Yesterday's King's Speech had several good ideas.
However, it failed to address many of the serious issues facing the UK, including welfare spending, education, healthcare and the armed forces.
My speech on the King's Speech here👇
This is a principled decision and a devastating attack on a Government that is failing to defend our country.
John Healey’s resignation letter to the Prime Minister says it all:
“Your DIP [defence investment plan] financial settlement — which I was first given in full on Monday
This is an important insight from @terrorwatchdog. The insistence on an open Irish border was one of the reasons that I resigned from Theresa May’s government.
In addition, we need to revisit the approach we take to the assessment of asylum seekers. People who really need
The case of Andrew Malkinson is a grave miscarriage of justice and today’s news only underlines how badly he has been failed by the state.
With the real rapist, Paul Quinn, now finally convicted and deservedly sentenced to 24 years, it is clearer than ever that the system not
Banking Hubs and Post Offices are lifelines for communities losing traditional bank branches.
Yet Lloyds Bank is the only major British bank that doesn't allow customers to deposit cheques at Banking Hubs and Post Offices. This hits local businesses, the elderly, and rural areas
The big question in all of this is why were these messages between Darren Jones and Peter Mandelson not released on Monday alongside all the other Humble Address documents?
The Humble Address is clear that "electronic communications… between Lord Mandelson and ministers…
This is a much welcome decision.
The Scottish Government has spent years resisting the release of these documents.
The Scottish Information Commissioner deserves great credit for doggedly pursuing the case and standing up for transparency and freedom of information.
Sir Alex Younger was a great patriot who understood that our values are not a weakness, but our greatest strength.
“If we undermine the values we defend, even in the name of defending them, then we have lost” - a view held by more of the agency heads than many realise.
The entire report from the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is well worth a read, and contains some urgent recommendations for our government.
committees.parliament.uk/publications/5…
I have also raised these concerns before.
Palantir has a history of offering free "trial periods" for their products before going on to be directly awarded public-sector contracts.
It is a clear tactic to gain a commercial foothold in the UK and make it difficult to move
The Select Committee report was also damning about the role of large, foreign providers of IT solutions and the risk they pose of 'vendor lock-in'.
Of particular concern was Palantir's role in providing our digital infrastructure.
In response, the NAO said that they are "keeping the position under review" and "considering what work the NAO should do in relation to the Digital ID programme."
I will be writing to the NAO again to find out what progress has been made in the light of today's Select Committee