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May 6 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Waking up to news that the Tories are taking something of a battering in London.

But if Labour takes control of true blue Westminster, Tory since the borough was created in 1964, that’s really a result to cause a stir.
It’s looking that way… Westminster #LocalElections
This is into swing territory here in Westminster. Hyde Park ward is historically truly blue. #LocalElection2022
Breaking news: Labour has WON WESTMINSTER COUNCIL. This is a huge coup for Labour in a historically blue area. h/t @hannahneary16

Surely leaves this wide open now for the general election where a heavy Lib/Lab split vote was the reason the Tories held their seat in 2021.
Congratulations @AdamHug. Westminster City Council’s new leader.

Labour have pushed out the Tories in this true blue borough. Very good news for @Keir_Starmer this morning.
Sorry, it’s too early. I meant 2019 general election obviously. This was the split at the last GE for City of London and Westminster.
And on point - a heavily split Lib/Lab vote is what kept the Tories in City of London & Westminster at the last general election. It’s why Oliver Dowden tried to allege there was something wrong with any progressive pact last weekend.
Congratulations @AdamHug on a really significant - and historic - win in Westminster.
More on the message for Labour/Lib Dems on electoral pacts…

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More from @WomaninHavana

Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
May 3
This is quite some leak from the US Supreme Court - on so many levels.

Hoping that this really does not reflect the final judgment on abortion rights in the US. Hope doesn’t feel quite enough these days as the forceful impact of these turbulent years becomes felt. #RoeVsWade
The piece contains the full draft of the leaked opinion. I haven’t yet read it all but it contains some extraordinary and regressive material which will turn constitutional equality protections on their head in the US, & which will chart also a course beyond abortion rights.
The more I read - even in draft - the more frightening this is. That long held rights can be so precarious, so easily overturned under the guise that the rule of law demands it - the consequences are shocking for American women, & Americans.They will reverberate around the world.
Read 4 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Apr 25
#Turkey The charges & the trial of #OsmanKavala have been a farce, a naked attempt to silence a critic. Neither the ECtHRjudgment, the @coe sanction or the clear evidence of Kavala have brought him justice.

A devastating verdict, for Kavala, but also for Turkey’s justice system.
My thoughts are with #OsmanKavala, his co-defendants and all of their families and loved ones as this awful verdict reaches them.

Beyond devastating for them, and so many around the world who hoped there may yet be a sliver of hope. #Turkey

Courtroom sketch: @murattbasol Image
“We won’t surrender”: Human rights lawyer, Can Atalay, defiant in the Istanbul courtroom after the #OsmanKavala verdict #GeziDavası #GeziTrial

Justice denied flagrantly, shockingly.

A harsh blow also for all who hoped for justice & the rule of law to prevail in Turkey today.
Read 4 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Apr 21
Seriously, why would a British Prime Minister visit & pose on a JCB bulldozer as India suffers a wave of appalling violence where the homes & businesses of Muslims are illegally demolished by bulldozers? The Supreme Court heard this today.

The optics, the messaging - dreadful.
The grave reality on the ground in India is a marked erosion of human rights and the rule of law & the normalisation of hostility towards minority communities by means of deliberate laws and practices. Here the former @FT India correspondent gives an eg of that normalisation.
This powerful lecture by courageous Indian editor @svaradarajan gives an important overview as to the state of Indian democracy & human rights under Modi, worsened by a weak judiciary amidst growing insecurity for India’s Muslim & minority communities. thewire.in/media/an-sos-f…
Read 4 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Apr 14
Just caught up with the full Rwanda announcement. Full of ill-thought through contradictions, no workable detail and so unethical, never mind very vulnerable to legal challenge, the latter may well be the point. Blame the foreigners, blame lawyers, blame the law, leave the ECHR…
Incredibly depressing, if now predictable, to see the govt cynically treating law & lawyers upholding the law, (domestic & international) & the rights of vulnerable people, as fair political game, again.

A deliberate unravelling of confidence in those that hold them to account.
Imagine if Johnson had described this country’s “formidable army of lawyers” as a credit to the country he boasts is world-leading, essential to its strong rule of law traditions, acting in their client’s best interests before a confident, independent judiciary…imagine that.
Read 6 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Apr 13
Quite apart from the inhumanity & lack of ethical policy, or the naked cynicism, or irony in Johnson complaining about unlawful activity, who does he plan to send to Rwanda? The Ukrainian refugees his govt hasn’t processed, the Afghan refugees still stranded in hotel lobbies…?
When the details of this new low in British policy are announced tmw, Johnson must be grilled on the crucial *details* of offshoring e.g.
- is this indiscriminate or to whom will it apply?
- safeguarding for vulnerable people & minors?
- permanent or temporary?
- cost? Etc.
Important to view this new offshoring plan alongside the government’s #NationalityAndBordersBill.

UNHCR: Bill would penalise most refugees seeking asylum in the UK, creating an asylum model that undermines established international refugee protection rules & practices.
Read 4 tweets
Schona Jolly QC Profile picture
Mar 30
UKSC judges Lords Reed & Hodge have resigned with immediate effect from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal - saying they can’t continue to sit without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from political freedom & freedom of expression. supremecourt.uk/news/role-of-u…
Many are asking - why now?

Foreign Sec Truss has claimed responsibility in saying the “benefit they bring to the court as excellent jurors is now outweighed by the risk of legitimising a system that enforces Beijing’s laws, which are being used as a tool of oppression.”
Truss: UK govt has withdrawn political support for British judges sitting on Hong Kong’s top court. She expressly cites unjustified threats made by HK authorities to @hk_watch under the #NSL.

The threats, like the sanctions against UK lawyers & parliamentarians are outrageous.
Read 6 tweets

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