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Today, the Labour Party has launched an interactive map showing local police job losses resulting from the Tory-led Government's 20% police cuts.As you can see, the Metropolitan Police - which covers Edmonton - has already announced 2,337 job cuts that will take place over a timescale of three years, taking [...]

                The week-end press had started to wake up to the private sector squeeze which we have been talking about on this website  for the last year, the squeeze which was even heralded by the Bank of England itself. The high rate of inflation coupled with a low rate of wage [...]

I set off last Sunday afternoon for a three day visit to Washington and New York. My main purpose in going to Washington was to talk to people in the Obama administration and in Congress about the Balkans (the USA maintains a strong interest in countries like Bosnia & Herzegovina, [...]

  The Speaker allowed me a bit of licence today. There was an emergency question on the sacking of service personnel. My Question sought to raise the National Audit Office's report of last week on  the failures of supplies to be delivered on time. What Hansard does not report is [...]

Delyn MP and former Policing Minister David Hanson has expressed his concern at reports that 2,200...

Delyn MP and former Policing Minister David Hanson has expressed his concern at reports that 2,200 of the most experienced Police officers are to be lost due to the government’s huge frontloaded cuts to the police.   North Wales Police is one of many forces across the country that has been given [...]

The political elite in SW1 are out of touch with the public on law and order, according to the Sunday Telegraph.  In a poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft, 47 percent of voters think that no party has the right approach. [...]

Sombre news from the forgotten war in Afghanistan. Ten years of vast sacrifices in blood and treasure have achieved nothing. A mob is so anti-Western that peacemakers have been lynched. The Afghan Police were impotent spectators. Perhaps this will expose the foolish optimism of Liam Fox. He still believes that an [...]

I've written before about my efforts to ensure that public arrest warrants can be issued as smoothly as possible in universal jurisdiction cases. Yesterday I spoke in a debate in the House of Commons, with a subsequent vote, that attempted to make an amendment to the Government's proposals that would [...]

Isn't that convenient?  Facemasks might mean arrests in future, In particular at the royal wedding - apart from bridal veils.. Any other attempt to disguises features will prove guilt and offenders will be thrown into the slammer. Soft cop on Saturday will be hard cop for the nuptials. The reactions of the [...]

Today is the start of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson in the G20 protests last year.   The kettling tactics used by the police to squeeze protestors against the tripling of student fees a few months ago could easily have caused further fatalities, and certainly caused immense discomfort [...]

It's almost exactly a decade ago I first proposed the idea of directly elected police chiefs, in my pamphlet Direct Democracy: empowering people to make their lives better.This week the primary legislation to make it happen comes before the House of Commons. I've rarely been quite so keen to vote [...]

A demo with everything. Well done TUC.  500,000 people who walked 30 deep and took 4 hours to pass through Parliament Square. 24 news outlets broadcast ten hours of interviews with the sensible moderate young and old demonstrators. The pictures were strong and appealingThe speeches were restrained and persuasive.  The violent scenes [...]

David Hanson MP joins North Wales police on Saturday to back ivory surrender and protect...

David Hanson MP joins North Wales police on Saturday to back ivory surrender and protect elephants   (London, 24th March 2011) David Hanson, MP for Delyn, and Sgt Rob Taylor, Wildlife Officer of North Wales police force are to show their support for elephants by backing the International Fund for Animal Welfare [...]

Follow up to the press standards, privacy and libel report: evidence session: As a follow-up to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into Press Standards, Privacy and Libel[1] the Committee will be taking further evidence from John Yates, Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police on Thursday 24 March [...]

Chloe Smith will tomorrow be joining staff and pupils of Sprowston Junior School to take part in Aspirations Week and Red Nose Day fun. Sprowston Junior School have invited Chloe Smith MP to the finale of their 'Aspirations Week' programme to talk to the pupils about why she wanted to become [...]

  Only three MPs questioned the Prime Minister this afternoon on the developing nuclear crisis. David Cameron said he was not going to ‘rush to judgement’.  I asked him to avoid rushing to complacency on nuclear safety. ‘The pictures of the two explosions from Fukushima have already churned up deep-seated fears of [...]

Responding to revelations about Jonathan Rees Shadow Culture Secretary, Ivan Lewis said: “These revelations about Jonathan Rees raise questions about David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s judgment in appointing Andy Coulson to such a senior post as Director of Communications in Downing Street. “Both the Prime  Minister and his deputy need to answer questions about [...]

Thanks to all those who came to my residents meeting in Ward End last night – especially colleagues from West Midlands Police. We’ll post a full write up later but the three key local issues raised were; 1. Speeding and dangerous parking – especially folks dropping off children at school. We [...]

Yesterday several hundred protesters stormed a court in Birkenhead and "arrested" the judge.  Challenging the authority of a court like that is wrong. However, it does raise an interesting question; on whose authority does a judge preside? The simple answer is the Crown's.  Those we elect determine the law.  Judges [...]

Ridicule was called for today against gross ministerial incompetence.  I reminded Foreign Secretary William Hague of the Tories addiction to vain- glorious posturing.  ‘Does he recall the day when Minister Heseltine clad in a camouflage jacket and supported by 1500 soldiers and police landed by helicopter at Molesworth Peace Camp on a [...]