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Greg Barradale

10 Jan, 5 tweets, 2 min read

🏦The Lords is due to vote on this amendment to the #PCSCBill today, to give the inquiry into Sarah Everard's death statutory powers

Without this, campaigners say it can't address systemic police violence. It can't compel witnesses to testify either

bills.parliament.uk/bills/2839/sta…

@centreWJ

Priti Patel was threatened with legal action by @centreWJ over this last year

“There are fears that without the powers a statutory inquiry would have any findings will come late, will be inadequate, and ultimately will not fix the systemic issues”

bigissue.com/news/activism/…

Coincidentally, the Home Secretary has just said that the first part of the inquiry will report this year

The first part will look into Wayne Couzens' conduct and how previous allegations against him were handled

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

The second part is where campaigners think the chance to examine systemic issues of police violence could be missed

Only issues raised in the first part of the inquiry - relating specifically to Wayne Couzens and allegations against him - will be examined here

And should the amendment - put forward by Labour peer Baroness Chakrabarti - not succeed, the Home Office is already facing High Court proceedings over its decision not to give the Sarah Everard inquiry statutory powers.

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Greg Barradale

@GregBarradale

11 Jan

@brianpaddick

🚨At nearly half past midnight, the House of Lords voted to reject a move to give the inquiry into Sarah Everard's death greater powers

"We must assume that the government want an inquiry that drags on for years and does not answer the fundamental questions" @brianpaddick

https://twitter.com/GregBarradale/status/1480541494377394178

@natalieben

The timing of the vote meant just 129 peers voted - three times less than voted on the first division of the day

The votes of Conservative peers, who'd stayed late at night, also rejected a move to have this amendment voted on at a later date, put forward by @natalieben

On the Home Office's current position, crossbencher Lord Carlile said: "The Home Secretary is saying that it would be possible to convert it to a statutory inquiry in certain circumstances. That is one of the most meaningless statements in this context that I have ever heard."

Read 7 tweets

Greg Barradale

@GregBarradale

5 Jan

Outside the House of Lords, where a growing crowd is protesting against the Nationality and Borders Bill

A speaker says it's "part of the global crackdown on activists and marginalised people"

Another speaker says the bill is being used to silence dissent

"A message for Priti Patel: you have not righted the wrongs, you've caused more suffering"

Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon with a message for the Home Secretary on the #BordersBill #NABB

Read 4 tweets

Greg Barradale

@GregBarradale

4 Jan

THREAD: Two months ago, 50 people were detained to be deported to Jamaica. Yet only four were on board as the plane left

Since then, I've spoken to detainees, lawyers and activists - and uncovered the human cost of the flights

Here's what I learned👇

bigissue.com/news/activism/…

"It’s like you’ve got some kind of illness and you’re just waiting to die"

That's how Mark Burkett, who served time in prison and was released, describes life battling the Home Office

He arrived in the UK, has two children, and has been detained for deportation twice since 2019

Priti Patel blames "galling last-minute legal claims" for the fact these flights leave almost empty

But those I spoke to say it's because access to legal help is a major challenge - it's often only in the days before deportation that detainees get proper solicitors

Read 10 tweets

Greg Barradale

@GregBarradale

31 Dec 21

Ah why not, it's been a weird year but here's some stuff I'm proud of:

Did some work I'm really proud of in my last months at The Tab. This story on unis hiring investigators to deal with students accused of sexual assault made the nationals:
thetab.com/uk/2021/06/14/…