Just West Yorkshire: PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE
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Ratna Lachman on 10 June, 2008 12:45:00
 
The government has won a key House of Commons vote on its controversial proposal
to extend the terror detention limit to 42 days, with 315 MPs supporting the
measure and 306 opposing it.  Only 3 of the region’s Labour MPs joined their
Conservative and Liberal Democrat colleagues to vote against Gordon Brown’s
proposals. JUST commends the efforts of Labour MPs Mike Wood (Batley and Spen),
Linda Riordan (Halifax) and John Grogan (Selby) for voting to defend civil
liberties and human rights.
Advocates of civil rights in the region were closely monitoring the performance
of 4 regional MPs who had previously voted against Tony Blair’s proposals for
pre-charge detention of up to 90 days in 2005. Regrettably,  Michael Clapham
(Barnsley West and Penistone), Ann Cryer (Keighley), Christine McCafferty
(Calder Valley) and George Mudie (Leeds East) chose to vote in favour of the 42
day pre-charge detention plan despite clear misgivings by some members of the
police, security and criminal justice services.
JUST believes that this represents a lost opportunity; had they voted against
the 42 day detention plan, Labour would have effectively won by a margin of only
5 instead of 9 votes which it received from the Democratic Unionist Party in
alleged back room deals. This would have effectively undermined the detention
proposals as the majority of Labour backbenchers would have effectively voted
against the plan.
JUST’s Director Ratna Lachman said:MPs who voted against the plans showed
great courage in standing up to the enormous pressures they were subjected to in
an effort to prop up Gordon Brown’s contentious measures. The 42-day proposals
are an assault on our hard-worn civil liberties and will do little to earn the
trust of communities who already feel under siege. Holding people and not
charging them with a criminal offence for over a month on the basis of suspicion
rather than hard facts is a direct assault on our democratic values. The battle
against terrorism cannot be fought through draconian legislation but through
winning hearts and minds. Britain’s unique position as the leader in the
league table for holding suspects for a month longer than other Western
democracies should shame us as citizens of a country which gave birth to the
Magna Carta.
The battle against extending pre-charge detention will now move to the House of
Lords where it looks certain to be thrown out. Although 36 Labour MPs voted
against  the government, the disquiet felt by a large number of MPs with the
proposed legislation should offer a second opportunity for Yorkshire’s voters
to actively lobby their representatives against supporting the plans when it
comes back to Parliament.
JUST has compiled a list of how your MP voted to help you to lobby your
representative against voting for these regressive powers when it comes back to
Parliament next year
Yorkshire East		Greg Knight
CON
Against
Shipley
Philip Davies
CON
Against
Skipton & Ripon
David Curry
CON
Against
Vale of York
Anne McIntosh
CON
Against
Halifax
Linda Riordan
LAB
Against
Haltemprice & Howden
David Davis
CON
Against
Harrogate & Knaresborough
Phil Willis
LD
Against
Sheffield Hallam
Nick Clegg
LD
Against
Leeds North West
Greg Mulholland
LD
Against
Leeds North West
Greg Mulholland
LD
Against
Batley & Spen
Mike Wood
LAB
Against
Beverley & Holderness
Graham Stuart
CON
Against
Ryedale
John Greenway
CON
Against
Scarborough & Whitby
Robert Goodwill
CON
Against
Selby
John Grogan
LAB
Against