Illegal Migration Bill

Debate between Lord Berkeley of Knighton and Lord Paddick

Committee stage
Wednesday 7th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)]

My Lords, my point, which I hope is a helpful one, follows on from what the noble Baroness has said but also from what the Minister said about the need for interpreters; he was talking about Clause 55, but I can see the same thing happening here.

A few months ago in your Lordships’ House we discussed the whole nature of the qualification of interpreters. We came to a conclusion that, sadly, this was often wanting. Justice and democracy are served only if people who have to make a case for themselves are understood, and if they are talking to someone who can put their case cogently. My question to the Minister is: when he talks about interpreters, is he talking about people who will be adequately qualified?

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, as other noble Lords have said, there is an overlap between the last group of amendments and this one. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, for setting out specifically what the issues are here, particularly the additional complications of the potential incompatibility of the Bill with the European Convention on Human Rights, and therefore workers being asked to act in contravention of people’s human rights. There have been instances where whole aeroplanes were chartered and immigration officers have accompanied people who were being removed, but here we are talking potentially about removals in numbers that we have never seen before—if the Government are to be believed.

The Government seem to be asking transport workers, who have not been trained in self-defence, to safely detain people or safely restrain them if they resist. They are not paid to do that sort of work or cope with those sorts of risks. What about employer liability insurance? What happens if a fight develops between a transport worker and one of the people being deported, and the person being deported ends up suing the transport worker? What about indemnity? What indemnity are the Government going to provide to these transport workers, who are effectively being used as agents of the state?

Again, what consultation has taken place with trade unions and transport operators around the feasibility of the proposals contained in the Bill? As the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, pointed out, and as my noble friend Lord German pointed out in the last group, there was the potential for seafarers to be prosecuted under the Nationality and Borders Bill if they attempted to rescue people from drowning in the English Channel, if they believed that they were illegal migrants. Now we are talking about potentially prosecuting transport workers who fail to act as agents of the state in detaining people for removal. How can that possibly be part of what a transport worker signs up for when they take on their role?

As my noble friend Lord German said in the last group, the UK Chamber of Shipping has written to noble Lords. The overall problem with this measure can be summed up when it says:

“We are greatly concerned about these clauses becoming law which could require the ship’s master and crew to detain passengers, something which they are not trained to do, at the direction of the Government”.


As I said on the last group, this whole clause seems to be an act of desperation and something that the Government really need to think about again.

Public Order Bill

Debate between Lord Berkeley of Knighton and Lord Paddick

Report stage
Tuesday 7th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, there cannot be any legitimate objection to journalists, legal observers, academics or even members of the public who want to observe and report on protests or on the police’s use of their powers related to protests. We have seen in incident after incident how video footage of police action, whether from officers’ own body-worn video or that taken by concerned members of the public, has provided important evidence in holding both protesters and police officers to account for their actions. The need for this amendment is amply evidenced by the arrest and detention of the accredited and documented broadcast journalist, Charlotte Lynch, while reporting on a Just Stop Oil protest. It is all very well for noble Lords to say, “Well, if somebody was arrested in the way that Charlotte Lynch was arrested, it was unlawful”, but the fact is that Charlotte Lynch was taken out of the game for five hours and detained in a police cell, where she could not observe what was going on. We need upfront protection for journalists and observers, and not to rely on a defence that they can put after they have been handcuffed, arrested, and put in a police cell even though they are in possession of a police-accredited press pass. We support this amendment and will vote for it if the noble Baroness divides the House.

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)]

My Lords, there is something to be said for semaphore in the wider sense. That is, one of the problems that I think many noble Lords have had with the Bill is that it is sending a signal, as the noble Lord, Lord Patten, just suggested, against freedom of expression. Certainly, we need clarity in making law—I have changed my mind on two amendments today thanks to the interventions of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope. However, I will not change my mind on this one, because I think back to those women who were dragged around at the protest after Sarah Everard’s murder and who themselves filmed what was going on, to the disgust of the whole nation. Sometimes semaphore is very important. We are looking not just at the fine lines of the law today but at the message we are sending to the population: that we are a free society and that we want a free press. I will support the amendment.

Metropolitan Police Service

Debate between Lord Berkeley of Knighton and Lord Paddick

Wednesday 29th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for repeating the Statement made by another Minister in the other place.

The letter from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services to the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Stephen House, apparently contains a catalogue of failings. These include not only the misogyny, racism and homophobia characterised by the tragic murder of Sarah Everard; the failings in the tragic murders of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, including the sharing of selfies taken with their dead bodies; the revolting messages shared on a Charing Cross police station WhatsApp group; and the failings in relation to the murders of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor, written off as self-administered drug overdoses instead of the actions of a serial killer because they were gay men, but also the failings in day-to-day policing.

Besides theses high-profile cases, can the Minister confirm an estimated 69,000 crimes are going unrecorded each year, less than half of crime recorded within 24 hours, and virtually none recorded when anti-social behaviour is reported? If not, why does the Minister not have the content of the HMIC letter? Besides the strip-search of a schoolgirl because it was thought she smelt of cannabis, and the high-profile, controversial stop and searches—such as that of a champion athlete—can the Minister confirm that, in 25% of stop and searches, officers failed to record the grounds for the search in sufficient detail to enable an independent judgment to be made as to whether reasonable grounds existed?

And this Government want to give the police more powers, including those for the police to conduct stop and search without having to have any reasonable grounds. Can the Minister explain why this is, when they cannot be trusted with the powers they already have—powers the police have not even asked for?

In the HMICFRS inspection after the Daniel Morgan report, HMICFRS concluded that the Metropolitan Police’s approach to tackling corruption was not fit for purpose. I was a Metropolitan Police officer for over 30 years, and I am appalled by the litany of failings identified by HMICFRS. I am angry that so many honest, decent police officers have been failed by a minority of their colleagues, but mainly by their chief officers who have not addressed these failings.

I do not accept the view that the majority of police officers do not want to do the right thing, but I also do not deny the lived experience of black people and women in particular at the hands of the police. I accept that, without effective leadership which challenges racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of corruption, it becomes more difficult for good officers to do the right thing. I also accept that, without adequate resources, it is more difficult for decent, honest, hard-working police officers to provide the service they want to provide —the service the public deserve.

The Home Secretary faces a dilemma. The Metropolitan Police Service needs a brave, courageous leader who is prepared to speak out, tell the truth and bring about seismic change in the service—just the sort of person the Home Secretary does not want. It needs someone who is going to make it difficult for her and the Government when they expose the true nature and extent of the Met’s shortcomings, and when they speak out when the Home Secretary and the Government fail to give them the backing they need in order to succeed.

Neil Basu, for example, currently the most senior serving Asian officer, has been a champion of diversity and has an outstanding track record, but he failed to be appointed as the new head of the National Crime Agency despite being on a shortlist of two, both of whom were rejected by the Home Secretary. Why?

The last-minute, no-notice political attack on the Mayor of London by the Minister in the other place was disgraceful. If anything, does this not show the ineffectiveness of the system of police and crime commissioners? It should be noted that, of the six forces in special measures, four have Conservative PCCs, and the two others have directly elected mayors.

The Metropolitan Police Service does not need another commissioner who promises not to rock the boat, who goes along with cuts in police resources that impact on operational effectiveness, and who does not stand up to the Home Secretary and the Government. Decent, honest, hard-working police officers deserve better. When will the Government appoint the right person, with the right backing, to turn this appalling situation around?

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)]

My Lords—

Data Protection Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Berkeley of Knighton and Lord Paddick

Report: 2nd sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Wednesday 13th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton]

This is not simply about money; it is what it does to your reputation. That is much more important than money.

[Lord Paddick]

I am grateful for the noble Lord’s intervention. Obviously, despite the fact that we won the court case in the end and that there was a small apology in the said newspaper—I think it was on page 6—I was not able to recover the serious damage done to my reputation. I am grateful to be standing here in the House today to address noble Lords on this issue, but there are many people whose reputations have not recovered.