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: Theresa May

  • 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.

  • Brexit needs the best deal possible, not a no deal!

    As the dark nights start to draw in, I think the Prime Minister will be having many dark days – wondering how to control her rebels over Brexit. The government are making a monumental hash up of this process, it is stumbling from crisis to crisis and as they do this they are failing to see the bigger picture and the damage they are doing to communities across our region.

    In relation to policing, the Home Secretary needs to get a grip and start ensuring the various vital cooperation tools / mechanisms enabling the UK and the EU police forces to work together to prevent and tackle crime and threats to regional and national security are in place. He also needs to address the potential impact on the future incompatibility between EU and UK laws and the rights the UK could lose by falling out of the EU’s jurisdiction and legal framework. We need continued use of shared law enforcement databases and EU arrest warrants which have assisted Northumbria Police on many occasions, nationally last year 1,735 arrests were made in the UK and more than 10,000 people have been extradited since 2004. In 2017 the Schengen Information System (SIS) which is a European database used by the police to search for terrorist suspects, missing people and to check vehicle registrations and passport details was checked nearly 540 million times by police officers in the UK – it’s imperative that the Home Secretary and his department ensure that these services are still available to Northumbria Police after March 2019. Northumbria Police plays a vital role in national security and the safety of the public in our region and we can’t allow the good work police officers and staff undertake be put in jeopardy if the government doesn’t get its act together to ensure detailed arrangements are in place – we work with partners to tackle crime such as human trafficking and serious organised crimes and police officers need the tools to get the job done, not Boris and his cronies fighting for the next media headline.

    Theresa May now needs to move away from accepting a possible “no deal” outcome on Brexit, as this will cause chaos and confusion for policing and security services. She has a duty to deliver the best deal possible that will ensure the continued safety of residents. We are fast approaching March 2019 and policing needs considerable additional resources at a local and national level for policing to operate using non-EU services, and in all reality, whatever is put in place to deal with a no-deal outcome will be an inferior standard to what is already in place. It is hoped that the government and EU will have agreed terms for leaving by October – that’s very optimistic as there is a great more deal work to be done.

    I agree fully with Richard Martin, deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police and the NPCC lead on Brexit, when he said “it is in the interests of both sides to negotiate an arrangement that allows for continued close working, whether as part of existing mechanisms or negotiated alternatives. Without such arrangements, both UK police and EU member states will lose capabilities including identifying criminals and missing persons who cross our borders, detaining and swiftly surrendering suspects under EAWs, quickly identifying previous history of offending or the sharing biometric data”

    There is a job to be done, Theresa May needs to get on with it and I stand with other Labour Police and Crime Commissioners across England and Wales demanding it is done with the interests of safety and delivering effective policing running through the heart of any deal.

  • Tory “Summer of Discontent” – We need change NOW!

    The sun has certainly been blazing down – in the world of politics you could be forgiven for thinking this is Theresa May’s “Summer of Discontent” – she lost Boris from the Foreign Office, she lost David from the Brexit Office, her great plan for Brexit that she drew up at Chequers is now nigh on defunct and to add to her problems, she hosted Donald Trump and inflicted him on the Queen! There is a serious point to this – this government moves from crisis to crisis and is stumbling along at the behest of MPs like Jacob Rees Mogg, Tory politics at the moment reminds me of the final days of John Major’s government. We need to be on standby, I know the Labour Party is ready for whenever the General Election may be called, lets hope it is sooner rather than later.

    Towards the end of July the government announced it will raid the already under funded budgets of schools, hospitals, prisons, police services and armed forces for what amounts to a real terms pay cut for many of our public servants who work in them. The Tories continue to cut these services and the pay settlement that they announced will also mean further real terms pay cuts for our police officers, some teachers, doctors and dentists as inflation runs at 2.4%.

    The Government needs to get its act together when it comes to pay settlements – they need to be properly funded, Theresa May cannot expect me to raid what little reserves I hold for emergencies or headteachers to spend the full school budget with no room for contingencies. Let me say loud and clear, our police officers, police staff and all public servants deserve a pay rise and I want that to happen and the government needs to ensure they fund it by making the money available. The government have shown (again) that they don’t believe that officers are worthy of the recommendations of the independent pay review body, and the announcement is another real-terms cut to officers pay. I am annoyed that the Home Secretary is threatening yet more cutbacks to front line policing as he won’t pay for the increase.

    I will take this battle to the very heart of government, I will continue to do what ever I have to do to get the very best deal for our police officers and staff – however, on the past record of the Tory government I suspect not much will change. I had hoped that as the new Home Secretary’s brother is a senior police officer he knows the value of funding properly our police service.

    Our schools, prisons, hospitals and police have faced the brunt of Tory austerity, our public servants are over worked and under paid. Something has to change and I sincerley hope it will be a change of Prime Minister. Labour has committed to not accepting any pay deal that cuts the salaries of our public sector employees and starves the public services that we all rely upon of the funding they need. Labour’s manifesto at the last election pledged to end the cap and budgeted for above inflation pay increases for public sector workers. Under Labour, public sector pay will be set by genuinely independent pay review bodies or through collective bargaining.

    Our values are the right ones for our country, we need that General Electon to make it happen.

  • Remarkable U-turn forced on government by PCCs.

    Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, commenting on today’s Spending Review in which the Chancellor agreed to protect police funding in real terms over the next four years said:

    “This is a remarkable u turn. Only a few days ago sources close to the Chancellor showed him determined to cut policing by up to 25% again, giving rise to fear that we would lose much of the neighbourhood policing our public values so highly.

    “A concerted campaign by police and by Police and Crime Commissioners of both major political parties, heavily supported by the public has made George Osborne quickly come to terms with the post-Paris reality. It would have been the height of irresponsibility to slash funding causing the loss of thousands more police, on top of the 17000 already lost nationwide at a time when the French are increasing their force by 5000 officers. More police not less are needed if we are to prevent and, if the unthinkable happens, to cope with the kind of scattered but co-ordinated attacks we saw in Paris and Mali in the last two weeks

    “As ever the devil is in the detail. A letter from the Home Secretary this afternoon says that there will actually be a small cut of 1.3% over four years. It also indicates no funding to pay for the increase in cash for counter-terrorism announced, nor for the pledged enhancement to mobile communications, nor to fund collaborative back office savings. That suggests that these funds will be sliced off the top of our cash once it has been received. This could well mean less cash for local policing after all.

    “We will know Northumbria’s share of this funding in December. We really deserve a larger share than we currently receive. Following the government’s failure to complete a new funding allocation formula, our next challenge will be to make sure that we get that extra share and not the reduction of £16M which their latest proposal – now abandoned – would have led to.

    “Meanwhile it is good that Osborne has listened and while there are still cuts to be made from the last budget reductions, Northumbria Police will be sufficiently funded to continue the excellent job it does to protect the public.”

  • Vera’s View – Changes to police bail.

    The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 gave police the power to bail someone who has been arrested while they investigate an allegation. Its authors could never have imagined that today there would be an estimated 70,000 people on police bail and that 5,000 of those have been on bail for more than 6 months.

    A growing number of politicians, lawyers and former ministers have demanded reform. There are no time limits, which can punish people by restricting their freedom when there is only suspicion against them, not even a charge. The police can add conditions,for instance a curfew, a condition of residing at a particular address or a ban on associating with specific other people. Any one of these can have a hugely restrictive impact yet it is difficult to challenge their fairness. The government has cut legal aid so solicitors are less often at police stations to make representation. Custody sergeants are not particularly likely to listen to suspects themselves. However unfair or restrictive bail conditions are , it is a criminal offence to break one.

    Campaigners want to see a time limit of 28 days after which the measure must be reviewed by a Judge not the police.

    The police have a duty to investigate crimes in a timely manner.  Mr & Mrs X were arrested on 27th September 2012 and their homes and offices searched. They  were interviewed and bailed to return on March 12th 2013, with a condition of residence imposed and their computers and iPads seized.  They were re-bailed repeatedly until June 30th 2014 when  they were warned that the investigation is continuing but were released from bail. Clearly it has to be asked why they were ever on bail in the first place.  In West Mercia one person has been on bail for more than 723 days and will hear this month if their case is to be referred to court.

    The issue has come to the fore because a number of journalists arrested in the phone hacking scandal were on long term bail and then told there would be no further action. Similarly “celebrities” such as Jim Davidson and Freddie Starr who faced sexual abuse allegations were bailed didn’t go forward that make the headline.

    These recent long-term bail victims have Theresa May to thank.Three years ago the Home Secretary had the ideal opportunity to change the law. In May 2011, a curious High Court ruling in a case called Hookway said that nobody could be kept on police bail for more than 96 hours. This was in answer to the problem, even then, of people being kept on conditional bail for far too long, but it clearly it left the police with severe problems.

    The Home Secretary did nothing for weeks and then rushed through emergency legislation simply reversing the case and restoring the status quo. She made no attempt to find a balance between the liberties of the bail victims and the reasonable requirements of a police investigation. If there is to be legislation shortly, as campaigners demand, it means that she will have enacted two sets of law, within three years, having opposite effects and, in the meantime, hundreds of people have continued to suffer unnecessary limits on their freedom and arguably a breach of their right to be considered innocent until proved to be guilty. As the then policing Minister, Nick Herbert said, the Home Secretary had just allowed the police to operate on the same basis as they had for the last 25 years.

    In contrast, the College of Policing carried out a consultation and found that when people are bailed pre-charge, the effect on the police is that the investigation loses momentum.Officers know that they have the option of just repeatedly bailing people and with no pressure of time, other cases take priority. In the aftermath of this report, one police force challenged itself to cut bail times and easily succeeded. In light of those findings, from the police themselves, there really can be no argument against a time limit on pre-charge bail.

    In Northumbria, police are making more use of asking people to come to the police station voluntarily – this reduces the demand on custody suites too. If there has to be an arrest for any reason, people can still be released without bail while investigations continue. It is only if those two avenues are considered and reasonably rejected that it can possibly be justifiable to arrest and put a person onto pre-charge bail. In that situation, only necessity and not convenience, can justify the imposition of conditions and the bail itself must, obviously be time-limited.

    The campaign wants to see a time limit of 28 days but as a Police and Crime Commissioner I would not want to see officers spending time away from inquiries and going to court to justify extending bail when, for instance, it is frequently the case that forensic science reports take a number of weeks.

    A maximum of twelve weeks would give the police a reasonable time to investigate while not imposing greatly on personal liberty. The level of injustice currently being suffered by 70000 people many of whom will never be charged with an offence but are spending their lives on restrictive bail is such that, one opportunity having been wasted it is now urgent for the Home Secretary to introduce legislation to settle this issue

  • Northumbria receiving national recognition

    Special mention was made of the work being undertaken by Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird by the Home Secretary Theresa May at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ Annual Conference in Harrogate.

    Mrs May was recognising the work of Commissioners from across England and Wales when she made special mention of the Northumbria Commissioner.

    The Home Secretary was talking about engaging with local communities and recognised that Commissioners such as Mrs Baird had raised the profile of the role and shown that they could make a difference.

    She said: “As Vera Baird, the Police and Crime Commissioner in Northumbria, has said: ‘My post bag and the hundreds of meetings I go to make clear the public is now well aware of the presence of commissioners and very interested to hear about them and hold them to account.’”

    Mrs Baird added: “When I was elected, I promised to keep in touch with local residents by attending meetings and events and by being accessible – this is exactly what I have done and will continue to do. The mail that comes into my office far exceeds anything the Police Authority received.  It’s good that local residents see me as being accessible and a voice for them in ensuring Northumbria Police is delivering for local communities.”

    The Home Secretary also recognised that Police and Crime Commissioners can be innovative and forward thinking, saying: “In Northumbria, Vera Baird’s work has led to the creation of 165 Domestic and Sexual Violence Champions in workplaces, clubs and public spaces, among other important initiatives.”

    Mrs Baird added: “We will continue to drive change and implement changes that will make a difference to serious issues.  As Police and Crime Commissioner I have the ability to bring partners together to address issues and drive forward change – this has happened with the Vulnerability Training and the workplace Champions strategy.”

    As we head towards a General Election, all parties have put forward different ways of dealing with police governance.

    Vera Baird said: “It’s vitally important that police governance engages with the public and that they have a voice.  The Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is right to have this discussion, to learn what has gone well since the creation of PCCs and to ensure that the public continue to be fully engaged and have confidence in police governance and that police officers continue to serve the communities they work in.”