25 July 2014

Whats Coming Up

Monday: There will be a possible vote on Baroness Boothroyds motion regarding
the Leader of the House. The motion welcomes the appointment of Baroness
Stowell as Leader of the House but regrets that the Prime Minister diminished the
standing of the House by failing to make her a full member of cabinet. If it occurs it
will be a free vote for the backbench members of the Lib Dem group.



Lord Sharkey is asking a question on the steps being taken to
ensure that debt management organisations serve the interests of
their clients.



Tuesday: There will be debates on Lib Dem amendments to the Armed Forces Bill.
The amendments will allow the proposed ombudsman to report systemic injustices.
The changes will also allow for family members to continue complaints after the
original complainant has died. Lord Thomas of Gresford & Lord Palmer will be
leading the debate.



Wednesday: Former music teach Lord German will be speaking in
the debate on music education for children with physical
disabilities.



The Standing Order that calls for hereditary by-elections in the Lords to be held
within three months of a vacancy will be lifted due to recess. The former Lib Dem
peer Robert Methuen passed away on the 7 July. A hereditary by-election will now
take place on 21 October 2014m in which a new Lib Dem peer will be elected to the
House of Lords.

The house will then rise until Monday 13 October

Full schedule here

Quote of the Week

We should be listening a little
more to young people, which I
do not think we are, about
which things work and which do
not. At a time when knife crime
is falling I cannot for the life of
me see why we should want to
impose this mandatory
obligation on the courts.

Baroness Hussein-Ece
(@meralhece) as part of an
impassioned argument from the
Lib Dem benches, highlights the
issues with proposed
mandatory sentencing

Tweet of the Week





Lord Paddick (@BrianPaddick)
Criticises Theresa Mays
approach to building
relationships with the police.


Next weeks bills

Criminal Justice & Courts Bill
Committee Stage

Armed Forces
Report Stage

Last Weeks Business
The Lib Dems fight their corner on knife crime

Monday saw Lib Dem peers argue against proposed mandatory
sentencing (Clause 25) for those caught on two occasions in possession
of knives. Amendments were introduced in the Commons to the
Criminal Justice & Courts Bill, the Lib Dems opposed the changes in both
houses.

In the Lords the Lib Dem benches strongly argued against mandatory
sentencing. A number of peers contributed to the debate successfully
persuading 59 Crossbench (and 24 Labour) peers to vote against the
clause whilst only 5 Crossbenchers supported it.

Lord Marks outlined the Lib Dem position: Our reasons
for opposing this clause in the House of Commons and
again in your Lordships House are fourfold. First,
mandatory minimum sentences are wrong in principle in
all but a few special cases, because they remove judicial
discretion and fail to allow for individual circumstances.
Secondly, the clause is unnecessary, because knife crime is already
falling, and runs counter to the aim of rehabilitating offenders. Thirdly,
the clause would risk doing real harm to those affected by it, because many who should not be in prison would be
imprisoned, damaging large numbers of principally young lives. Finally, the clause would be discriminatory in its
effect, even if that is not the intention of its promoters, and so would risk doing serious damage to community
relations in this country.

Lord Paddick added: The overwhelming majority of offenders rarely thought about the consequences of their crimes
before they acted; they had no intention of getting caught, so the legal penalty was irrelevant.

Baroness Hussein-Ece also said: The idea that a 14 or 15 year-old boy who feels scared and
vulnerable because he may not be in one gang or another but feels the need, however wrong it
isof course it is wrong, but there is no rationality hereto go out with a knife should then have
his life ruined as a result of making one mistake is not something that we should support.



Government minister backs Lib Dem call for action on revenge porn

Lib Dems Lord Marks, Baroness Grender, Baroness Brinton & Baroness Barker all spoke in the debate on the
amendment that they tabled calling for a specific offence to created covering revenge porn. Lord Faulks, the minister
leading the debate, concluded by saying: The posting or publication of intimate material is despicable and cowardly,
and we must ensure that such behaviour is appropriately dealt with by the criminal law.

This is one of the strongest signals yet of government action on revenge porn. A campaign that has been strongly
supported by Lib Dems in both houses, most prominently Julian Huppert MP.

On the blog this week:

Ministers

Baroness Kramer welcomed the start of
production of the Thameslink trains.
Hundreds of manufacturing jobs will be
created in the north-east as part of the
governments 6.5 billion Thameslink
programme.

Baroness Northover attended the Girl
Summit earlier this week promoting an
end to FGM alongside fellow Lib Dems
Nick Clegg and Lynne Featherstone.

Baroness Randerson is supporting Welsh
athletes at the Commonwealth Games in
Glasgow. She will also be attending the
closing ceremony on 3 August.

o Margaret Sharp: careers guidance and education in schools
o Roger Roberts: exit checks and the Eurotunnel: a logistical nightmare



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