Sam Townend Articles

A return to Labour’s tradition of championing civil liberties is welcome both in principle and for electoral reasons, but it must be coupled with practical measures to reassure and help those who face crime and antisocial behaviour in order fully to tackle ‘Southern Discomfort’ with Labour.

As a former candidate in a marginal constituency I want a Labour party leader who, consistent with our values, offers the two linked things that will secure victory for Labour at the next general election: leadership and vision. I think those two things are best offered by Ed Miliband.

So, surprise surprise, £2 billion of cuts are to come from the ministry of justice – much in the next 12-24 months. The PCS union estimates that 15,000 civil servants will lose their jobs. So where will Ken Clarke’s cuts come from?

The Coalition is utterly riven on what to do with the Human Rights Act.  For the right-wing press the Act encapsulates all that they hate and caricature about Labour in Government:  They portray the Human Rights Act as combining both a ‘sell out’ to Europe and as pure weakness in their classic “dog-whistle” policy areas of asylum, immigration, benefits and crime.