Author Archives: Sarah Ludford

Sarah Ludford

Baroness Sarah Ludford writes…How not to use Brussels for policy laundering

By Sarah Ludford | Fri 11th July 2014 - 7:20 pm

Racks line photo by Tristan SchmurrThe new Data Retention and Investigatory Powers (DRIP) Bill responds to the European Court of Justice annulment of the 2006 EU Data Retention Directive.

The government asserts that the DRIP Bill only confirms existing law as it is broadly the same content as the 2009 regulations implementing the EU Directive. But as that Directive has been swept away, DRIP provides a new legal basis, and this will in fact be the first time that legislation to regulate retention of phone, email and internet records has been generated …

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Sarah Ludford

Sarah Ludford MEP writes… on roaming charges and net neutrality

By Sarah Ludford | Fri 4th April 2014 - 8:47 am

Smartphone bar.Liberal Democrats have long championed ease of communication and information exchange, and been alert to threats to online freedoms. Both at Westminster and in the European Parliament, we have fought aspects of measures to combat child sexual exploitation or copyright infringement which could infringe on internet access rights.

At our recent party conference in York we adopted a call for a Digital Bill of Rights, noting that ‘the internet has the power to liberate, to educate, to bring people closer together, and to boost our economy’. The threat in our sights …

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Sarah Ludford

Sarah Ludford MEP writes…Being “In” Europe crucial for jobs and living standards

By Sarah Ludford | Fri 24th January 2014 - 1:00 pm

When the Liberal Democrats say we’re the party of ‘In’, it’s not because we worship symbolically at the altar of EU institutions. It’s because being In Europe is vital to achieve real policy goals, of which the most immediately important is jobs in Britain. This is the clear message coming from major employers, like Ford, Nissan, Siemens and BAE Systems, which have all warned against pulling Britain out of Europe.

According to a recent YouGov poll 6% of British companies said they would go out of business if we left the EU. This translates into almost 10,000 firms closing and 300,000 people being out …

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Sarah Ludford

Sarah Ludford MEP writes… Emergency Motion 6 will promote Schedule 7 reform and protect civil liberties

By Sarah Ludford | Thu 12th September 2013 - 2:54 pm

The last time I wrote a piece for Lib Dem Voice I asked for the assistance of conference voting reps to ensure that party conference debates the detention of David Miranda and the reform of Schedule 7 of the Terrorism 2000 – Labour legislation – under which he was detained.

A very big thank you to those who responded with support for Emergency Motion 6: Schedule 7 of Terrorism Act 2000 to be in the ballot for debate in Glasgow next Wednesday (Sep 18th from 9:00 to 10.30, item F38). I’m sure the handsome volume of signatures – due …

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Sarah Ludford

Sarah Ludford MEP writes…Conference must debate Miranda detention

By Sarah Ludford | Wed 21st August 2013 - 7:40 pm

I was not initially planning to get particularly involved on the David Miranda Schedule 7 issue except as a concerned, nay horrified, spectator. After all, I’m an MEP not an MP nor (at present) able to be active as a peer, and I have plenty on my plate in Brussels.

But from early Monday morning, as I read the admirably vigorous response from the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation David Anderson QC – and the immediate if deeply hypocritical reaction from Yvette Cooper – I did start to wonder who from the party was going to be vocal. So I tweeted …

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