Adam Wagner
@AdamWagner1
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Barrister @DoughtyStreet . Chair @EachOtherUK . Visiting Prof @GoldsmithsUoL . Author #EmergencyState . Views my own not of Doughty Street Chambers.
London
Joined March 2010
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Just a reminder Metropolitan Police initially said they wouldn’t investigate at all. It was only after a judicial review issued by
@GoodLawProject
(in which I acted led by Danny Friedman QC) police backed down, and published their secret policy on retrospective investigations.
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For what it's worth, I thought that Keir Starmer spoke with genuine moral authority - seemed to transcend the moment.
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I think the outcome of the Met investigation is that the Prime Minister attended 6 illegal gatherings but attended 5 of them legally
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We need to wake up to the incredibly serious implications of the President of the United States actively promoting the far right racist and Islamophobe Katie Hopkins.
For those (particularly US people) who are meeting her for the first time, some things you need to know (thread)
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A year ago, the idea that you could close every restaurant, café and pub in the capital without a Parliamentary vote or even a debate would have been unthinkable. Today we have allowed government by executive decree and it now seems normal. Covid lawmaking has corroded democracy
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Credit to
@PippaCrerar
and
@PaulBrandITV
whose dogged reporting brought the criminal conduct at No. 10 into the light
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I was JOKING
Will all of the senior govt officials and ministers who have been in close contact with Javid now be self isolating or will they all be enrolled in a novel government experiment where they don’t have to?
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A few stories of people being arrested for protesting against the monarchy - unless they are threatening violence the police should leave well alone. Freedom of speech is as important a value in times of public mourning as it at any other time
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Not sure that whipping Conservative MPs to avoid a parliamentary standards investigation of the PM, where it’s obvious the fear is the committee’s power to demand documents, is the best look in the circumstances
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This is quite extraordinary. The police have declined to investigate potentially illegal Downing Street parties whilst they wait for Sue Gray's report, whilst Sue Gray is interviewing at length the *police* who were apparently witnesses to the events. It just boggles the mind
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For this government an "activist lawyer" means a lawyer who help people challenge it when it breaks the law. In other words, a good lawyer
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Arghhh! Jeremy Corbyn just said on
#Marr
that the European Court of Human Rights is "in part an EU institution". It isn't! It's a totally separate institution, arising from a separate treaty which well pre-dates the EU and would remain in place whatever version of Brexit
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This government may be the first in the history of liberal democracies which enacts a bill of rights which has the effect of reducing rather than increasing rights protections.
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Blimey.
It really is bad if evidence of knowing they were breaking the law was removed. This would potentially be evidence of misconduct in public office.
This whole article shows the danger of assuming Gray's report was independent, it was internal
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I have commented in this story. From what I have been told - social quiz, alcohol being drunk, lots of people together at the office (teams of 6, up to 24 in one room) - it's a clear breach of the govt's guidance and a potential breach of the law, including by the PM
Boris Johnson pictured hosting Number 10 Xmas quiz ‘in breach of Covid Laws’
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The Johnson apology was carefully worded and obviously lawyered. He said that he attended because he "believed implicitly that this was a work event", that "with hindsight" he should have sent everyone back inside, and "technically" it could be said to fall within the guidance.
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You may think the events of the past few days have shown beyond doubt that the police cannot be trusted to protect our free speech rights.
Well, it’s about to get worse
(1/3)
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If any government ministers, particularly Home Office ministers, give interviews about the Rwanda flight being “stopped by lawyers“ please ask the question: were you advised by your own lawyers that the policy would be unlawful?
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If a journalist had asked Boris Johnson during a pandemic press briefing if breaking Covid laws was a minor issue equivalent to a speeding fine, he would have emphatically said that people should follow the rules which save lives. As would have every single Tory MP.
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So let me get this straight. The Tory attack line on Keir Starmer so far is that he bought a field so his disabled mother could raise donkeys, and campaigned worldwide for the abolition of the death penalty? What shocking revelation is coming next?
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The idea that the police could criminally sanction the leader of the opposition for meeting, for an hour, with a local MP - and having dinner late in the evening - days before an election in that area is, to me, quite absurd. The law needs to be interpreted liberally...
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Huge error by the BBC
Sorry, what?!
@BBCNews
now have Alan Dershowitz on to analyse
#GhislaineMaxwell
’s conviction, without any reference to his background;he’s simply introduced as “constitutional lawyer” as if he’s a neutral expert. Shocked. Utterly bizarre decision & does the audience a disservice.
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Can the “North London” jibes please stop? I appreciate it is a chance for the new prime minister to make a cheap jibe against his opponent but it demeans him most. Also every time I hear “North London” I think “do they mean Jews” which I assume isn’t what he means but just stop
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“It was not our intention to prevent protest”
It was not our intention to prevent protest. It is very clear a number of protests took place across the footprint both before, during and after the event with no police intervention.
Any suggestion all protest was prohibited is not correct.
🧵🔽
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Every time I cycle into work I pass the Camden branch of Balady, one of the best kosher falafel restaurants in London, I always smile at the Hebrew, Arabic and English writing on the sign, and get a little hungry because the food is delicious.
This morning I saw this clearly…
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I am not a criminal lawyer so perhaps I am missing something. How would a factual civil service report about events the police is investigating "prejudice" their investigation?
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There are many extraordinary things about what is happening at the moment but one of the most important lessons for our politics is that we have elections, manifestos and formal budgets for a reason - radical policies shouldn't just arrive out of nowhere
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The No. 10 press secretary and official photographer have been good value for money actually
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I am getting increasingly panicked and abusive tweets from Tory parliamentarians in recent days.
@AdamWagner1
@pritipatel
@BorisJohnson
You and your increasingly manic howlings becoming ever-distant from reality. You don’t appear to see how your bias leads to the moral disengagement in your tweet above - the suggestion a female Home Secretary and HM the Queen won’t make an appointment that rests solely with them.
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Pretty extraordinary that at the moment the Prime Minister is under investigation for multiple criminal offences he gets to influence the recruitment of the head of the police force investigating him
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The state of a country where a minister defends the Prime Minister breaking the law by saying at least it wasn't with malice
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I was waiting to see some longer footage. It is clear that everyone will have known this was a peaceful protest and Field just totally lost it and started acting like an aggressive nightclub bouncer rather than an MP
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The PM is now reported as being at 6 parties:
🥳20.5.20 BYOB
🥳19.6.20 PM birthday
🥳13.11.20 Lee Cain leaving
🥳13.11.20 No.10 flat
🥳17.12.20 Capt Steve Higham leaving
🥳14.1.21 Private secs leaving
What possible enforcement could the police use?
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As I have been saying for the past couple of years, giving the police more discretion to impose conditions on protest will lead (and is now leading) to politicians pressuring the police to intervene in protests which they disagree with politically - not good for protest rights,…
"My view is that these marches are disrespectful."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he will hold the chief of the Met Police "accountable" for allowing a pro-Palestinian demonstration to go ahead on Armistice Day.
Latest:
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 and YT
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Hey
@MailOnline
I don't mind you (or anyone) reproducing my tweets, which are publicly available, but turning a Twitter thread into an *opinion piece* without my permission goes a bit far
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Can we have a second referendum please
Can we have a second referendum please
Can we have a second referendum please
Can we have a seco..
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An shameful statement, and also Orwellian in its reversal of basic facts. The ECHR has done far more to protect the victims of trafficking, and refugees, than that cruel Rwanda policy.
I'm the only candidate who can stop the small boats crossing the channel because I'm the only one who knows we need to leave the ECHR. The British people won't forgive us unless we address this issue.
#Suella4Leader
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So parliamentary privilege allows you to break court injunctions, name soldiers accused of murder on Bloody Sunday but you get thrown out for accusing the Prime Minister of lying
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My goodness. Lord Sumption’s response to a woman with Stage 4 cancer asking why her life isn’t valuable is he didn’t say it isn’t valuable just “less valuable”. This is the figurehead of anti-lockdown movement - comes across as inhumane, almost grotesque
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It’s not an independent report and never has been - it’s an internal report. This isn’t a judgement on Sue Gray, it’s a statement of fact - she is an employee investigating her direct line managers
Sue Gray and Boris Johnson had private meeting to discuss handling of partygate report, Sky News understands
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A couple of observations, from a lawyer’s perspective:
He wasn’t cleared of all - or any - charges. The charges were dropped. So Greenwood’s statement, which I assume was agreed with the club, is misleading.
The club statement: “we have concluded that the material uploaded…
Mason Greenwood statement: "I want to start by saying I understand that people will judge me because of what they have seen and heard on social media, and I know people will think the worst.
I was brought up to know that violence or abuse in any relationship is wrong, I did not…
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I have been instructed by
@GoodLawProject
in this case led by Danny Friedman QC. GLP has published our opinion on the Metropolitan Police statements 👇
NEW: Met Police refusing to investigate No 10 gatherings likely to be unlawful
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One thing that is clear from the Braverman letter is that the Home Secretary herself, who was previously Attorney General (so the government's legal advisor) knew that the Rwanda policy was a huge legal risk, and advised the government of this.
It was always a bad policy…
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Lawrence Fox found to have defamed claimants who he called paedophiles and loses his counterclaim of defamation for being called a racist.
Well done to all involved, and particularly my indomitable roommate Beth Grossman
With a thought also for Heather Rogers KC who very sadly…
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One of the most dangerous aspects of the Trump age is the idea that any scrutiny of a politician, either law enforcement or parliamentary, is illegitimate or “rigged”. A flagrant attack on the rule of law, ie our rulers being subject to law
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On this day in 1959 the European Court of Human Rights was established. It gets some (usually unjustifiably) bad press in the UK but it is an essential protection for over 820m people. Please share this THREAD on why it matters more than ever today
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Baroness Hallett has extended time for compliance with her disclosure order until Thursday, and in the meantime requires a signed statement verified by oath to back up the claim that the Cabinet Office does not have copies of Boris Johnson’s WhatsApps or diaries - and a detailed…
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I think this series of tweets is inappropriate in the context of a live criminal case where an officer has been charged. It gives the clear impression, given the image in the linked article, that the Home Secretary is expressing an opinion on the Chris Kaba case
We depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us from the most dangerous & violent in society. In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures. 1/3
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My summary view of Johnson's evidence is the same as it was before he started: his case that the guidance allowed boozy non-socially distanced drinks events with no work being done is absurd and he's either lying that he thought it did or was reckless for asserting it.
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We must protect the European Convention on Human Rights like it protects us - by me in
@guardian
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The government line is now “the rules weren’t very important so it’s only a minor thing to breach them”? Extraordinarily reckless when we still have significant Covid laws and a new variant could be just round the corner
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1/ Some news!
Vote Leave was found beyond reasonable doubt to have broken electoral rules.
In an election or local authority referendum this could lead to the vote being annulled.
But not in EU Referendum.
I’m acting in a legal claim to challenge that.
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Incidentally, I (only) once spent 25 minutes with Boris Johnson at a Christmas party when he was mayor. Spent the entire time trying to convince him the Human Rights Act was a good thing. *That* was work
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His story about going to Barnard Castle to "check if he was OK to drive to London" just shows why govt guidance was so simple - stay at home. Because as soon as you open to personal discretion, one decision leads to another and all of a sudden you're at a local beauty spot
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A journalist asked me about my claim on
@BBCr4today
today that there have been 65 revisions to the lockdown laws and said "you don't have any kind of tabulation or something to prove it" and I said "... as it happens..." like a lawyer nerd's ultimate dream
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Will all of the senior govt officials and ministers who have been in close contact with Javid now be self isolating or will they all be enrolled in a novel government experiment where they don’t have to?
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This is wrong. A fixed penalty notice can only be given if the police *reasonably believe someone has committed a criminal offence* under the coronavirus regulations. They are not minor. On the contrary, the PM and government spent 2 years telling us they were deadly serious
Fixed Penalty Notices are given out for prescribes minor breaches of law. They’re not fines, convictions or proof of guilt - all of which can only be handed out or determined by a court.
I know we’ve descended into a political fake news cesspit, but facts matter.
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That tweet is not aimed at bigging myself up but I do think the Good Law Project deserve some credit for this, given they also get lots of attention when they are not successful
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I wonder if the Met Police are investigating misconduct in public office as well as coronavirus offences. If obviously illegal gatherings were organised by officials then I would have thought those offences would be considered by the police.
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One thing about the
#Colston4
acquittal the government should see as a warning: criminalising protest you don’t approve of (as is happening through the
#PolicingBill
) will have the opposite effect you want: politicisation of the courts and juries and more unlikely acquittals
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The Prime Minister can't legislate away international legal obligations - the Supreme Court made that very clear, and even thew in a (lawyerly) warning that the non-refoulment principle exists in customary international law, so aside from any treaty or law.
Unless the serious…
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This would effectively put the current situation where Covid regulations have given police too much power over our free speech rights on a permanent footing. (3/3)
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“We did something bad that broke the rules … let’s get rid of the rules!”
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There is a difference in law between a pre-arranged social event (birthday party) and a meal whilst campaigning when there is nowhere else to get food.
There is no prospect of showing a pre-arranged birthday party is reasonably necessary for work - it is a purely social event
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The legal test is that the police “reasonably believe” someone has committed an offence before issuing a fixed penalty notice. This will be the same regardless of how important the person is - this is the rule of law
A senior ally of Boris Johnson has said the Metropolitan Police will need to be 'very certain' that he has breached lockdown rules before issuing an FPN
'There is inevitably a degree of discretion here. Do you want the Met Police deciding who the prime minister is?'
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The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill going through Parliament tomorrow would hugely expand their powers to allow them to stop protests which would cause “serious unease” and create criminal penalties for people who cause “serious annoyance” (2/3)
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The police do purdah now!
BREAKING: Scotland Yard confirms
@evansma
story that it will not be issuing any more Partygate updates before the May local elections.
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This. I think that people get mixed up between reasons and excuses.
There are plenty of reasons why a person may choose to murder/torture/kidnap/rape civilians - they can include growing up in a terrible situation, living in a place like Gaza which has no hope and inhuman…
Beyond even far right rhetoric I would argue "whataboutism" is one of the most damaging things for universal human rights. The dismissal of atrocities because the other side have committed ones as well just tells the world you think some are acceptable. That's a deadly precedent.
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Lord David Wolfson QC has resigned as a Justice Minister with a principled and powerful letter which simultaneously does credit to him and exposes the positions taken by his colleagues
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The Prime Minister is potentially being investigated for 6 separate criminal offences under coronavirus regulations. In unrelated news, all coronavirus regulations are to be repealed early.
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This may sound trite, but re the BBC issue - one thing I have learned as a lawyer involved in many cases of messy human situations is that you rarely know and can pretty much never predict what is happening until you actually *know*, i.e. you see detailed accounts from the…
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Spare a thought for the Parliamentary Counsel team who have just received a brief to draft new national lockdown regulations they will be working on all through the night and if they get a word wrong they could accidentally ban eye contact or some other basic human activity
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I'm sorry to see this -
@MhairiBlack
(who is all of 30!) has been one of the most eloquent speakers in Parliament. I have always enjoyed listening to her. It's a shame that she feels the culture is so toxic she wants to quit - we are worse off for that culture.
🚨 BREAKING:
@MhairiBlack
tells
@maitlis
she is stepping down as an MP at the next general election.
She says Westminster is a “toxic workplace” that has taken its toll on her "body and mind".
Coming to
@GlobalPlayer
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Queen's Speech:
- Bill of Rights: the first in history of democracies to decrease rather than increase rights protection, politically partisan "anti-work" nonsense which is frankly an embarrassment
- Public Order Bill: to make it easier for police to suppress peaceful protest
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This concept of a “household bubble” encompassing the whole of the office complex behind No. 10 is preposterous. After commenting on these laws for almost two years I have never heard anyone propose something like this except as a joke
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This, if true, is what corruption looks like
And it’s why we have checks and balances, and why we remove them at our peril
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The Home Office has apparently received legal advice that it would be lawful to “push back” some refugee boats. Would be very interested to see that advice (which I bet is so heavily hedged it’s practically growing leaves) 🤔
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Breaking news: government refuses to back law to protect privacy of people using NHS contact tracing app
You can trust us with your data, says
@MattHancock
The government through
@MattHancock
has just rejected
@HumanRightsCtte
’s call for a new law to enshrine privacy protections for digital contact tracing. Says (1) we already have protections and (2) don’t worry you can trust us
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Found in the water on the barge... for goodness sake, what a waste of public money - the govt assured everyone it was fit for human habitation, turns out not. Assume they rushed the decisions to get good press too
BREAKING: Asylum seekers to be moved off Bibby Stockholm barge after Legionella bacteria found
More on the story 👉
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
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Another example of the mess the Met Police have got themselves into - are they independent of government or not? Why has the schedule of this investigation been so heavily influenced by what is convenient to the government?
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The latest in the strange habit government ministers are developing of sounding like they are in opposition when they tweet
“This is awful, somebody in authority needs to do something, why are the Labour Party not listening?!”
Also, is it really correct that lawyers who…
Appalled by what the
@DailyMailUK
have uncovered. I expect the authorities to track down & punish any lawyers or firms found to be engaging in these kinds of practices.
Labour should reconsider next time they claim our asylum system isn’t being abused.
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Wow, new government amendment to the Internal Market Bill will exclude regulations made under it from being challenged under the Human Rights Act. The government is piece by piece removing citizens’ ability to challenge its unlawful actions
Four important Government amendments tabled to clause 45 of the UK Internal Market Bill ahead of Report Stage.
They have implications for whether, and to what extent, international law non-compliant regulations can be challenged in domestic courts.
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@Dominic2306
A serious government would come up with a serious policy which takes into account the laws which parliament has passed and treaties which the government has signed.
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To be clear, and I have said this for months: if staff knew they were potentially breaking the criminal law but went ahead anyway, that could be misconduct in public office. It's a grave and apparently knowing abuse of public trust.
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No *legal* reason why the PM couldn't confirm to parliament whether he was at the 13 November 2020 gathering in his flat. The police couldn't even use the evidence in court due to parliamentary privilege under the Bill of Rights 1689
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The violence in Bristol is unacceptable.
As I have said repeatedly over recent weeks, the right to *peaceful* protest should be protected and every attempt to diminish it should be opposed - *peacefully*.
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Oh my goodness. I'm not sure where to start.
This is the Home Office, the government department responsible for law and order.
This tweet and video grossly misstate the law.
All gatherings are *not* illegal. There are a huge number gatherings which *are* legal...
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Remember, genocide doesn’t start with gas chambers, it starts with dehumanisation. That’s what happening to Muslims here and people who cherish human rights need to stand up to it (video via
@rights_info
)
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Never in my wildest imaginings did I think I would find myself being interviewed on Good Morning Britain about whether it is illegal to sit on the park bench
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I know "Kafkaesque" is thrown around a lot but this is truly it - a criminal conviction for protest at a hearing nobody could attend except the judge, with no involvement from the defendants, by a law the police were found by the High Court to have fundamentally misunderstood
Three Sarah Everard vigil attendees have been convicted and fined after a Met Police prosecution
The defendants were convicted in a behind-closed-doors hearing last week, and each given a £220 fine, £100 in costs, and a £34 victim surcharge.
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This is 13.11.20 during the 2nd national lockdown (…)
It was illegal to "participate" in a gathering if that gathering was not reasonably necessary for work.
Others got FPNs for this gathering so assume police considered it was illegal
Why not the PM?
EXCL:
@ITVNews
has obtained pictures of Boris Johnson drinking at a No10 party during lockdown in November 2020.
The photos cast fresh doubt on the PM's repeated claims he was unaware of rule-breaking in No10 during the pandemic.
See all images here:
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The ultimate point is that at the time if anyone had asked the Prime Minister or Health Minister whether it was lawful to have a social work gathering outdoors for 100 with alcohol and food they would have answered with a very hard "no". This is all ex post facto face saving
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