Former Liberal leader and architect of 1967 act speaks out amid fears of an American-style anti-termination agenda David Steel, the former Liberal leader and architect of the 1967 Abortion Act, has lobbied ministers to vote against a bill to change the counselling system for women who want terminations. Lord Steel, who has talked of the need to amend his original legislation to limit late abortions, said that there was no need for the proposed amendment to the health and social care bill, which MPs will vote on this week. He has written to key figures in the government to urge them to reject it. The amendment, put forward by the Tory MP Nadine Dorries, would strip established abortion providers and charities of their role as counsellors to women with unplanned pregnancies. Critics say the move would create a gap that would be filled by religious anti-abortion charities and medical professionals. Steel said: “Under the Abortion Act, the Department of Health has complete power over licensing and de-licensing clinics. If there were any evidence of failure to carry out proper counselling of patients, they can close clinics. More positively, there is nothing to stop them issuing guidelines on counselling if they think that necessary. There is no need to amend the health bill.” Dorries has emerged as the figurehead of the “right to know” campaign that has emerged in the run-up to the vote. Her amendment is almost certain to be rejected this week after the government indicated it did not have the support of David Cameron or the Department of Health. But there is unease among pro-choice campaigners that a US-style anti-abortion agenda is starting to take root in the UK, supported by American Christian evangelical movements. Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS (formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) said: “Over the past couple of decades, anti-choice organisations in the US have moved away from arguing about the morality of abortion, towards presenting their cause in the language of women’s health. This often leads them to promote misinformation – for example, that abortion causes breast cancer, infertility or mental illness – as a means of scaring women about abortion, or encouraging legislators to restrict access to abortions. There are important moral and political arguments that should be had about abortion; hiding behind non-evidence based, pseudo-scientific health claims reveals the moral bankruptcy of some anti-abortion campaigns today.” She added: “The Dorries amendment – tagged on to a bill which has nothing to do with abortion – seems to be an example of using legislation to interfere with women’s access to a legal abortion service, with the goal of making the experience more unpleasant.” Other providers are worried they may have to take on a new role. “We are not the place for moral or political arbitration,” said one pregnancy counsellor. “Our job is to support women and make sure they are making the right decision for them. The last thing I want is to have to spend my time defending the rights and wrongs.” The Royal College of GPs and the BMA have said they do not see any reason for the amendment. Any GP who has an ethical or religious object to abortion is allowed to “conscientiously object” and take no part in referring or treating a woman with an unplanned pregnancy. Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical fellowship, which has more than 4,500 doctors as members, said GPs were the right people to give independent counselling. “They would not need to state their own ethical position until it gets to the point that the woman says she would like an abortion and then the doctor can explain to her that they are not able to help,” said Saunders, who has advised Dorries. Abortion Health Women Health policy Public services policy Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Nick Clegg defeats bid by Michael Gove to let free schools make profits
September 3, 2011 No Comment
Deputy prime minister trumpets Lib Dem success in ensuring education reforms do not just serve ‘privileged few’ Nick Clegg has thwarted plans by the education secretary, Michael Gove, to allow the new generation of “free schools” to make profits in the state sector after a massive ideological battle over the coalition’s education policy. The deputy prime minister will on Monday trumpet his success as one of three key victories achieved over Gove, which he says will ensure that free schools have to operate for the “whole community” and not just for “the privileged few” or for profit. Sources close to Gove admitted last night that the education secretary had been hoping to allow free schools, which are set up by local people but still funded by the state, to make profits in the second term of a Tory-led government. A Gove supporter said: “Gove has never had an ideological issue with profit in schools, whereas Clegg is ruling it out for ideological reasons.” Previously the Tories have denied that they were planning to allow profits to be made within the state sector by businesses taking over the schools. The admission comes as the first batch of 24 free schools open their doors this week with pupils returning from holiday. Clegg’s aides say he has also persuaded Gove to amend the admissions code from 2013 to allow free schools and academies to give priority to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds (those on free school meals). Free schools and academies will be expected to do all they can to ensure that, as a minimum, they have the same amount of pupils on free school meals as the local average. In a third move, Clegg has won a guarantee from Gove that all of the free schools set up in the next wave will either be in deprived areas or areas in need of more places. Many of the schools in the first wave are being set up in middle-class areas where critics say there is no proven need for extra places. This, opponents say, could mean more resources going to already well-served areas and less to regions in need. In a speech to teachers, parents and students, Clegg will say he is in favour of free schools, but will add: “I want them to be available to the whole community – open to all children and not just the privileged few. I want them to be part of a school system that releases opportunity, rather than entrenching it. “They must not be the preserve of the privileged few, creaming off the best pupils while leaving the rest to fend for themselves, causing problems for and draining resources from other nearby schools. So let me give you my assurance: I would never tolerate that.” Clegg feared that his claims to be advancing the cause of social mobility in government would be called into question unless he put his stamp on the Gove plans. He will add: “The coalition has made it clear that our overriding social policy objective is improving social mobility, reducing social segregation; making sure what counts in our society are ability and drive, not privilege and good connections. Free schools will only be acceptable to me and my party so long as they promote those goals.” On admissions policy, he will insist that measures are being taken to ensure disadvantaged pupils get into free schools and academies. “We are also taking unprecedented steps to make sure disadvantaged pupils actually get into these schools. The more of them the school takes, the more money it gets.That’s a simple, but crucial, financial incentive. “No one has reformed the admissions code like this for years. In future, these schools must do all they can to make sure that they have the same proportion of free school meals pupils as the local average – at least.” Ruling out any moves to privatisation or profit-making, he will say: “Let me reassure you: yes to greater diversity; yes to more choice for parents. But no to profit-seeking within our state-funded education sector.” Labour’s education spokesman, Andy Burnham, last night hit out at rules which let free schools employ non-qualified teachers. “Michael Gove’s ‘anything goes’ approach to school reform is a reckless gamble with standards and the life chances of our children. “Parents should be secure in the knowledge that all publicly funded schools will employ teachers with relevant training and qualifications.” Free schools Nick Clegg Michael Gove Education policy School admissions Schools Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Toby Helm guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Nick Clegg defeats bid by Michael Gove to let free schools make profits
September 3, 2011 No Comment
Deputy prime minister trumpets Lib Dem success in ensuring education reforms do not just serve ‘privileged few’ Nick Clegg has thwarted plans by the education secretary, Michael Gove, to allow the new generation of “free schools” to make profits in the state sector after a massive ideological battle over the coalition’s education policy. The deputy prime minister will on Monday trumpet his success as one of three key victories achieved over Gove, which he says will ensure that free schools have to operate for the “whole community” and not just for “the privileged few” or for profit. Sources close to Gove admitted last night that the education secretary had been hoping to allow free schools, which are set up by local people but still funded by the state, to make profits in the second term of a Tory-led government. A Gove supporter said: “Gove has never had an ideological issue with profit in schools, whereas Clegg is ruling it out for ideological reasons.” Previously the Tories have denied that they were planning to allow profits to be made within the state sector by businesses taking over the schools. The admission comes as the first batch of 24 free schools open their doors this week with pupils returning from holiday. Clegg’s aides say he has also persuaded Gove to amend the admissions code from 2013 to allow free schools and academies to give priority to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds (those on free school meals). Free schools and academies will be expected to do all they can to ensure that, as a minimum, they have the same amount of pupils on free school meals as the local average. In a third move, Clegg has won a guarantee from Gove that all of the free schools set up in the next wave will either be in deprived areas or areas in need of more places. Many of the schools in the first wave are being set up in middle-class areas where critics say there is no proven need for extra places. This, opponents say, could mean more resources going to already well-served areas and less to regions in need. In a speech to teachers, parents and students, Clegg will say he is in favour of free schools, but will add: “I want them to be available to the whole community – open to all children and not just the privileged few. I want them to be part of a school system that releases opportunity, rather than entrenching it. “They must not be the preserve of the privileged few, creaming off the best pupils while leaving the rest to fend for themselves, causing problems for and draining resources from other nearby schools. So let me give you my assurance: I would never tolerate that.” Clegg feared that his claims to be advancing the cause of social mobility in government would be called into question unless he put his stamp on the Gove plans. He will add: “The coalition has made it clear that our overriding social policy objective is improving social mobility, reducing social segregation; making sure what counts in our society are ability and drive, not privilege and good connections. Free schools will only be acceptable to me and my party so long as they promote those goals.” On admissions policy, he will insist that measures are being taken to ensure disadvantaged pupils get into free schools and academies. “We are also taking unprecedented steps to make sure disadvantaged pupils actually get into these schools. The more of them the school takes, the more money it gets.That’s a simple, but crucial, financial incentive. “No one has reformed the admissions code like this for years. In future, these schools must do all they can to make sure that they have the same proportion of free school meals pupils as the local average – at least.” Ruling out any moves to privatisation or profit-making, he will say: “Let me reassure you: yes to greater diversity; yes to more choice for parents. But no to profit-seeking within our state-funded education sector.” Labour’s education spokesman, Andy Burnham, last night hit out at rules which let free schools employ non-qualified teachers. “Michael Gove’s ‘anything goes’ approach to school reform is a reckless gamble with standards and the life chances of our children. “Parents should be secure in the knowledge that all publicly funded schools will employ teachers with relevant training and qualifications.” Free schools Nick Clegg Michael Gove Education policy School admissions Schools Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Toby Helm guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
American writer and countryside campaigner concerned that shake-up may weaken planning laws to allow for development Britain’s leading countryside campaigner, Bill Bryson, has joined a growing wave of opposition to government moves to shake up planning laws. As groups from the National Trust to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds line up against proposals to ease new development across the country, Bryson told the Observer he was deeply concerned by the direction of policy. “The government’s good intentions risk being undermined by the talk of economic growth at any cost,” said the American writer, who champions the English countryside and is president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). “We are deeply worried to learn that environmental laws are regarded as red tape and that the planning system might be weakened to allow for more development.” Bryson’s intervention in the increasingly bitter debate came as countryside, amenity and environmental groups stepped up pressure on the planning minister, Greg Clark, to rethink the proposals. On Saturday Clark told the BBC’s Today programme that he was willing to discuss details with groups such as the National Trust, but said there would be no U-turn. Critics believe that a new emphasis on development will lead to the loss of green space and unjustified speculative development. The National Trust’s director
Continue reading …American writer and countryside campaigner concerned that shake-up may weaken planning laws to allow for development Britain’s leading countryside campaigner, Bill Bryson, has joined a growing wave of opposition to government moves to shake up planning laws. As groups from the National Trust to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds line up against proposals to ease new development across the country, Bryson told the Observer he was deeply concerned by the direction of policy. “The government’s good intentions risk being undermined by the talk of economic growth at any cost,” said the American writer, who champions the English countryside and is president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). “We are deeply worried to learn that environmental laws are regarded as red tape and that the planning system might be weakened to allow for more development.” Bryson’s intervention in the increasingly bitter debate came as countryside, amenity and environmental groups stepped up pressure on the planning minister, Greg Clark, to rethink the proposals. On Saturday Clark told the BBC’s Today programme that he was willing to discuss details with groups such as the National Trust, but said there would be no U-turn. Critics believe that a new emphasis on development will lead to the loss of green space and unjustified speculative development. The National Trust’s director
Continue reading …
American writer and countryside campaigner concerned that shake-up may weaken planning laws to allow for development Britain’s leading countryside campaigner, Bill Bryson, has joined a growing wave of opposition to government moves to shake up planning laws. As groups from the National Trust to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds line up against proposals to ease new development across the country, Bryson told the Observer he was deeply concerned by the direction of policy. “The government’s good intentions risk being undermined by the talk of economic growth at any cost,” said the American writer, who champions the English countryside and is president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). “We are deeply worried to learn that environmental laws are regarded as red tape and that the planning system might be weakened to allow for more development.” Bryson’s intervention in the increasingly bitter debate came as countryside, amenity and environmental groups stepped up pressure on the planning minister, Greg Clark, to rethink the proposals. On Saturday Clark told the BBC’s Today programme that he was willing to discuss details with groups such as the National Trust, but said there would be no U-turn. Critics believe that a new emphasis on development will lead to the loss of green space and unjustified speculative development. The National Trust’s director
Continue reading …
Anti-fascists stage counter-protest in the East End of London, chanting ‘they shall not pass’ amid angry confrontations Large crowds assembled in east London to oppose a demonstration by the far-right English Defence League on Saturday. There were frequent angry confrontations. At one stage EDL members chanted, “You’re scum and you know you are,” to foreign tourists, while an Asian man singled out for abuse shouted back, “I’m as English as you are.” Hundreds of residents and anti-fascist campaigners converged on Whitechapel Road close to the East London Mosque, a target for members of the EDL, amid a police presence of around 3,000 officers, some of who were in riot gear. Muslims accuse the EDL of fostering hate against them through claims that a gradual “Islamisation” of Britain is taking place. As he began his speech, the EDL’s founder, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 28, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, appeared to be led away by police. He is presently under court restrictions after being convicted of leading a fight at a football match in Luton earlier this year. At one stage, staff at King’s Cross station in north London closed the entrance to the tube, preventing the majority of the EDL supporters gathered outside from travelling to the demonstration close to Aldgate tube for around half an hour. In the end around 1,000 people assembled near East London tube station – 10 minutes from the mosque – at what had been billed as a “static demonstration” to get around a 30-day ban on political marches imposed after the riots by the Home Secretary Theresa May. It is the first time since the Brixton riots 30 years ago that the police had sought powers to stop marches in London, where tensions are still running high. The EDL decision to go ahead with a demonstration was also controversial following the recent massacre of young Norwegian political activists by the anti-Muslim extremist Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik admitted killing 77 people in July when he detonated a bomb in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, before embarking on a shooting spree at a Social Democratic youth camp on the nearby Utøya island. Breivik had previously lauded EDL campaigns against the “Islamisation of Britain” and claimed to have 600 EDL supporters as Facebook friends. Along Whitechapel Road, scores of anti-EDL protesters waved placards carrying portraits of Brievik and Tommy Robinson. Most carried the slogan: “Different faces, same hatred.” Some in the crowd drew parallels with the Battle of Cable Street, several minutes’ walk south, where the local community railed in defiance of Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists almost 75 years ago, refusing to let them pass through the East End. The same chant, “They shall not pass,” echoed down the streets on Saturday. Jamie Pitman, who had travelled from Oxford to show solidarity with the residents of Tower Hamlets, said: “Cable Street showed that, in times of austerity and a poor economic climate, fascism and racism can flourish. We need to beat fascism by turning out in bigger numbers than them – not resorting to violence but providing a bigger show of strength.” The mood was defiant, with a number of people dancing to a sound system erected on a parked lorry. The Reverend Alan Green, of St John on Bethnal Green, and one of the organisers of United East End, a coalition of groups opposed to the EDL entering Tower Hamlets, said: “The vast majority of the population are very happy to live together in diversity. We need to show the extent of opposition to the EDL and how the things they say about the area, their rhetoric, is so wrong.” In the afternoon, as more EDL supporters arrived to drink and chant at Aldgate, Martin Smith, of Unite Against Facism, was among those demanding that the EDL should not be allowed access to the borough, but be contained by the police at Aldgate, on the eastern periphery of Tower Hamlets. Dave Wainwright, an organiser of the Unite Against Fascism wing in Leicester, said he had expected violence despite the ban. “In Leicester, the EDL were also banned from marching but that had little effect in terms of minimising their violence,” he said. “It stems from their ideology and a culture of heavy drinking.” Disturbances in Tower Hamlets continued last night as a coach load of EDL supporters was allowed to travel through the borough. By 7pm police had made 12 arrests. English Defence League London The far right Protest Mark Townsend guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Anti-fascists stage counter-protest in the East End of London, chanting ‘they shall not pass’ amid angry confrontations Large crowds assembled in east London to oppose a demonstration by the far-right English Defence League on Saturday. There were frequent angry confrontations. At one stage EDL members chanted, “You’re scum and you know you are,” to foreign tourists, while an Asian man singled out for abuse shouted back, “I’m as English as you are.” Hundreds of residents and anti-fascist campaigners converged on Whitechapel Road close to the East London Mosque, a target for members of the EDL, amid a police presence of around 3,000 officers, some of who were in riot gear. Muslims accuse the EDL of fostering hate against them through claims that a gradual “Islamisation” of Britain is taking place. As he began his speech, the EDL’s founder, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 28, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, appeared to be led away by police. He is presently under court restrictions after being convicted of leading a fight at a football match in Luton earlier this year. At one stage, staff at King’s Cross station in north London closed the entrance to the tube, preventing the majority of the EDL supporters gathered outside from travelling to the demonstration close to Aldgate tube for around half an hour. In the end around 1,000 people assembled near East London tube station – 10 minutes from the mosque – at what had been billed as a “static demonstration” to get around a 30-day ban on political marches imposed after the riots by the Home Secretary Theresa May. It is the first time since the Brixton riots 30 years ago that the police had sought powers to stop marches in London, where tensions are still running high. The EDL decision to go ahead with a demonstration was also controversial following the recent massacre of young Norwegian political activists by the anti-Muslim extremist Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik admitted killing 77 people in July when he detonated a bomb in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, before embarking on a shooting spree at a Social Democratic youth camp on the nearby Utøya island. Breivik had previously lauded EDL campaigns against the “Islamisation of Britain” and claimed to have 600 EDL supporters as Facebook friends. Along Whitechapel Road, scores of anti-EDL protesters waved placards carrying portraits of Brievik and Tommy Robinson. Most carried the slogan: “Different faces, same hatred.” Some in the crowd drew parallels with the Battle of Cable Street, several minutes’ walk south, where the local community railed in defiance of Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists almost 75 years ago, refusing to let them pass through the East End. The same chant, “They shall not pass,” echoed down the streets on Saturday. Jamie Pitman, who had travelled from Oxford to show solidarity with the residents of Tower Hamlets, said: “Cable Street showed that, in times of austerity and a poor economic climate, fascism and racism can flourish. We need to beat fascism by turning out in bigger numbers than them – not resorting to violence but providing a bigger show of strength.” The mood was defiant, with a number of people dancing to a sound system erected on a parked lorry. The Reverend Alan Green, of St John on Bethnal Green, and one of the organisers of United East End, a coalition of groups opposed to the EDL entering Tower Hamlets, said: “The vast majority of the population are very happy to live together in diversity. We need to show the extent of opposition to the EDL and how the things they say about the area, their rhetoric, is so wrong.” In the afternoon, as more EDL supporters arrived to drink and chant at Aldgate, Martin Smith, of Unite Against Facism, was among those demanding that the EDL should not be allowed access to the borough, but be contained by the police at Aldgate, on the eastern periphery of Tower Hamlets. Dave Wainwright, an organiser of the Unite Against Fascism wing in Leicester, said he had expected violence despite the ban. “In Leicester, the EDL were also banned from marching but that had little effect in terms of minimising their violence,” he said. “It stems from their ideology and a culture of heavy drinking.” Disturbances in Tower Hamlets continued last night as a coach load of EDL supporters was allowed to travel through the borough. By 7pm police had made 12 arrests. English Defence League London The far right Protest Mark Townsend guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Anti-fascists stage counter-protest in the East End of London, chanting ‘they shall not pass’ amid angry confrontations Large crowds assembled in east London to oppose a demonstration by the far-right English Defence League on Saturday. There were frequent angry confrontations. At one stage EDL members chanted, “You’re scum and you know you are,” to foreign tourists, while an Asian man singled out for abuse shouted back, “I’m as English as you are.” Hundreds of residents and anti-fascist campaigners converged on Whitechapel Road close to the East London Mosque, a target for members of the EDL, amid a police presence of around 3,000 officers, some of who were in riot gear. Muslims accuse the EDL of fostering hate against them through claims that a gradual “Islamisation” of Britain is taking place. As he began his speech, the EDL’s founder, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 28, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, appeared to be led away by police. He is presently under court restrictions after being convicted of leading a fight at a football match in Luton earlier this year. At one stage, staff at King’s Cross station in north London closed the entrance to the tube, preventing the majority of the EDL supporters gathered outside from travelling to the demonstration close to Aldgate tube for around half an hour. In the end around 1,000 people assembled near East London tube station – 10 minutes from the mosque – at what had been billed as a “static demonstration” to get around a 30-day ban on political marches imposed after the riots by the Home Secretary Theresa May. It is the first time since the Brixton riots 30 years ago that the police had sought powers to stop marches in London, where tensions are still running high. The EDL decision to go ahead with a demonstration was also controversial following the recent massacre of young Norwegian political activists by the anti-Muslim extremist Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik admitted killing 77 people in July when he detonated a bomb in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, before embarking on a shooting spree at a Social Democratic youth camp on the nearby Utøya island. Breivik had previously lauded EDL campaigns against the “Islamisation of Britain” and claimed to have 600 EDL supporters as Facebook friends. Along Whitechapel Road, scores of anti-EDL protesters waved placards carrying portraits of Brievik and Tommy Robinson. Most carried the slogan: “Different faces, same hatred.” Some in the crowd drew parallels with the Battle of Cable Street, several minutes’ walk south, where the local community railed in defiance of Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists almost 75 years ago, refusing to let them pass through the East End. The same chant, “They shall not pass,” echoed down the streets on Saturday. Jamie Pitman, who had travelled from Oxford to show solidarity with the residents of Tower Hamlets, said: “Cable Street showed that, in times of austerity and a poor economic climate, fascism and racism can flourish. We need to beat fascism by turning out in bigger numbers than them – not resorting to violence but providing a bigger show of strength.” The mood was defiant, with a number of people dancing to a sound system erected on a parked lorry. The Reverend Alan Green, of St John on Bethnal Green, and one of the organisers of United East End, a coalition of groups opposed to the EDL entering Tower Hamlets, said: “The vast majority of the population are very happy to live together in diversity. We need to show the extent of opposition to the EDL and how the things they say about the area, their rhetoric, is so wrong.” In the afternoon, as more EDL supporters arrived to drink and chant at Aldgate, Martin Smith, of Unite Against Facism, was among those demanding that the EDL should not be allowed access to the borough, but be contained by the police at Aldgate, on the eastern periphery of Tower Hamlets. Dave Wainwright, an organiser of the Unite Against Fascism wing in Leicester, said he had expected violence despite the ban. “In Leicester, the EDL were also banned from marching but that had little effect in terms of minimising their violence,” he said. “It stems from their ideology and a culture of heavy drinking.” Disturbances in Tower Hamlets continued last night as a coach load of EDL supporters was allowed to travel through the borough. By 7pm police had made 12 arrests. English Defence League London The far right Protest Mark Townsend guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …