Tuesday, February 05, 2008
On Monday, I attended the Holocaust Memorial Day event held at Wandsworth Town Hall. The programme organised this year to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, was very moving. I was really pleased to see the four students who accompanied me to Auschwitz talk so movingly about their experience and the lessons that we all need still need to learn. Recent atrocities in Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sudan show us that we all still need to do much more. We all should reflect on our own attitudes to those who we regard as different from ourselves and commit to working towards the elimination of discrimination within our community. To read more about my visit to Auschwitz, click HERE.
One of the responsibilities I have as a Minister in the Government Whips Office is responsibility for the Ministry of Justice. On Monday there were Justice Questions in the Chamber, which is an opportunity for MP’s to hold Justice Ministers to account. This occurs approximately every 6 weeks.
Most of February is being taken up with scrutiny by Parliament of the European Union Bill. The whole of the House of Commons is acting as the Committee stage of the Bill. If the Bill is passed it will give effect to the Treaty of Lisbon in UK law. The Treaty of Lisbon ensures a bigger role for national parliaments in the EU and a new voting system which gives the UK a bigger say; greater transparency of what the EU can do; more efficient institutions; a full-time President of the European Council and representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and more focus on global issues. Our government will still have control over important policy areas such as justice and home affairs, including policing and control of our borders, as well as social security, tax, foreign policy and defence (these are the ‘red lines’ you may have heard the Prime Minister referring to). This Treaty is important because it will help the EU work more effectively, and when the EU works well it can help us get things we all want: more jobs and more opportunities, a safer society and greater influence for the UK in the most important issues of the day. The Tories however are still arguing strongly for a referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon; indicating they would campaign hard for a 'no' vote. Were this to succeed it would leave Britain on the outskirts of Europe, marginalised and exposed, subject to EU laws but with no power to influence them.
I am always keen to make Parliament more accessible to people and so I am happy to take part in an innovative scheme called “ParliaMentors” organised by the Three Faiths Forum. 9 MP’s from the 3 main parties have been assigned a group of three students (one Jewish, one Christian and one Muslim) to mentor through a project on political engagement which they will be working on tighter. You can read more about this project by following this link to an article in the Times this week.
Private Members' Bills are Public Bills introduced by MPs and Lords who aren’t government ministers. On Friday I was in the Chamber when the House of Commons approved the 2nd Readings of two PMBs which had been proposed by colleague MP’s. The first, moved by Sharon Hodgson MP, was The Special Education Needs (Information) Bill which aims to establish best practice and provide better quality information from one principal source about special educational needs. The second Bill was moved by my neighbour and good mate Keith Hill MP. He tabled the Health & Safety (Offences) Bill. The Bill will increase fines for health and safety breaches to £20,000 and widen the range of offences for which prison is a penalty.
One of the responsibilities I have as a Minister in the Government Whips Office is responsibility for the Ministry of Justice. On Monday there were Justice Questions in the Chamber, which is an opportunity for MP’s to hold Justice Ministers to account. This occurs approximately every 6 weeks.
Most of February is being taken up with scrutiny by Parliament of the European Union Bill. The whole of the House of Commons is acting as the Committee stage of the Bill. If the Bill is passed it will give effect to the Treaty of Lisbon in UK law. The Treaty of Lisbon ensures a bigger role for national parliaments in the EU and a new voting system which gives the UK a bigger say; greater transparency of what the EU can do; more efficient institutions; a full-time President of the European Council and representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and more focus on global issues. Our government will still have control over important policy areas such as justice and home affairs, including policing and control of our borders, as well as social security, tax, foreign policy and defence (these are the ‘red lines’ you may have heard the Prime Minister referring to). This Treaty is important because it will help the EU work more effectively, and when the EU works well it can help us get things we all want: more jobs and more opportunities, a safer society and greater influence for the UK in the most important issues of the day. The Tories however are still arguing strongly for a referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon; indicating they would campaign hard for a 'no' vote. Were this to succeed it would leave Britain on the outskirts of Europe, marginalised and exposed, subject to EU laws but with no power to influence them.
I am always keen to make Parliament more accessible to people and so I am happy to take part in an innovative scheme called “ParliaMentors” organised by the Three Faiths Forum. 9 MP’s from the 3 main parties have been assigned a group of three students (one Jewish, one Christian and one Muslim) to mentor through a project on political engagement which they will be working on tighter. You can read more about this project by following this link to an article in the Times this week.
Private Members' Bills are Public Bills introduced by MPs and Lords who aren’t government ministers. On Friday I was in the Chamber when the House of Commons approved the 2nd Readings of two PMBs which had been proposed by colleague MP’s. The first, moved by Sharon Hodgson MP, was The Special Education Needs (Information) Bill which aims to establish best practice and provide better quality information from one principal source about special educational needs. The second Bill was moved by my neighbour and good mate Keith Hill MP. He tabled the Health & Safety (Offences) Bill. The Bill will increase fines for health and safety breaches to £20,000 and widen the range of offences for which prison is a penalty.
# posted by Sadiq @ 5:48 PM 
