briefing Downing Street said it would set out its position on cousin marriages “later.” At the afternoon briefing it says it has “no plans to legislate against first cousins marrying.“
As MPs and staffers alike get into the festive mood prior to recess Parliament has released this year’s crackers. With one new caveat – they don’t actually crack…
Parliament has jumped on the eco-bandwagon and removed the ‘snap’ from its Christmas crackers so that they are fully ‘recyclable’. Apparently that’s to “make every Christmas a celebration of responsibility”…
The Roundheads will no doubt be pleased. Silver fulminate has been used to generate a small explosion in the festive products since 1860 – now cardboard ‘clicking’ snaps are increasingly used instead for eco-reasons. Incredibly, the woke cylinders are also being flogged to the public in both the Commons and Lords shops. Hundreds of years after Guy Fawkes had a go, the last remnant of gunpowder has been removed from the parliamentary estate…
Lord Khan in the Telegraph: “I hope, and I say this in a non-pompous way, that the public service I do will bring rewards in this world and the hereafter,” he says. “I’m hoping the work I do is earning me Brownie points.”
