LDDA - The Liberal Democrat Disability Association

Conservative MPs have rejected all 10 cross-party amendments to the Government's Immigration Bill passed by the House of Lords earlier this month, including three from the Liberal Democrats.

The 28-day time limit on immigration detention (Amendment 6) - introduced by Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Hamwee in the House of Lords - was rejected by 328 votes to 264.

Welcome to the Weekly Whip. Your one-stop shop for Lib Dem Parliamentary updates, covering the week that was and the week to come.

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Weekly Whip w/c 12th October

Monday 12th October

Monday was a key day for British Farming, but the House started off with a Prime Ministerial Statement from Boris Johnson regarding the new tier system for Covid-restrictions. Ed Davey and Munira Wilson led the charge for the Lib Dems, with Ed stressing that time is of the essence; the British people have made painful sacrifices and the government cannot squander the opportunity to get solid testing systems in place. Munira raised another glitch in the trace system which attributes positive cases for students to their home addresses, rather than university addresses, skewing critical data.

Justin Fashanu began his career as an apprentice with Norwich City, having impressed as part of their academy, and signed his first professional contract in December 1978 aged just 17. Fashanu became the first black footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee when he made the move from Norwich City to Nottingham Forest in 1981.

Fashanu became the first openly gay professional footballer when he made a public announcement in the Sun newspaper in October 1990. He stated that his fellow players generally accepted him well following his announcement, but he was nonetheless aware of malicious jokes made about his sexual orientation, and came to be a target of constant crowd abuse because of it. After moving to the US in 1998 he was questioned by police when a 17-year-old boy accused him of sexual assault. Fashanu fled to England where he tragically took his own life in May 1998. According to the note he left, he feared he would not get a fair trial because of his homosexuality.

To this day, Justin Fashanu remains the only openly gay professional player in English football. His decision to come out publicly led him to be considered by many in the game as a pioneer and an inspiration beyond the world of football. Fashanu was listed at number 99 in The Pink Paper's Top 500 Gay Heroes and in March 2009, a football team named The Justin Fashanu All-Stars was named in his honour at an event run by the Justin Campaign, a campaign against homophobia in football which promoted the inclusion of openly gay players in the game.

In 2019, The Justin Fashanu Foundation was founded in his memory by his niece Amal Fashanu, with the aim of confronting prejudice in football, with a special focus on the LGBT+ community. On the 19th February 2020, on what would have been his 59th birthday, Fashanu became the latest inductee to the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame.

Today, Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael led cross-party opposition to the Government's Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill, calling a vote against the legislation in the House of Commons.

Writing in the Independent ahead of the debate, Alistair set out our concerns:

People across the country have endured terrible hardships over the past six months. They've lost loved ones, lost livelihoods and been cut off from friends and family.

We have made huge sacrifices and played by the Government's rules - we deserve to have confidence that these rules will work.

Instead, our efforts are being squandered by the incompetence of Boris Johnson. His Test and Trace system is not fit for purpose, and scientific advice is being ignored.

I am pleased to announce today that in Wales we have secured free school meal provision for all school holidays until at least Easter 2021.

The coronavirus pandemic has presented countless challenges this year, but with the Welsh Government now guaranteeing £11 million for these provisions, we can help support those who look to school for more than just education.

Nominations are now open for the biennial election to the following Officer positions and the General Committee:

Chair

(This post may be occupied by one person or by two Co-Chairs, who must be nominated and seconded and give their consent to stand and serve as Co-Chairs, sharing the responsibilities of that role)

The Government have completely lost control of coronavirus across vast swathes of the country, and the situation in London is looking very difficult.

In the north of England, and now in London, the sacrifices of millions of people have been squandered by this Government.

Because of Boris Johnson's failure to ensure our test, trace and isolate system worked, millions of people will have to make those sacrifices again.

On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I have written to Equalities Minister Liz Truss calling on her to stop all forms of hair discrimination.

We must combat racism wherever we find it in our society, and this all-too-prevalent form of prejudice must end.

Read my letter in full...

Dear Liz,

We are writing to urge you to take action to end hair discrimination in schools, colleges and workplaces, and throughout society.

People across this country have endured terrible hardships over the past six months: losing loved ones, losing livelihoods and isolating from friends and family.

People are angry to see their hard work and sacrifices utterly wasted by the incompetence of Boris Johnson.

That's why people are so angry to see their hard work and sacrifices utterly wasted by the incompetence of Boris Johnson.