After the John Worboys scandal, we need a Victims’ Law

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The criminal justice system is in crisis – it is chaotic, haphazard and fails many victims.

The Parole Board’s scandalous handling of black cab rapist John Worboys is a high-profile example of the system which all too often leaves victims of crime feeling like they were a commodity, simply discarded as soon as a conviction was secured.

Two of his victims were left no option, under current law, but to crowdfund for a judicial review and take the case to the High Court. This is a dire example of a broken system.

The current non-statutory Victims’ Code leaves many uninformed and crucially not consulted, causing confusion, fear and a lack of trust in the criminal justice system.

It is clear that there is now an urgent need for the government to pass legislation to enshrine the current voluntary Victims’ Code into a statute.

We must have a Victims’ Law, giving victims of crime concrete rights, including the right to be kept informed about key issues regarding the perpetrator of their crime, the right to be meaningfully consulted about their move to an open prison or their release and the right to challenge Parole Board decisions.

Victims must be at the heart of this system and we must restore their faith as a matter of urgency.

Kim Harrison, head of human rights, Slater and Gordon

Margaret Thatcher is the last person who should be on the £50 note

There are a number of reasons why Margaret Thatcher should not be on the £50 note, one being that she worked against science by starving schools of money and resources and making it impossible in some areas to even buy enough textbooks for science subjects.

Her time in office was marked by shortages of just about everything in schools, including heating in some cases.

When boilers went wrong there was no money for repairs. Children can’t work and learn properly in cold classrooms. I remember one science laboratory in a Midlands school with holes in the back wall which staff tried to block but remained very draughty through the winter months. This was a “temporary” classroom with no hope of being made permanent at that time. The Blair government had to repair and build loads of classrooms and schools when it came to power.

Thatcher should not be honoured in any way for science as she did more than anyone else to ruin the chances of young scientists during her time in office.

Marian Borthwick
Petersfield

‘Good’ migrants and ‘bad’ migrants

Theresa May was forced to admit she regretted saying that EU workers were “jumping the queue”.

However, she went on to state that people expected that migrants should make a contribution. All migrants who work or do charitable acts make a contribution to society whether it be as a doctor, bricklayer, plumber, office cleaner, hospital porter or carer. All these people have skills and make a contribution – not just financiers and business executives.

Maurizio Moore
Brentwood

No, we don’t want Theresa May to just get on with Brexit

Although the argument for a people’s vote becomes more compelling by the day, Theresa May and her government appear determined to resist the pressure. Their arguments against seem decidedly unconvincing and hypocritical.

Apparently such a vote would undermine people’s faith in the democratic process. This a bit rich from a party that was more than happy to call a general election in 2016 purely for political gain, even though they had a working majority, in a pre-emptive strike against what that they perceived was a weakened Labour Party. In addition, it is from a front bench that was, in the main, passionate Remainers, but who now, in order to stay in office, have become born-again Brexiteers. So much for principled politics.

A Final Say, we are told, would risk civil unrest from disgruntled and thwarted Brexiteers. Is this an acknowledgement that the inflammatory headlines of the right-wing press, on which up to now the Conservative Party have been more than happy to piggyback, have indeed had a deleterious on the political atmosphere?

It is also worth considering whether the sharp decline in police numbers, considerably lower than at the time of the London riots of 2011, might be a factor in this cause for concern. Either way, not daring to make a decision because of the perceived threat of violence from one section of the population does not seem an example of “strong and stable” government.

The government also argue that if a people’s vote overturned the Brexit decision, there would be the danger of parties of the far right, such as the BNP, gaining popularity. I suspect what they are really frightened of is the re-emergence of Ukip as a mainstream party. It would take votes from the Tories and seriously weaken Conservative chances in a future general election.

The decision to use the 2008 crash as an excuse to implement a hardline reduction of the state impacted badly and unfairly on the regions of the UK. It was a major vote winner for Ukip from people who felt left out and neglected. David Cameron’s decision to call the first referendum was simply an attempt to head off this challenge from Ukip, which could itself have been prevented by the application of less doctrinaire policies.

It would seem that the government’s intransigence over the people’s vote is being driven by a group of unprincipled, dogmatic politicians whose only aim is to stay in power, whatever the cost. Plus ça change!

MT Harris
Waltham

Opinion poll after opinion poll shows a continuing trend away from leaving the EU. Many of these involve tens of thousands of responses – the results of which are subjected to rigorous statistical analysis. Theresa May claims she has been knocking on doors and the overwhelming majority of people are telling her they just want her “to get on with it”.

Who are we to believe? Maybe if she were to knock on the doors of houses in the UK instead of la la land, she might get a different answer.

G Forward
Stirling

Either by collusion or incompetence the establishment and political elite of this country have defied democratic wishes. These people, by their actions, have proven what George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm: “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”

Remember Alexis Tsipras, prime minister of Greece? He gave us warning of what to expect from the EU negotiating machine and told us to dismiss it at our peril. That advice was ignored.

Consequently, the EU bureaucratic and unelected machine has effectively annexed the UK. We will be held to the letter of the law as written in the agreement while any words in accompanying documents will be ignored unless favourable to the EU. There is no escape clause.

To paraphrase a famous speech: “Never in the field of EU negotiation will so much be blamed by so many on so few.”

David Bonner
Stretton-on-Dunsmore