Tag Archives: theresa may

Stephen Tall

Times: ‘Cameron is told to drop snooping on web users’

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd April 2013 - 8:05 am

Today’s Times front page is dominated by the news that nine cyber-security experts and academics have issued a stark warning to David Cameron to halt ‘sweeping plans to hand the security services the power to snoop on emails, website visits and social media sites’: “they remain as naive and technically dangerous as when they were floated by the last government,” they warn.

times web snooping

The paper notes the opposition both of Nick Clegg — who highlighted his disagreement with the draft Bill last December — and of Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, who points out: “Where we lead, other countries would follow, snooping on their citizens’ legal activities. … The case for these proposals is massively out-weighed by the cost and the harm to privacy, here and overseas.”

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Thais Portilho-Shrimpton

The Independent View: Seeking justice across borders

By Thais Portilho-Shrimpton | Wed 6th March 2013 - 12:53 pm

In October last year, Theresa May announced in the House of Commons the Conservatives’ intention to opt-out of 130 measures of EU criminal law cooperation.

We, at Justice Across Borders, are opposed to it – and many others are too – but the reality is, the way this issue has been presented by the Home Secretary, and has been debated so far, means nothing to the man in the street. That is why we have taken on the challenge to start a debate that can be joined by all.

Yesterday, we met the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 8 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sat 20th October 2012 - 8:25 am

It’s Saturday morning, so here are eight thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

Three big things I’ve got wrong since I’ve starting blogging and commenting – ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie confesses to a trio of big errors on the NHS, higher-rate tax and equalities: “One of the many reasons I don’t want to be an MP is that I think this sort of ability to think openly and reflectively is probably impossible when you are standing for office.”

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Mark Pack

News snippets from the Conservative conference: tax, Europe, migration and more

By Mark Pack | Sun 7th October 2012 - 10:28 am

Conservative Party logoTrouble ahead on tax as Osborne opposes a mansion tax:

We are not going to have a mansion tax, or a new tax that is a percentage value of people’s properties.

Before you rush to spot the loophole in that – what about adding extra higher bands to Council Tax? – he opposed that too. Given Osborne made much of his reputation as was by opposing changes to inheritance tax, perhaps it is on capital gains tax that there will be room fro an agreement with the …

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Mark Pack

Maria Miller’s appointment: have you forgotten what was said when Theresa May got the role?

By Mark Pack | Tue 4th September 2012 - 6:22 pm

Maria Miller’s appointment to, amongst other things, the Women and Equalities brief has received quite a lot of criticism from non-Conservatives today.

One part of that is wrong, but understandable – a simple mistake in not realising that the role she’s taken on isn’t the one Lynne Featherstone had but rather the one Theresa May had. As the BBC got this wrong, it’s no surprise many others followed in also getting it wrong, even though the accurate information is readily accessible in many places such as in Theresa May’s own write-up on the Home Office website. Not double-checking something the BBC …

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Stephen Howse

Opinion: Why aren’t Liberal Democrats complaining loudly about draconian new family immigration rules?

By Stephen Howse | Wed 18th July 2012 - 6:55 pm

It’s not often that I find myself on the same side of an argument as Sayeeda Warsi. It’s even less often that I find myself on the same side when it comes to marriage equality.

I am thankful, however, that the Baroness was in Cabinet to lead the charge – along with Liberal Democrats – against the Home Secretary’s outrageous plans to impose a draconian income threshold (of up to £40,000) on British citizens who wish to bring their spouses to live with them in this country. The Coalition’s harsh immigration cap is hard enough for a Liberal to stomach without …

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Mark Pack

Why doesn’t Theresa May want mandatory tracking of all cars?

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th July 2012 - 2:25 pm

Because it is an absurd idea may well be your answer to that question even before you’ve reached the end of it. But bear with me a moment.

Imagine a government policy to have mandatory tracking devices in all motor vehicles, which would record all the journeys and store the data. The data would normally be private but could be accessed by the police and others if they subsequently discovered a reason to suspect someone. (You may be able to guess where I am going with this…)

It would cost a fair …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Mark Pack

Guardian investigation finds sexual predators in police abusing powers

By Mark Pack | Sat 30th June 2012 - 8:55 am

The Guardian reports:

Sexual predators in the police are abusing their power to target victims of crime they are supposed to be helping, as well as fellow officers and female staff, the Guardian can reveal.

An investigation into the scale and extent of the problem suggests sexual misconduct could be more widespread than previously believed.

The situation raises questions about the efficacy of the police complaints system, the police’s internal whistleblowing procedures, the vetting of officers and a failure to monitor disciplinary offences.

Meanwhile, in other news Theresa May wants to give the police more powers to spy on the public, without requiring any judicial authorisation.

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Paul Walter

Opinion: Theresa May enters a reading contest with the judges

By Paul Walter | Mon 11th June 2012 - 9:53 am

This is Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights:

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

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Posted in Op-eds | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

The wheels are coming off the online monitoring bandwagon (UPDATED)

By Mark Pack | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 8:58 pm

Item one: A letter tomorrow in The Guardian from 15 Liberal Democrat MPs setting out their opposition to illiberal monitoring plans.

Item two: More Conservative MPs joining with David Davis in speaking out against widespread online monitoring, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Item three: The Times reporting, Cameron forced to retreat on snooping powers .

Item four: a subtle, but significant, choice of words by Nick Clegg in a media interview this lunchtime presaging a major change of course from the story given to the Sunday Times at the weekend. Clegg signalled (as does The Times report) that the Queen’s Speech will not include a Bill …

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Mark Pack

Home Office decides against national spending limits for Police and Crime Commissioner elections

By Mark Pack | Wed 28th March 2012 - 8:50 am

The controversy over the Government’s view that there should be no freepost election addresses for Police and Crime Commissioner elections has caught the headlines so far, but there is something far worse in the details of the draft legislation. Put simply: having considered having national expenditure limits for the elections, the Conservative ministers in the Home Office have decided to have none.

There will be expense limits for individual candidates and their campaigns. However it is proposed that political parties and outside …

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Posted in Election law and News | Also tagged | 5 Comments
Matt McLaren

Opinion: we shouldn’t make the poor pay for the irresponsible: on why Theresa May is wrong (again!)

By Matt McLaren | Tue 27th March 2012 - 8:52 am

I am fully aware of the evils of alcohol: believe me, I’ve spent my fair share of nights out on the town (and now have the dubious privilege of living above a dodgy nightclub in an otherwise pleasant area), so I have seen first-hand what binge drinking looks (and sounds, and smells) like. It is not a pretty picture, and in addition to being a blight on neighbourhoods in town centres up and down the country, it is a huge health nightmare.

But how do you solve this problem? To quote from Yes, Minister, the Government’s response rather looks like a …

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Richard Clare

Opinion: Stop the extradition of Richard O’Dwyer

By Richard Clare | Wed 18th January 2012 - 1:55 pm

Recently Sheffield Hallam student Richard O’Dwyer lost his court case against extradition to the USA for running a website that provided links to websites where users could illegally pirate copyrighted TV material. He will be lodging an appeal with the High Court and he cannot be extradited without the specific permission of the Home Secretary Theresa May.

Richard’s actions were not a crime in the UK because his website did not host the files but rather hosted links to the websites that did host the files, like Google does. Quite simply, it goes against the terms of the Extradition Treaty …

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Mark Pack

Lynne Featherstone vs Steve Hilton on maternity pay

By Mark Pack | Mon 17th October 2011 - 7:25 am

From yesterday’s Observer:

In a wide-ranging interview with the Observer, Featherstone said it was vital the coalition delivered on its family-friendly rhetoric … In a forthright attack on some of the advisers shaping government policy, she criticised the role of Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist tasked with reporting to the prime minister on how to cut regulation on business. Beecroft is understood to have recommended a U-turn on government policies on shared parental leave and flexible working.

The proposals, outlined in a white paper, would allow couples greater freedom to co-ordinate maternity and paternity leave. A separate proposal would make it

…

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George Kendall

Opinion: Labour’s problem

By George Kendall | Thu 13th October 2011 - 2:25 pm

There’s been nothing dramatic about this conference season apart from a few gaffes, but under the surface, I think the Labour conference was significant.

While I enjoyed the Lib Dem conference, I don’t think the journalists did. Whenever I passed a well-known TV presenter, they had a face like thunder. They were looking for factionalism and controversy, but all they found was Lib Dems facing up to a difficult situation with determination and loyalty. That makes dull TV, so they must have been tearing their hair out.

The Tory conference was more entertaining.

Theresa May’s remark about cats, and the more recent

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 35 Comments
Nick Tyrone

Opinion: Theresa May’s cat – why we should be proud of our conference

By Nick Tyrone | Sat 8th October 2011 - 2:50 pm

The vast majority of Lib Dems who attended autumn conference would agree with me in saying that it was a success. The mood surrounding the ICC Birmingham was unmistakably positive. The feared factionalism that had been predicted by some never materialised. But what really makes our conference seem amazing, in retrospect, is just how badly the respective Labour and Conservative gatherings have played out.

Labour conference was up first. As the only major party of opposition this should have been a conference to remember for them. A year of riots, phone hacking and a poor economy gave them more ammunition than …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

The cat, Theresa May and what the courts really said

By Mark Pack | Thu 6th October 2011 - 7:29 pm

Lots has been written about the cat that did, didn’t, did, didn’t help stop someone being deported. The best analysis and summary I’ve seen of what the legal system really decided in the case and on what basis is the one over on the UK Human Rights blog. Well worth a read.

But if you want a short version: the Home Office messed up by failing to follow its own rules. A cynic might suggest the cat provides a rather convenient alibi…

Posted in News | 29 Comments
Mark Pack

Theresa May succeeds where Nadine Dorries failed

By Mark Pack | Sun 2nd October 2011 - 5:36 pm

As I quipped during Liberal Democrat conference, one of the most popular Conservative MPs with party activists is Nadine Dorries, courtesy of that question at PMQs.

Today Home Secretary Theresa May has shown rather more political skill in making a very similar point. Talking to the Sunday Telegraph, she’s said that “personally” she would “like” to see the Human Rights Act go.

It’s a skilful move because by using that phrasing she isn’t triggering any stories of coalition meltdown. Liberal Democrats saying the Human Rights Act won’t go and Tories saying they personally would like it to go aren’t contradictory …

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Peter Bradwell

The Independent View: Social media – no longer an easy target

By Peter Bradwell | Fri 26th August 2011 - 11:08 am

Open Rights Group, alongside 9 other human right groups including Amnesty UK, Liberty and Index on Censorship, yesterday wrote to the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Theresa May MP. We were responding to the Prime Minister’s comments that the Government will “look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality”.

The letter was written to coincide with a meeting that took place at lunchtime yesterday between the Home Secretary and Twitter, Facebook and Research in Motion, to discuss what that …

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Alex Foster

Cross-party smackdown for Home Secretary

By Alex Foster | Thu 18th August 2011 - 5:32 pm

A tweet crosses my desk from Cllr Kemp, itself a retweet from LGCPlus journalist Ruth Keeling. It contains a link to the Association of Police Authorities – not a body I am overly familiar with, but it has a fairly self-explanatory title.

The link is directly to a fairly draw-dropping cross-party letter from chairs of Police Authorities around the country who have a fairly serious beef with the Home Secretary’s accuracy in a recent speech.

Theresa May appears to have tried to shore up support for the Conservative policy of elected police commissioners by insinuating that in London, taxpayers got a better service from the elected police chief (and Mayor) Boris Johnson, than in other parts of the country where there are indirectly elected Chairs of Police Authorities instead.

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Paul Walter

PMQs: Bits start to fall off Cameron’s wagon

By Paul Walter | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 7:53 pm

After last week’s Miliband success at Prime Minister’s Questions, this time we started off with Ed Miliband in softly softly mode. He asked about Libya and the service chiefs’ concern about an extended campaign. Displaying a becoming measure of gravitas, he also asked whether the defence review should be revisited in the light of the “Arab Spring” which William Hague has described as more important than 9-11. That’s a good question given that the review didn’t mention Libya, Tunisia or Egypt.

David Cameron said he has been assured by the military grand fromage that we could keep the campaign going as …

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Posted in Parliament and PMQs | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

The Huhne – Oakeshott two-step

By Mark Pack | Mon 1st November 2010 - 10:51 pm

Over the weekend we saw two stories, two prominent Liberal Democrats, two public staking out of positions on issues that are the subject of much debate within the coalition in Whitehall:

David Cameron was warned yesterday by a senior Lib Dem not to delay the introduction of legislation banning non-doms from making donations to political parties in Britain. In a sign of strains within the coalition, Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said there was “absolutely no reason” to delay the legislation. (The Guardian)

and

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, reiterated his party’s strong opposition to retaining a policy that he had previously

…

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Mark Pack

Criminal records regime to be reviewed

By Mark Pack | Fri 22nd October 2010 - 1:25 pm

The headlines have been caught by the Home Office’s formal annoucement today of a review into the vetting and barring system:

The review will examine whether the scheme is the best way to protect children and vulnerable people and, if so, how many roles it should cover.

Home Secretary Theresa May suspended the “draconian” scheme in June.

Launched in 2009, critics said it cast too wide a net and risked poisoning the relationship between generations.

Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone said: “While it is vital that we protect the vulnerable, this scheme as it stands is not a proportionate response.

“There should be a presumption

…

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Mark Pack

The coalition agreement: equalities and Europe

By Mark Pack | Fri 28th May 2010 - 10:20 am

Welcome to the ninth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

The equalities section continues a theme common throughout the coalition document: if this section was presented to Liberal Democrat conference as the party’s policy in this area, people would be generally pretty happy with it. It doesn’t include everything the party wants, but that is balanced out by it being a list of policies which the government is actually going to put into practice rather than being just a policy motion wish list. Added …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 28 May 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 7:00 am

As Big Ben chimes seven, it’s time to celebrate the day 151 years ago, that the famous bell was drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster.

To show that cuts in Westminster are nothing new, the cost of the bell was reduced by recycling the metal from the previous, faulty bell:

George Mears, then the master bellfounder and owner of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, undertook the casting. According to foundry records, Mears originally quoted a price of £2401 for casting the bell, but this was offset to the sum of £1829 by the metal he was able to reclaim from the first bell so that the actual invoice tendered, on 28th May 1858, was in the sum of £572.

If you’d like to know what Big Ben itself has to say today, you can follow it on Twitter: @big_ben_clock.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

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Mark Pack

The coalition agreement: consumers and crime

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th May 2010 - 3:31 pm

Welcome to the fourth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

A brief section on consumer protection offers a handful of positive policies – such as strong consumer protection, more pressure on credit card companies to keep their customers fully informed and clearer food labelling – which could have featured in any party’s manifesto. There is also the well meaning but fantastically vague promise to “take forward measures to enhance customer service in the private and public sectors”. Make of that what you will…

The crime …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Alan Pomroy

Opinon: Equality and the new Coalition

By Alan Pomroy | Sat 15th May 2010 - 9:48 am

A glance at the make-up of the new cabinet does not make great reading for equality campaigners. 86% male, 97% white, 59% privately educated and 69% oxbridge educated – hardly a great advert for our diverse and multicultural society, or indeed a state education. In their defence the Lib-Dems and Tories can point to Labour’s final years in office which shows a broadly similar pattern, with the exception of eductional background, in which there has been a definite backward step. Nick Clegg and David Cameron yesterday talking about aspiring to a new way of doing politics – a noble statement …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 26 Comments
Helen Duffett

Dee Doocey: London Mayor should not take over the Metropolitan Police Authority’s role

By Helen Duffett | Fri 14th May 2010 - 2:59 pm

Commenting on the statement by Theresa May, the new Home Secretary, that she intends to push through plans for directly elected police commissioners, Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said:

For ten years the Metropolitan Police Service has been accountable to Londoners through a police authority. To now place all that accountability in the hands of one person would be a serious mistake.

“Boris Johnson struggled to even chair the Metropolitan Police Authority, so the idea that he, or indeed any Mayor, could now do the

…

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Posted in London and News | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Where’s the coalition of the sexes?

By Helen Duffett | Wed 12th May 2010 - 6:22 pm

With most of the key cabinet posts now announced, and other positions coming at a trickle, the new government so far looks overwhelmingly male.

The exceptions so far are Theresa May (Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality) and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (Conservative Party Chairman). Reports of a role for Caroline Flint are unconfirmed.

There’s been no word yet about any of the talented female Liberal Democrat MPs being offered a role in the new government. However, I can’t help noticing a correlation with the Lib Dem (all male) negotiating team, with all but Andrew Stunell getting cabinet posts.

I …

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Stephen Tall

Cameron: he was against paternity pay before he was in favour of it. What will his view be next month?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 28th January 2010 - 7:25 pm

‘Dads will be able to take up to six months’ paternity leave while their child’s mother returns to work, under government plans announced today,’ reports The Guardian.

The Lib Dems’ shadow children, schools and families secretary, David Laws, is deeply unimpressed with Labour’s approach:

The Government fails to understand that all families are different and need far more flexibility when it comes to parental leave. Labour seems to think it knows best when it comes to how families should arrange their lives.
 
“Instead of more rigid and complex reforms, the Liberal Democrats would introduce fully flexible parental leave which

…

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