09 February 2017

Week in Brief: UK

POLICE SURVEILLANCE: The Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which supervises police surveillance activities, has found that Cleveland Police broke the law when carrying out investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.  The force had monitored a police officer who was suing it over racism and also monitored the phones of journalists from The Northern Echo and carried out surveillance on a solicitor.  It is thought that the force may have to pay substantial sums in damages as a result of the ruling.

BREXIT: Parliament voted to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by 498 votes to 114.  47 Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn and voted against the measure.  Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary (who wants the UK to remain in the EU), did not attend Parliament to vote; she said that she had a migraine.  Her absence has annoyed some Labour MPs who allege that she has a “special deal” with Corbyn which means that she can avoid controversial votes without being disciplined.  The irritation has risen to such a level that some MPs are calling for her resignation from her post as shadow home secretary.

There are reports, confirmed by the Labour Party, that 7,000 members have resigned because of Jeremy Corbyn’s instructions to Labour MPs to support the legislation necessary to trigger Article 50. The resignations are, apparently, mainly in London.

Senior figures in the Labour Party have indicated that they will not block the legislation necessary to trigger Article 50, even if their proposed amendments to the bill at present going through Parliament are not adopted.

MPs in the Conservative Party have insisted that the terms of disengagement, when finalised with the EU, must enable EU citizens already in the UK to stay.

CHINA: Criticisms have been levelled at the Labour MP Barry Gardiner, after it was revealed that he had received benefits worth £180,000 from a law firm which acts as the main legal adviser to the Chinese Embassy.  Mr. Gardiner said that he had never been improperly influenced by the law firm in connection with his parliamentary role.

ECONOMY: The Bank of England has raised its economic forecast for 2017 from 1.4% to 2%.  Commentators have pointed out that in 2016 the Bank, after the result of the referendum became known, had predicted a downtown or possibly a recession.

RAIL DISPUTE: An agreement has been reached between Southern Rail and ASLEF which has ended the recent series of strikes on commuter lines into London.  However, no agreement has been reached with the RMT, which has criticised ASLEF for concluding the deal.

ARMED FORCES: The Sunday Times has published a severe criticism of the state of the UK’s armed forces, which, it says, means that the UK would not be able to defend itself against an attack or invasion by a hostile country.  Some of the defects listed include: noisy surface ships which can be heard 100 miles away, the army’s new light armoured vehicles which are too big to fit into the RAF’s main transport planes, watchkeeper drones (ordered 12 years ago) which are not yet fully operational because of technical problems and the RAF’s new spy planes which cannot do all that was expected of them and may be vulnerable to cyber attack.

Paul Shiner, who worked with the law firm Public Interest Lawyers, has been struck off the roll of solicitors.  22 charges of unprofessional conduct were upheld against him and he was ordered to pay costs of £250,000.  The final bill will certainly be higher and he may be asked to repay £3.2 million which his firm received in legal aid when bringing false claims against British soldiers.

Another solicitor, Martyn Day, a senior partner of Leigh Day, and one of his  colleagues at the same firm, have been charged with disciplinary offences.  They face 19 charges of misconduct in connection with the claims brought by Iraqi citizens against the British Army.

HEALTH TOURISM: In an effort to restrict so-called “health tourism”, the Government has announced that, in future, hospitals will be obliged, as a matter of law, to charge immigrants and other foreign patients before they receive treatment in the NHS.  The change will come into effect in April and will apply to non-urgent treatment and not to emergencies.

ABUSE: Three teachers who used to work at St. Paul’s School in London and at its prep school in the 1970s have been sent to prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing boys.  Police started an investigation after The Times published allegations about sexual abuse at the schools.

 

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