- Braverman’s dangerous rhetoric trashes Britain’s proud legacy
- Ed Davey raises deadly ambulance delays at PMQs
- Suella Braverman: Lib Dems demand inquiry into potential breach of ministerial code
- Steve Brine must stand down from Health Select Committee amid sleaze scandal
Braverman’s dangerous rhetoric trashes Britain’s proud legacy
Responding to comments made by the Home Secretary this morning on the government’s small boats proposals, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said:
Suella Braverman can’t even answer basic questions about her flawed, callous and inhumane policy.
To suggest that those who oppose these divisive plans are somehow betraying Britain is stooping to a new low. It is an insult to all those worried about the dangerous rhetoric of this Conservative government and their heartless, unworkable approach.
Britain has a proud history of offering sanctuary to refugees. To turn our back on those fleeing war and persecution trashes that proud legacy – and that’s the real unpatriotic move.
Ed Davey raises deadly ambulance delays at PMQs
In today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey raised a heartbreaking case of deadly ambulance delays.
Ed Davey spoke about an elderly woman Jean, who dialled 999 only to be told it would be an eight hour wait for an ambulance to arrive. Jean was forced to drive herself to Eastbourne District General Hospital, where she collapsed in A&E and died an hour later.
The Liberal Democrat Leader asked the Prime Minister to apologise to Jean’s family and all those who have lost loved ones amid a crisis in ambulance services in the South East and across the country.
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
This heart-breaking case shows the devastating consequences of ambulance delays on patients and their families. My thoughts are with Jean’s family and friends.
Years of neglect and underinvestment are stretching our local health services to breaking point, but Conservative ministers just don’t seem to get it.
The Prime Minister should visit Eastbourne General Hospital A&E department to see for himself the true extent of this ambulance crisis. He also owes an apology to every family who has lost a loved one as a result of these dangerous waiting times.
Today’s response from Rishi Sunak was simply not good enough.
Suella Braverman: Lib Dems demand inquiry into potential breach of ministerial code
The Liberal Democrats have called on the ethics adviser to launch an official investigation into whether Suella Braverman has breached the ministerial code by attacking civil servants over the government’s small boats policy.
In a letter to Rishi Sunak’s Ethics Adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine warned that Suella Braverman’s comments appeared to be a “clear breach of the ministerial code” and demanded an immediate investigation. She also called on Rishi Sunak to sack Suella Braverman if it’s confirmed she did breach the Code.
Paragraph 5.1 of the Ministerial Code states that: “Ministers must uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service,” and “Ministers should be professional in their working relationships with the Civil Service and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect.”
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office Spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:
Suella Braverman’s rhetoric is not only disrespectful and wrong, it is a potentially serious breach of the Ministerial Code.
Ministers are expected to respect the impartiality of the civil servants, and be professional and respectful towards them. Braverman’s comments have fallen way short of those standards by attacking civil servants and dragging them into deluded Conservative Party conspiracy theories.
We need an urgent inquiry to get to the bottom of this. If Suella Braverman is found to have breached the Ministerial Code again, Rishi Sunak will surely have no choice but to sack her. Anything less would leave his promise to govern with integrity in tatters.
Steve Brine must stand down from Health Select Committee amid sleaze scandal
Responding to reports by the Daily Telegraph that Chair of the Health Select Committee Steve Brine, lobbied the NHS Chief Executive on behalf of a company paying him, Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:
Steve Brine should immediately step down from the Health Select Committee to allow an independent investigation to take place. He cannot be in post whilst these allegations hang over his head.
These messages suggest Steve Brine was desperate to help his corporate employers whilst the country was pulling together during a pandemic, and leaves him with serious questions to answer.
Frankly, the whole thing stinks.
Rishi Sunak should launch an independent investigation into this damning evidence immediately.
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3 Comments
The Liberal Democrats need to be careful how we position ourselves on the issue of people crossing the Channel in small boats. While most of the public support those who are fleeing war or persecution, the public do not support economic migrants being able to dodge normal immigration rules and coming into the country without permission. The most recent figures suggest that almost half of those coming in small boats are from Albania which is viewed as a safe country and 90% of them are male, (and only a small proportion of males from Albania who claim asylum are successful.) Therefore, unless the Party position is to give permission to anyone who wants to move to the UK, we need to have a clear line on what measures should be taken to remove those who come into the UK without permission and have been found not to have a valid claim for asylum.
@Mel Borthwaite
The proper response would be to deal properly and promptly with asylum claims instead of leaving people waiting for many months or even years. That would involve putting in place in appropriate overseas locations facilities for those fleeing persecution to apply for asylum without putting themselves in the hands of criminals running the small boat operations.
But I’m not holding my breath. This has become more an issue of morality than just politics.
“The Liberal Democrats need to be careful how we position ourselves on the issue of people crossing the Channel in small boats.”
Surely everyone wants safe crossings, those coming here to be processed quickly and effectively, to be given fair chance to appeal decision in this country before then being properly supported or removed if that’s the outcome of the case.
Tories realise what they’re doing won’t ever work as policy and they don’t care as it distracts from the mess they’re making, and they don’t care so long as it gets Labour drifting further and further right.
This policy, by drumming up bad feeling to those coming here with genuine intentions instead of tackling real problems of the day, will make the UK a much worse country to live in and make it more and more unsafe for asylum seekers. If that reputation is recognised around the world then there may be fewer people coming here, but it won’t be a win.