4 Andrew Love debates involving the Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Love Excerpts
Tuesday 3rd February 2015

(9 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I will, naturally, look at any submission that comes across my desk. I am sure the Minister responsible will look at that very carefully when it arrives.

Andrew Love Portrait Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
- Hansard - -

How many courts, closed since May 2010, remain on the estate undisposed of? What is the cost to the taxpayer of this policy?

Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I do not have the exact figures in front of me. I will write to the hon. Gentleman.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Love Excerpts
Tuesday 18th March 2014

(10 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Grayling Portrait Chris Grayling
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

We continue to involve the Mayor and the Mayor’s office specialising in justice matters closely in our plans for prisons and probation, but I urge my hon. Friend to be careful about what he wishes for. There are others who are keen to take over MOPAC—the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime—and I have more concerns about their ability to do so. To pick an example purely at random, the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) was asked recently about his ambitions to be Mayor of London, and he replied that

“if I was at the edge of the box and the ball came my way and I thought I had the best chance of scoring then I might go for it”.

That might explain why he has written a manifesto for London that has no justice policies at all.

Andrew Love Portrait Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
- Hansard - -

Does the Minister think the Mayor of London should be given more funds from the justice system, when all he seems to want to spend it on is water cannon?

Lord Grayling Portrait Chris Grayling
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

It is important that, where we can do so, we ensure we have the right support for a range of services in London, including those for victims. That is the kind of discussion that the Mayor of London and I have been having and will continue to have.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Love Excerpts
Tuesday 15th May 2012

(12 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Shailesh Vara Portrait Mr Vara
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

We certainly are considering a British Bill of Rights. We would take into account the various issues concerning Britain and ensure that freedoms and liberties were enhanced, so we would hope that a Bill of Rights would build on the terms of the convention. On the specific measures, we are signed up to the convention, so the whole of it would apply.

Andrew Love Portrait Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
- Hansard - -

Will the hon. Gentleman confirm, after giving that last reply, that there are no long-term plans to leave the European Court of Human Rights or to amend or leave the convention?

Shailesh Vara Portrait Mr Vara
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I can happily tell the hon. Gentleman that we have no plans to leave the convention. We are signed up to it, along with the other 46 nations, but where we see the need for change, we will ensure that those changes take place, in the same way that changes took place in Brighton last month.

Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

Andrew Love Excerpts
Wednesday 30th March 2011

(13 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Ann Clwyd Portrait Ann Clwyd
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Well, the other reason the Government gave for the change in the law is, I suppose, the real reason, in respect of which my hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head: it is the Tzipi Livni case. The Government, as the Foreign Secretary and the Justice Secretary explained, are changing the law because of an Israeli politician. Changing the law at the request of a foreign Government does not, I would argue, enhance our ability to act as an international peace broker. It does exactly the opposite by undermining our credibility to speak as a country that takes human rights seriously.

Andrew Love Portrait Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
- Hansard - -

Is it not incongruous that at the same time as we continue to speak here about human rights, justice and democracy in the middle east, we also have to move this particular amendment?

Ann Clwyd Portrait Ann Clwyd
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

Indeed. I think it sends the wrong signal at this particular time. I hope I can persuade many more hon. Members of the force of my argument.

In today’s The Guardian online, there is an article, stating that coalition criminal justice plans

“make a mockery of universal jurisdiction”.

It continues:

“Giving suspects from ‘protected countries’ immunity from war crimes arrests would turn the UK into a safe haven for suspects”.

That was written by an eminent human rights lawyer, Daniel Machower. He goes on to say:

“A legal case for changing the current judicial process, through the senior district judge, has not been made out and parliament is entitled to reject the proposed change on that basis alone.”

I have my own views on the Tzipi Livni case. I happen to regard the crimes documented in the Goldstone report as pretty damning. The very strength of the current system, however, is that it does not matter what my view is: it is a decision taken by a court without political considerations and on the basis of the evidence alone. That is the system that the Government are going to undermine.

--- Later in debate ---
Andrew Love Portrait Mr Love
- Hansard - -

Is my hon. Friend not concerned about this? We have been told that the DPP will consult the Attorney-General, who can, of course, consult his Cabinet colleagues, but all that will take place behind closed doors. Is there not a real case to answer about the politicisation of the process?

Lord Coaker Portrait Vernon Coaker
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

That would have been a real danger with the initial proposal concerning the Attorney-General—my hon. Friend is right to highlight that concern—but when the DPP gave evidence to the Public Bill Committee he was very clear about the thresholds that he would use and the way in which he would conduct his business. My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue, but the moving of responsibility for this area from the Attorney-General to the DPP is a significant step forward.

Andrew Love Portrait Mr Love
- Hansard - -

The core of this matter is that the DPP will consult the Attorney-General about the public interest test, and that will be the subject of debate, not the standard of evidence that is available. I return to the same question. As that process will take place behind closed doors, is my hon. Friend not concerned about the politicisation of the process?

Lord Coaker Portrait Vernon Coaker
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The point that I am making is that the DPP’s involvement is to prevent that politicisation, and I was reassured by what he said when he gave evidence to the Committee.