Kim Johnson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Mar 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  No, I am not taking interventions—sorry. In this country we have a proud tradition of standing up for what we believe in, but that has increasingly come under threat, and measures in the Bill continue on that trajectory. I hope that the Minister and Government will take those points on board and consider amendments in Committee to roll back some of the draconian anti-protest legislation and restore our civil liberties—moves on which I am sure we can find common ground across the House. Lastly, I want to turn to the provisions in the Bill that will further criminalise Roma and Traveller communities, and the impact that certain clauses will have on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities such as those living on the Tara Park site in my Liverpool Riverside constituency. In particular, I want to raise concerns around clause 3 in part 1 of the Bill, which extends police dispersal powers and, as the Traveller movement has stated, risks leading to even more heavy-handed policing of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. As with the anti-protest provisions in the Bill, we must see such measures in the broader context of the increasing criminalisation of already marginalised communities. As such, I hope the Government will go back to the drawing board and consider using the Bill to repeal section 60C to 60E of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. This Bill is the first under Labour of its kind for a generation. Let us use it as an opportunity to protect our most marginalised communities and defend civil liberties.

• 10 Mar 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  This is a huge Bill with more than 300 pages of measures, but I wish to focus on the extra powers it contains to police protests, and particularly clauses 86 and 95, about which civil liberties organisations such as Liberty, Amnesty International and Big Brother Watch, as well as trade unions, have raised loud alarm bells. I also wish to take the opportunity to recognise more broadly the dangerous direction of travel of the increasing criminalisation of legitimate and peaceful protest in this country which, as many will recognise, is being mirrored around the world. In recent years we have seen the introduction of a vast swathe of anti-protest measures, including new police powers that have been used increasingly to clamp down on freedom of assembly and expression. Those powers are being extended yet again in the Bill. The Tories’ controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Public Order Act 2023 and the “serious disruption” regulations all brought in wide-ranging new powers. Those include allowing the police to impose “conditions” on any protest that is deemed to be disruptive or to cause “serious annoyance” to the local community, and sentences of up to 10 years in prison for damaging memorials such as statues. Those of us who fought those measures tooth and nail have now seen our fears realised, with clampdowns on the right to protest peacefully. Last month the aggressive policing of the national Palestine protest led to the arrest of an estimated 77 protesters. Even Members of this House were called in for police questioning, as was an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was carrying flowers to lay for the dead children of Gaza. We cannot underestimate the chilling impact that that heavy-handed policing of peaceful protests will have on our basic rights and freedoms. From striking workers to the national Palestine demos and farmers’ protests, huge demonstrations and protests are becoming more commonplace across the political spectrum, as people across the country and beyond feel that they are losing their voices in their workplaces and the political sphere. Instead of continuing down that dangerous road, we should be taking the opportunity that the Bill presents to roll back some of those powers, defend our civil liberties, and restore our proud traditions of freedom of speech, expression, and assembly.

• 10 Mar 2025 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Funding · Hansard source

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  Far too many children with complex learning disabilities and autism have been failed by the system and end up having a place not in their local community, but in institutions. That disproportionately affects black children, which is synonymous with the ’60s and ’70s when they were classified as “educationally subnormal”. Will the Minister explain what work is being done to identify the number of children who have been institutionalised? What work has been undertaken to review and amend those situations?

• 5 Mar 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q7. This year marks 40 years since the Swann report exposed systemic racism and discrimination in the education system. Regrettably, none of its recommendations was recommended. One of the most damning injustices in the report was the misclassification of mainly black children as educationally subnormal, as identified in Steve McQueen’s BBC documentary. Given the historic nature of this and the impact it had on so many, will the Prime Minister consider a public inquiry to provide justice and recompense for those who have been affected?

• 4 Mar 2025 · Gaza · Hansard source

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  The suffering of Palestinian children who have been attacked by Israeli drones is devastating, and the fact that those children are denied medical support and assistance is even more so. The Minister has said that we are looking at medical evacuations, but does she agree that actions speak louder than words? When will enough be enough, and when will these children get the attention that they so desperately need? Other countries are providing support right now.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) for securing this debate, which comes at a critical time for the Palestinian people, the future of Gaza and the very foundations of international law. Those things are under direct threat from the recently elected so-called leader of the free world, who has proposed ethnic cleansing that violates the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to return to their homeland and live free from occupation. His threat to withdraw aid to Jordan and Egypt if they reject his so-called Gaza development plan has ignited a sharp backlash. Those proposals are a blueprint for a crime of historic proportions, and our Government must condemn and resist them. That must, of course, mean accepting in full the historic advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, made in July last year, which confirmed that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful and which found Israel guilty of violating the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. Let us be clear: following the advisory opinion is not optional. As a UN member state and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK has clear obligations under international law. For a year and a half, I and other hon. Members have called for urgent action to hold Israel accountable for the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and the near total destruction in the Gaza strip. We must stand unequivocally and unashamedly for upholding international law and, in doing so, for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Any further delay or refusal to do so risks the escalation of crimes of unimaginable proportions, as well as continuing to abnegate our responsibilities to meaningfully oppose the decades-long crimes of occupation.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Fuel Poverty: England · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important and timely debate. Does he agree that it is shocking that nearly 80% of Liverpool Riverside residents have to spend nearly 10% of their disposable income on keeping their homes warm, and that more targeted support is needed to enable local authorities to support those most in need in our constituencies?

• 12 Feb 2025 · Fuel Poverty: England · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way on that point?

• 10 Feb 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  I support the intent of this Bill to reform the asylum system and prevent further deaths in the channel. The Prime Minister has promised to defend migrants and to develop a system based on “compassion and dignity”, and that can be resolved by looking at safe routes. People would not put their lives on the line and put themselves in danger if there were safe routes. Can the Home Secretary tell us what will be in this Bill to support safe routes?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Outsourcing: Government Departments · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. PCS workers in my constituency who work for the Disclosure and Barring Service are currently in dispute because of inadequate contracts, which put additional burden and stress on them. PCS has continually called for the insourcing of those contracts. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to commit to their policy of insourcing? It is not only workers who are suffering, but children and other adults, because of the outsourcing of local authority services. That needs to change immediately.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  Since the ceasefire, we have seen an increase in killings and atrocities in Jenin. On Saturday, Israeli forces were responsible for the killing of a two-year-old girl. The extremist settlers are acting with impunity against the Palestinians. Will the Minister explain what actions this Government have taken to put pressure on Israel to prevent the ongoing atrocities in the west bank?

• 7 Jan 2025 · Workplace Pay Gaps · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. The Equality Act 2010 states that it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, yet in 2024, black people earned an hourly mean rate 19.04% lower than their white counterparts. The Employment Rights Bill provides an opportunity for employers to develop and publish an equality action plan. However, those action plans at the moment cover only gender. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government need to place more emphasis on ethnicity gap issues, and that that Bill, which is in Committee, needs to make that right by covering them at this stage?

• 16 Dec 2024 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  On arms sales, does my right hon. Friend agree that the UK Government need to make a different decision about F-35 parts, think about employing an immediate ceasefire, cease selling arms to Israel and impose sanctions to bring about peace?

• 10 Dec 2024 · Prison Maintenance · Hansard source

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  17. What assessment she has made of the potential merits of insourcing all prison maintenance.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Prison Maintenance · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for that response. The prison maintenance contract is set to be retendered to the private sector next year. Prisons such as Walton in my home city of Liverpool—a crumbling Victorian prison—struggle to get the smallest repairs undertaken, and there is £1.8 billion-worth of unreported repairs within the prison system. We know that privatisation leads to higher costs and increased squalor, so can the Minister or the Secretary of State call time on this failed experiment and bring prison maintenance back in-house where it belongs?

• 9 Dec 2024 · Syria · Hansard source

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  As we have just heard, Israel seized more territory in the Syrian-controlled Golan heights yesterday. The Foreign Secretary just mentioned that Israel said that would be temporary, but the occupation is recognised as illegal under international law, so what will happen if the Israelis decide that it is not temporary?

• 28 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Liverpool women’s hospital in my constituency offers the only specialist gynaecology and maternity services in the country, yet those services are under threat due to the NHS case for change. Will the Leader of the House grant a debate in Government time to consider the necessity of retaining those specialist services at the current Crown Street site?

• 26 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The civil war in Sudan is estimated to have killed around 150,000 people and displaced 14 million. UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme say that, unless efforts are stepped up, more than 700,000 children are projected to suffer acute malnutrition, so can the Minister tell us what steps the UK is taking as the UN penholder to end this malnutrition and support the Sudanese?

• 19 Nov 2024 · Food Banks · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important and timely debate. I am sure he would agree that the recent damning data on poverty from the Social Metrics Commission is both unacceptable and unjustifiable. Ours is the sixth richest economy in the world but a quarter of the UK population—16 million people—live in poverty. The statistics are alarming but, according to the End Child Poverty coalition, the quickest and easiest way to relieve these increasing problems is to remove the two-child cap. Does he agree that the Government need to remove the cap sooner rather than later?

• 19 Nov 2024 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I thank my good and hon. Friend for giving way, and I congratulate her on securing this very important debate. “Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged” is the title of a new report from Human Rights Watch, which refers to 1.9 million Palestinians being forcibly displaced. So, does she think that the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor should see this action as a crime against humanity and look at imposing targeted sanctions immediately, alongside the humanitarian aid going in?

• 13 Nov 2024 · Facial Recognition: Police Use · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate. There are suggestions that this technology disproportionately misidentifies black people and people from other communities. Does he agree that the Government must give us more assurances and ensure that more black people are not criminalised? We know that black communities are over-policed and underserved.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Furniture Poverty · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate, although I am sure he agrees that as the sixth richest economy in the world, we should not be having it. End Furniture Poverty has worked with local authorities in Liverpool to ensure that at least 10% of registered social landlords’ properties are furnished. I am sure my hon. Friend agrees that that is not good enough. Will he join me in calling on local authorities to find more resources to ensure that we do not have people living in furniture poverty?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Children’s Hospices: Funding · Hansard source

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  I thank my good friend for giving way and I congratulate him on securing this important debate. Will he join me in congratulating the wonderful community of Liverpool on its amazing work to secure nearly £5 million for Zoe’s Place? However, does he agree that instead of relying on charitable trusts to support these important hospices, we need to think about how we put them on a statutory footing to provide better end of life care for everybody?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Zoe’s Place, in the West Derby area of Liverpool, is a hospice that provides support to sick children and their families. It has been threatened with closure and has to find £5 million by the end of the year. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that such hospices need to be on a statutory footing and not reliant on charitable funding?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Police Accountability · Hansard source

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  I thank the Home Secretary for her statement. I also send my condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Chris Kaba, particularly this week while the media are using racist gang tropes to justify his killing. Some 1,900 people have died in police custody since 1990. The police have protections, while our black communities are over-policed and under-supported. Will the Home Secretary give assurances that we and our communities will be kept safe and that the police, who already have the protections they need, will not be given extra protections?