Vera Baird DBE KC

Chair Criminal Cases Review Commission. Member Women’s Justice Bd.
Ex Victims’ Commissioner, Solicitor Gen & PCC. Fellow St Hilda’s Oxford. Writer. Labour Party

Tag: General Election

  • Labour Conference 2018 Blog.

    It was great to be at Labour Party conference in Liverpool – it’s always good to catch up with old friends, listen to debate and to see CLP delegates from across the country debating Labour Party policy and helping influence our party manifesto that may be needed sooner, rather than later.

    Conference once again shows us why we need a Labour government (not just to clean up the mess the Prime Minister is making of Brexit), the Tories are failing hard working families, real wages are still lower than what they were in 2010 and millions of working families are set to be worse off under Universal Credit. When in government Labour worked hard to end child poverty, since 2010 it has risen by over four million and the Institute for Fiscal Studies projects it will rise by a further million by the end of this Parliament.

    We know it is Labour that will tackle these issues head on, it’s our party that will support work and create a social security system for the many, not the few. The next Labour government will end austerity and introduce a Real Living Wage of £10 an hour by 2020. Labour will pause and fix universal credit and implement a new Child Poverty Strategy. Labour will also lift the Tories’ freeze on social security support which is penalising families, to ensure people get the support they need.

    Conference clearly heard Jeremy’s commitment to rebuild our public services: Years of austerity and privatisation have left our public services in crisis. Labour will rebuild our public services with new investment and properly paid staff. Labour will increase investment in the NHS and social care to tackle the crises caused by the Conservatives. Our party will stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding, introduce universal free school meals for primary school children and get class sizes down to under 30 for all 5, 6 and 7 year olds.

    Right across conference I heard people commenting on these ideas, there was a buzz in fringe meetings about wanting the next general election to be sooner rather than later – as if we get the keys to number 10, we can sort the mess that Tories have created, the next Labour government has committed to putting an extra 10,000 police officers back on the streets in England and Wales. We must never underestimate the Tories, they crave power – but for all the wrong reasons. When a General Election is called, I will be standing ready with you to campaign once again in constituencies across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, to show the difference our hard working Labour MPs makes. Our members, councillors and trade unionists are our greatest strength, the Shadow Foreign Secretary is on standby for the election to be called by the end of the year – if it is, we must do everything we can to rebuild and improve our public services and only Labour will deliver that change to benefit communities across our region and beyond.

  • Assessing the General Election result.

    Congratulations to all our MPs who were elected to Parliament last month, I look forward to working with them all to promote Northumbria Police and to lobby further for an open, transparent funding package for Northumbria Police.

    A hung Parliament will make the next few years interesting, especially for anyone who thrives on the engine room of politics. I hope a hung parliament will ensure that Theresa May and her government are scrutinised to ensure the best deal possible for policing.

    On June 21st we had the Queen’s Speech – with very little in it. It was a threadbare document and didn’t deliver the extra funding we so need to ensure we can put extra police officers on the street. Throughout the speech all we heard were promises of more austerity and cuts to vital public services. Local residents can be assured that I will continue to lobby government hard to ensure the very best deal possible for our region.

    Over the last few days, there has been comments made by government ministers stating that police funding has been protected. Let me be absolutely clear, as Police & Crime Commissioner for Northumbria I can categorically state that police funding has not been protected. Since 2010 to today, Northumbria Police force has needed to make savings and cuts of £136 million to manage reductions in funding, this is a real terms reduction in excess of 23%. For 2017/18 national direct funding for all forces was cut by 1.4%, £3.0m in Northumbria’s case, with local tax payers expected to cover the shortfall via an increase in precept on council tax.

    I have raised this issue time and time again with the Home Office, but it continues to fall on deaf ears. This Government has cut the funding for police forces across England and Wales. Local Policing is a priority here in Northumbria, it’s our eyes and ears of local communities, despite all the challenges put in our way by central government, top slicing of funds from our budget for government projects we have managed to protect local policing – for how long I can continue to do this I do not know. I have called upon the Home Secretary to sort the funding problem, it is imperative that counter terrorism policing is properly funded, and that funding is not diverted from mainstream policing as a result. The Home Office state that counter-terrorism funding would increase by 30% by 2022, that dates needs to be brought forward to NOW.

    I will continue to work with partners in the region to ensure that Northumbria Police continues to deliver the excellent policing service that you and your family deserve

  • Ed Miliband’s New Year Message


    “I want to wish you a very Happy New Year, from my family to yours. This is the season for new beginnings and hopes for the future. And Britain is ready for a new beginning. Because I don’t have to tell you that all over our country today, there are people working harder and harder, but standing still: families struggling with bills that are growing faster than their wages; young people, taking on mountains of debt to get a proper education, only to find themselves with no job at the other end; and an NHS where people are waiting longer and longer to get the care they need.

    “It doesn’t have to be this way. As this New Year dawns, we have the chance to change direction; a chance to build a recovery for all of Britain; to fight for policies that actually honour and reward hard work; and hold the banks and energy companies accountable. We have the chance- all of us together- to fight for a new plan that cuts our deficit responsibly, without threatening our NHS or short changing our children and their future. This year, we have the power to bring about the change working families all over Britain need. This isn’t about idle dreams or empty promises. It\’s about a real, concrete plan: a plan for a recovery which reaches your kitchen table.

    “In the coming months, I look forward to sharing our ideas with you about how we raise wages, give our young people a proper chance to get on, set fair rules for immigration and rescue our NHS. None of this will be easy or instant. But it is possible if we run the country in a different way: with a different idea, a different plan: putting working people first. And I know we will be a better, stronger and more prosperous country for it. So this is a moment of possibility for Britain. We have it within our grasp not just to see out the old year but to see out the old ways of running the country. Can we do it? Of course we can.

    “This coming year, we mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of the second world war, when our parents and grandparents overcame the most daunting odds to rebuild. After the war, badly battered and deeply in debt, Britain rose again. We built the NHS, a modern welfare state, homes for people to live in and still dealt with our debts; we set the stage for a generation of progress for working people. Today’s challenges are different. But if we could walk through those fires, we surely can meet the problems of our time. We can build a country that works for everyday people. Change is possible if we reach for it. If you are one of the millions of people who think Britain can do a lot better, I am with you. I am with you and this year, together, we can bring about the change we need.”

    You can also watch it here –