2 weeks ago
27
Good morning. Today the government is publishing its crime and policing bill. As the home affairs commentator Danny Shaw explains in a helpful social media summary, it is a “huge and unwieldy” bill, tackling various Labour law and order priorities, as well as a raft of ones that the last Conservative government was planning to legislate for before the election got in the way.
Most of what is in the bill has already been well trailed. As Peter Walker reports, overnight the Home Office has been highlighting the provisions that will allow the police to search properties for stolen phones or other electronically geotagged items without a warrant.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and on the Today programme she had an uncomfortable moment when asked about crime-related loophole not being tackled by the bill. It has emerged that, even thought the MP Mike Amesbury was yesterday sentenced to 10 weeks in jail for assault, he is still being paid his Commons salary. That is because the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is in charge of paying MPs and it has to keep giving them their money unless they have been suspended or removed from post.
If the Commons standards committee were to consider Amesbury’s case, he almost certainly would be suspended. But the Commons disciplinary process has not kicked in because the criminal justice process has taken precedence, and Amesbury was only sentenced yesterday. He says he will appeal.
Asked how she felt about Amesbury continuing to receive his salary, Cooper argued that he should resign as an MP. She said:
I think the Runcorn constituents deserve better, and we wanted to see a new MP in place as swiftly as possible. We look forward to Runcorn constituents getting the representation that they deserve from a newly elected Labour MP.
When asked specifically if an MP should continue to get paid while in prison, Cooper replied:
I think everything that’s happened is unacceptable here.
When the presenter, Emma Barnett, asked her again whether she was happy about this, Cooper replied:
You’re asking me about parliamentary rules and procedures, which obviously are separate from those that the government runs. They’re separately ones for parliament.
This is a slightly misleading answer. Disciplinary rules for MPs are a matter for parliament. But a government with a large majority can change those rules quite easily. The fact that this has not happened before is a reflection of the fact that in the past MPs sent to jail have tended to resign immediately, avoiding the situation Amesbury is now in.
I will post more from the Cooper interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10.15am: Steve Reed, the environment secretary, speaks at the NFU conference in London. As Helena Horton reports, he will announce a five-year extension of the seasonal farm worker scheme.
10.30am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on foreign policy.
11am: The House of Keys, the Isle of Man’s equivalent of the House of Commons, is due to vote on assisted dying legislation.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
11.30am: David Lammy, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Lunchtime: The crime and policing bill is due to be published.
2.30pm: Sir Chris Wormald, the new cabinet secretary, gives evidence to the public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
2.30pm: Senior police officers give evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about last year’s summer riots.
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