Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
Debate between Mike Wood and Sarah Jones(3 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Sarah Jones
I am not going to make a slightly political point about the right hon. Lady’s decision to attack the police and crime commissioner; I think that he does a good job and has served well for many years. As for the wider point that she made, as a west midlands MP, about what has happened and what it means, I absolutely share her concern.
Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
Does the Minister agree that the information that came to light over the weekend seems to suggest that a very worrying bias has entered the decision-making process, and that this has cast a stain on Birmingham’s reputation as a welcoming city as well as raising serious questions about the senior leadership of West Midlands police ?
Sarah Jones
I am not going to draw that conclusion today, but the hon. Gentleman can be assured that I am going to ensure that we get to the bottom of yesterday’s reporting and what happened. We often ask the police to make decisions that are almost impossible, and—here I am setting aside this particular case—we ask them to police protests in such a way that we are almost asking them to make political decisions on a day-to-day basis, which is very difficult for them. I should pay tribute to the many excellent public order police officers, who are very well trained and who work in such difficult circumstances. We ask a great deal of them, and I am grateful for the work that they do.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Mike Wood and Sarah Jones(1 month ago)
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Sarah Jones
As my hon. Friend will know, how resources are spent is a matter for the chief constable, but the Government are clear that visible policing is essential to restoring public confidence in the police, and we have invested £30 million since we came to power in new IT systems to make it easier for the public to report crime. That is also why we are ensuring that everyone has a named, contactable neighbourhood officer that they can call on.
Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
British Steel
Debate between Mike Wood and Sarah Jones(7 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Sarah Jones
I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to the situation at Whitehaven. As I have already said, British Streel told us directly that it could not use that coal because of the sulphur content and working coke ovens are needed to—
Sarah Jones
The hon. Gentleman says that is not true, but he needs to provide evidence of that, because that is what British Steel has told us, and it does not have coking ovens because they were closed under the previous Government.