That this House notes that this year marks the ten year anniversary of the incarceration of Khobaib Hussain, Naweed Ali, Mohibur Rahman and Tahir Aziz, known as the Birmingham Four, who were convicted in 2017 and sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism offences following a covert police operation; further notes that the men maintain their innocence and that their legal representatives have raised serious concerns about the conduct of undercover officers, the alleged fabrication and planting of evidence, and the disclosure and handling of evidence during the investigation and trial, with their case now resting with the CCRC; expresses concern that the men have now spent ten years in prison while these allegations remain unresolved; recalls the historic miscarriage of justice suffered by the Birmingham Six, whose wrongful convictions exposed grave failures in West Midlands policing, prosecution and the criminal justice system and ultimately contributed to the establishment of the CCRC; is deeply concerned by the parallels raised between the Birmingham Six and the Birmingham Four, particularly the danger of a suspect community being treated differently by the criminal justice system; believes that allegations of police misconduct and evidence fabrication must be thoroughly and urgently investigated at the earliest opportunity, regardless of the nature of the allegations against defendants; and urges the CCRC to reach a prompt determination on the application concerning the convictions.

That this House notes that this year marks the ten year anniversary of the incarceration of Khobaib Hussain, Naweed Ali, Mohibur Rahman and Tahir Aziz, known as the Birmingham Four, who were convicted in 2017 and sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism offences following a covert police operation; further notes...

That this House remembers the 37 Cammell Laird shipyard workers who, in 1984, were imprisoned for 30 days after occupying their workplace in protest against compulsory redundancies, privatisation and the threatened destruction of their industry; notes that they were subsequently dismissed, lost redundancy and pension rights, and that many struggled to secure stable employment thereafter; recognises that they were trade unionists defending their jobs, livelihoods, families and communities in the face of deindustrialisation on Merseyside; believes they should never have been imprisoned for standing up for their livelihoods; further notes that the occupation was conducted peacefully, without damage to property, and that Ministry of Defence inspectors were allowed access to inspect the Royal Navy frigate involved; further recognises parallels with other historic injustices involving organised labour and the state, including the Shrewsbury pickets and Orgreave; also notes with sadness that a number of the Cammell Laird 37 have died without seeing their names cleared; welcomes the continued efforts of the Justice for Cammell Laird 37 campaign, the workers, their families and legal representatives; calls on the Government to release all relevant records relating to the case; further calls for an independent public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding their imprisonment, including the role of Ministers and Government departments; urges full cooperation with any legal proceedings seeking to overturn the convictions; and also calls on the Government to issue a formal apology to the surviving workers and the families of those who have died, so that justice may finally be delivered.

That this House remembers the 37 Cammell Laird shipyard workers who, in 1984, were imprisoned for 30 days after occupying their workplace in protest against compulsory redundancies, privatisation and the threatened destruction of their industry; notes that they were subsequently dismissed, lost redundancy and pension rights, and that many struggled...

That this House notes that this is the 80th anniversary of the forced deportations of thousands of Chinese seafarers after the Second World War, which left many families abandoned without support and with no idea of what had happened; further notes that the restricted papers, made public after 50 years, show that decisions taken by the Home Office led to the forced deportation of over 2000 Chinese seafarers from Liverpool, many of whom put their lives on the line for the Allied war effort and who were repaid with this act; also notes that this was one of the most nakedly racist incidents ever instigated by the Government, and that countless families suffered a lifetime of trauma as a result, many of whom died without ever knowing the truth about what happened to their loved ones with descendants still searching for answers and lost family members; and calls on the Government to acknowledge this atrocity and issue a full and formal apology for these grave injustices.

That this House notes that this is the 80th anniversary of the forced deportations of thousands of Chinese seafarers after the Second World War, which left many families abandoned without support and with no idea of what had happened; further notes that the restricted papers, made public after 50 years,...

That this House notes the worrying state of prison education, with 82 percent of prison and young offender institutions judged by Ofsted as requiring improvement or inadequate for overall effectiveness of education, skills and work provision; further notes that contracts for the new Prison Education Service (PES) have recently been awarded, with groups of prisons assigned to one of three providers, all of which previously delivered education under the Prison Education Framework; also notes that prison educators are paid less in England than their counterparts in other further education workplaces, with the Education Select Committee warning in 2022 that poor pay, lack of career development, unsafe working environments and no time or respect to do a quality job has left the recruitment and retention of qualified and experienced prison educators at crisis point; believes rehabilitation should be at the heart of incarceration, and education should be at the heart of rehabilitation, but outsourcing has for years diverted vital resources away from the development, design and delivery of truly meaningful prison education and has overseen the de-professionalisation of education into a commodity, failing prisoners, staff and wider society alike; and calls on the Government to explore all legal options for terminating the PES contracts and insourcing all such provision under an effectively resourced, publicly owned national prison education system that supports educators to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum to prisoners, with a national contract for prison education staff and parity of esteem with further education.

That this House notes the worrying state of prison education, with 82 percent of prison and young offender institutions judged by Ofsted as requiring improvement or inadequate for overall effectiveness of education, skills and work provision; further notes that contracts for the new Prison Education Service (PES) have recently been...

That this House supports the Fire Brigade Union’s calls for urgent investment in the UK’s fire and rescue service and has heard their warning that cuts kill; expresses deep concern that proposed cuts and chronic underfunding that have hollowed out the UK’s fire and rescue services leaving communities without adequate fire cover; acknowledges that since 2010, 12,000 firefighter jobs have been cut, leading to fire engines arriving at emergencies without enough crew on board to respond to them safely, putting both firefighters and the public at risk; notes that any reduction in firefighter numbers or station closure leads to longer response times with fewer crews available and longer distances to travel, and that in an emergency every second counts; further notes that underfunding also means inadequate supplies of the vital equipment firefighters need to save lives and keep themselves safe; commends the bravery and dedication of firefighters across the UK and believes their service deserves the funding it needs to keep communities safe; further acknowledges demands on firefighters are increasing fast, with climate change causing more extreme wildfires, flooding and severe weather, and an increase in lithium ion battery fires, yet the service responsible for responding to these incidents is being asked to do more with less; calls on the Government to urgently provide increased funding to the UK’s fire and rescue services, restore firefighter numbers to pre 2010 levels; and vehemently opposes any further cuts to the fire service.

That this House supports the Fire Brigade Union’s calls for urgent investment in the UK’s fire and rescue service and has heard their warning that cuts kill; expresses deep concern that proposed cuts and chronic underfunding that have hollowed out the UK’s fire and rescue services leaving communities without adequate...

This House notes the findings from the Lammy Review of 2018 that shows that Black and Chinese women are found guilty at much higher rates than White women by magistrates, but not by juries; further notes the 2022 Racial Bias and the Bench report, which finds institutional racism amongst the judiciary; further notes the lack of evidence base to support a correlation between jury trials and backlogs in courts; also notes the letter by 100 lawyers to the Secretary of State for Justice that says the abolition of jury trials would not in their view improve the backlog of criminal trials, but simply move the problem into a new arena, which itself would cost significant funds to create and operate; notes that trial by juries is a historic cornerstone of British democracy, a constitutional legacy that is supported across the political spectrum, and is widely understood as a common safeguard against the concentration of power; further notes that the current significant court backlogs are the result of sustained underfunding and neglect, court closures, crumbling buildings and hollowed out legal aid budgets; and calls on the Government not to move forward with Sir Brian Leveson’s proposals to scrap jury trials, and instead invest in the court system to help clear the current significant backlogs.

This House notes the findings from the Lammy Review of 2018 that shows that Black and Chinese women are found guilty at much higher rates than White women by magistrates, but not by juries; further notes the 2022 Racial Bias and the Bench report, which finds institutional racism amongst the...

That this House expresses deep concerns about the devastating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the humanitarian crisis that’s caused over 15 million civilian deaths since 1996; notes that Amnesty International and UN experts have reported that the Rwandan-backed M-23 militia is committing war crimes through arbitrary detentions, torture and executions and the plundering of resources; further notes that this violence stems from the exploitation of DRC's vast natural resources by corporations like Glencore, often using child and slave labour; also notes that after independence in 1960, under Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba there was a brief opportunity for the Congolese people to benefit from their resources; notes that the best path to peace and prosperity for the DRC lies in democratic ownership of its resources; further notes that the recent ‘minerals-for-security deal’ brokered by President Trump on the basis of continued foreign exploitation of rare minerals from eastern Congo risks deepening the root cause of the conflict and a re-escalation in violence, human rights abuses, exploitation, foreign occupation and underdevelopment; and calls on the UK Government to use sanctions and other means to hold Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda accountable for their indirect support of M-23 and the Alliance Fleuve Congo, to work to ensure the inclusion of the Congolese people at the heart of negotiations, to recognise their sovereign right to democratic control of their resources, and to demand accountability for human rights violations, in order to ensure a just and lasting peace is secured.

That this House expresses deep concerns about the devastating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the humanitarian crisis that’s caused over 15 million civilian deaths since 1996; notes that Amnesty International and UN experts have reported that the Rwandan-backed M-23 militia is committing war crimes through arbitrary...

That this House recognises the widespread human rights abuses committed under the autocratic Tinkhundla system of government in eSwatini since the dissolution of the constitution in 1973; notes erosion of democratic institutions, trade union rights, and civil liberties, including the banning of all political parties such as the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO); further notes the crackdown on rights, including freedom of expression, press, health, education, gender, and LGBT equality; condemns the violent repression of civic protests, particularly the deadly crackdown of June 2021; supports the demands of PUDEMO, the Multi-Stakeholders Forum (MSF) and the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland for a repeal of the 1973 Decree, the lifting bans on political parties, trade union rights, freedoms of association and assembly, the return of political exiles, the release of political prisoners and an end to state violence against activists; also notes the 2021 ITUC report finding eSwatini in violation of 10 of 16 Commonwealth Charter principles; calls on the UK Government to work through the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to investigate these breaches and ensure enforcement of the Charter; and calls on the Government to support an independently mediated national political dialogue for democratic transition, and an independent investigation into the assassination of human rights lawyer and former PUDEMO Secretary General, Thulani Rudolf Maseko, and all deaths linked to the 2021 unrest.

That this House recognises the widespread human rights abuses committed under the autocratic Tinkhundla system of government in eSwatini since the dissolution of the constitution in 1973; notes erosion of democratic institutions, trade union rights, and civil liberties, including the banning of all political parties such as the People's United...

That this House notes the worrying state of prison education, with 82 percent of prison and young offender institutions judged by Ofsted as requiring improvement or inadequate for overall effectiveness of education, skills and work provision; further notes that contracts for the new Prison Education Service (PES) have recently been awarded, with groups of prisons assigned to one of three providers, all of which previously delivered education under the Prison Education Framework; notes that prison educators are paid less in England than their counterparts in other further education workplaces, with the Education Select Committee warning in 2022 that poor pay, lack of career development, unsafe working environments and no time or respect to do a quality job has left the recruitment and retention of qualified and experienced prison educators at crisis point; believes rehabilitation should be at the heart of incarceration, and education should be at the heart of rehabilitation, but outsourcing has for years diverted vital resources away from the development, design and delivery of truly meaningful prison education and has overseen the de-professionalisation of education into a commodity, failing prisoners, staff and wider society alike; and calls on the Government to explore all legal options for terminating the PES contracting process immediately and instead insourcing all such provision under an effectively resourced, publicly owned national prison education system that supports educators to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum to prisoners, with a national contract for prison education staff and parity of esteem with further education.

That this House notes the worrying state of prison education, with 82 percent of prison and young offender institutions judged by Ofsted as requiring improvement or inadequate for overall effectiveness of education, skills and work provision; further notes that contracts for the new Prison Education Service (PES) have recently been...

That this House notes that the Government has committed to oversee the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation; welcomes the RMT’s new Better Jobs, Better Services campaign, calling for an end to outsourcing of essential rail services such as cleaning, station staffing, catering, security, infrastructure and engineering across the rail and metro networks; further notes that RMT research shows outsourcing has cost the taxpayer and farepayer £400 million annually in profits leaking out of the rail industry, the equivalent of a 3.8 per cent fare cut, while insourcing and integrating these services with the rest of the network would provide better quality, safety and value for money; also notes concerns that outsourcing is driven by employers engaging workers on inferior terms and conditions, such as poor sick pay and pensions, and that outsourcing could be embedding systemic racism on parts of the rail network where workers are disproportionally from a BME background; is encouraged that cleaning, station, catering, infrastructure and engineering services are already provided in-house, or there are discussions to do so, on many parts of the parts of the network; and therefore calls on the Government and devolved transport authorities to extend the policy of building an integrated and publicly-owned railway network to also become a vehicle to end rail outsourcing, delivering better jobs and services.

That this House notes that the Government has committed to oversee the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation; welcomes the RMT’s new Better Jobs, Better Services campaign, calling for an end to outsourcing of essential rail services such as cleaning, station staffing, catering, security, infrastructure and engineering across the...

That this House supports the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London’s call for a fee waiver to be introduced for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) applications for those on family and private life visas; notes that ILR provides security and stability, yet the £2,885 fee is unaffordable for many despite costing the Home Office just £646 to process; regrets that this denies many people, including UK born children and parents of British children, permanent status and forces them into financial hardship and repeated visa renewals; believes this system is counterproductive, creating unnecessary administrative burdens for both individuals and the Home Office; and calls on the Government to introduce a fee waiver to ensure financial barriers do not prevent people securing permanent immigration status after completing their qualifying periods.

That this House supports the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London’s call for a fee waiver to be introduced for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) applications for those on family and private life visas; notes that ILR provides security and stability, yet the £2,885 fee is unaffordable for...

That this House acknowledges the historical injustice suffered by Black children who were wrongly classified as educationally subnormal and placed in schooling for those with severely physical and mental disabilities under racist policies; notes the findings of Subnormal: A British Scandal and the exceptional work of educational campaigners starting with Bernard Coard, who have highlighted the lifelong harm caused by this systemic discrimination; further recognises the generational impact on families and communities whose children were denied access to a fair and equal education; notes the fortieth anniversary of the Swann Report entitled Education for All and its recommendations to combat racism in education, and regrets the lack of full implementation of its conclusions and findings; calls on the Government to issue a formal apology to those affected and to ensure their experiences are properly acknowledged; and urges the Government to establish a full public inquiry into this historic educational injustice to ensure accountability, transparency and meaningful policy changes to prevent such discrimination from ever occurring again.

That this House acknowledges the historical injustice suffered by Black children who were wrongly classified as educationally subnormal and placed in schooling for those with severely physical and mental disabilities under racist policies; notes the findings of Subnormal: A British Scandal and the exceptional work of educational campaigners starting with...

That this House stands in solidarity with staff at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), who are embarking on a two-week strike demanding union recognition; recognises the dedication and hard work of the teaching staff at LIPA Sixth Form and their vital role in providing high-quality education to students; notes with concern that staff have been left with no choice but to take strike action due to inefficient management practices and health and safety concerns; further stands in solidarity with the striking staff and their union representatives in their fight for fair treatment and recognition of the National Education Union (NEU); and calls on the Multi-Academy Trust to immediately sign a Trade Union Recognition Agreement and engage in meaningful negotiations with staff to resolve the dispute and ensure fair working conditions for all employees.

That this House stands in solidarity with staff at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), who are embarking on a two-week strike demanding union recognition; recognises the dedication and hard work of the teaching staff at LIPA Sixth Form and their vital role in providing high-quality education to students;...

That this House notes the imminent deadline of 13 February 2025 for the permanent deletion of the Metropolitan Police’s Gangs Violence Matrix (GVM) database following a successful legal challenge that highlighted its racist application and breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights; further notes that this database has unlawfully profiled and targeted individuals, including many who have never committed a crime, and may have been used as illegal evidence to charge or prosecute individuals using a gang narrative, including under the Joint Enterprise doctrine; expresses deep concern that the deletion of this database will destroy critical evidence needed to rectify miscarriages of justice and to ensure accountability for illegal police practices; calls on the Home Secretary to immediately intervene to delay or prevent the deletion of the database; and urges the Government to identify an independent body to safeguard the data while investigating its harmful impacts and supporting those affected to seek justice.

That this House notes the imminent deadline of 13 February 2025 for the permanent deletion of the Metropolitan Police’s Gangs Violence Matrix (GVM) database following a successful legal challenge that highlighted its racist application and breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights; further notes that this database has unlawfully...

That this House notes with alarm the rising levels of squalor and disrepair in prisons, with the National Audit Office estimating the maintenance backlog has doubled to £1.8 billion in the past four years; further notes with alarm recent reports by the Independent Monitoring Boards highlighting how broken and outdated windows make it easy for drones to deliver drugs and weapons, while prisoners are bitten by rats and venomous false widow spiders, yet there is little accountability when maintenance providers’ performance falls short; believes that the privatisation of prison maintenance a decade ago is at the heart of this shameful situation, with profit-hungry contractors and a corporate-style GovCo formed after the collapse of Carillion driving a dangerous race to the bottom in living and working conditions across the prison estate; welcomes the recent agreement by ministers that all options need to be looked at in order to ensure the best possible value for money for the public purse, but recognises that outsourcing of prison maintenance has proved to be a false economy, with the taxpayer picking up the tab for contractors’ costly failures; and calls on the Government to cancel plans for retendering these contracts and to bring all prison maintenance back in-house at the earliest opportunity, in keeping with its pre-election pledge to oversee the biggest wave of insourcing for a generation.

That this House notes with alarm the rising levels of squalor and disrepair in prisons, with the National Audit Office estimating the maintenance backlog has doubled to £1.8 billion in the past four years; further notes with alarm recent reports by the Independent Monitoring Boards highlighting how broken and outdated...

That this House welcomes the recent decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the wrongful conviction of Oliver Campbell, who was convicted in 1991 and served over 11 years in prison; pays tribute to the tenacity and dedication of Oliver, his loved ones and his lawyers Michael Birnbaum KC and Glyn Maddocks KC, who have worked tirelessly for more than two decades to clear his name; notes that the Criminal Cases Review Commission was prepared to take a second look at this conviction and, on this occasion, decided correctly to refer this conviction to the Court of Appeal; regrets that the Court of Appeal did not carry out a thorough investigation of the activities and actions of the Metropolitan Police officers in 1990 who were instrumental in obtaining a false confession from Oliver Campbell, which led directly to his conviction; calls on the Government to launch an independent inquiry into the failings that led to this conviction and to publish its findings; and further calls on the Government to review the iniquitous rules governing the payment of compensation to those who have suffered a miscarriage of justice, which were introduced by the coalition Government in 2014, the effect of which is that only those who can prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are not guilty of the crime for which they were convicted can successfully claim compensation following a decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn their conviction.

That this House welcomes the recent decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the wrongful conviction of Oliver Campbell, who was convicted in 1991 and served over 11 years in prison; pays tribute to the tenacity and dedication of Oliver, his loved ones and his lawyers Michael Birnbaum KC...

That this House notes that the current threshold of pension support to open the gate way of winter fuel allowance is too low; further notes the need to change the cliff-edge nature of the pension credit threshold; and calls upon the Government to capture the gateway support for those citizens with small occupational pensions that take them just above the threshold.

That this House notes that the current threshold of pension support to open the gate way of winter fuel allowance is too low; further notes the need to change the cliff-edge nature of the pension credit threshold; and calls upon the Government to capture the gateway support for those citizens...

That this House welcomes the publication of The Legal Dragnet, by Nisha Waller and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, which highlights the risk posed by ambiguous legislation on joint enterprise and makes a case for creating a safer framework for prosecution; further welcomes the stated ambition of the Government, while in opposition, to reform the law on joint enterprise; notes the Lord Chancellor’s acknowledgment that joint enterprise is an issue of concern to Members of this House; notes with alarm Crown Prosecution Service data that Black people are disproportionately prosecuted under joint enterprise; further notes with alarm that this new report highlights how there has been no discernible impact on the number of joint enterprise prosecutions since the 2016 Supreme Court ruling that the law had been wrongly implemented for more than 30 years; agrees with the report that the scope of joint enterprise should be narrowed to create a safer framework for prosecution and greater consistency and fairness in outcomes; further agrees that alongside legal reform, wider work must be done to challenge racialised and overzealous police and prosecution practices with respect to joint enterprise; and calls on the Government to request a Law Commission review of joint enterprise, with a view to narrowing the scope of current legislation and providing a safer framework for prosecution and sentencing.

That this House welcomes the publication of The Legal Dragnet, by Nisha Waller and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, which highlights the risk posed by ambiguous legislation on joint enterprise and makes a case for creating a safer framework for prosecution; further welcomes the stated ambition of the...

That this House recognises the new data published by the Department for Work and Pensions on the two-child limit to benefit payments which shows that there are now 1.6 million children living in families impacted by this policy, or one in every nine children; further recognises that of those families impacted 59% are working households, and that 3100 women were granted an exemption to the limit as a result of non-consensual conception under the rape clause; notes that if scrapped this policy would lift 300,000 children out of poverty immediately; and calls on the Government to scrap the two-child limit.

That this House recognises the new data published by the Department for Work and Pensions on the two-child limit to benefit payments which shows that there are now 1.6 million children living in families impacted by this policy, or one in every nine children; further recognises that of those families...

That this House congratulates Jurgen Norbert Klopp on his outstanding nine years as Manager of Liverpool FC; celebrates his achievements in winning the UEFA Champions League in 2018-19, UEFA Super Cup in 2019, FIFA Club World Cup in 2019-2020, English Premier League in 2019-2020, in the Club's first Premier League win for 30 years, FA Cup in 2021-22, Premier League Cup in 2021-22, Community Shield in 2022-23 and the Carabao League Cup in 2023-24; notes his commitment not just to the club, his players and the fans, but to the whole city of Liverpool, acknowledged by his winning the PFA and Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association awards in 2024 for his support for a wide array of community projects and for the Hillsborough families; and promises that he will never walk alone again and wishes this honorary Scouser every success in his next venture.

That this House congratulates Jurgen Norbert Klopp on his outstanding nine years as Manager of Liverpool FC; celebrates his achievements in winning the UEFA Champions League in 2018-19, UEFA Super Cup in 2019, FIFA Club World Cup in 2019-2020, English Premier League in 2019-2020, in the Club's first Premier League...