The Overseas Operations Bill continues its reading in the Lords

The Overseas Operations Bill is at its second reading in the House of Lords, at this point there is nothing the British public can do to stop its passing.

It hasn't reached the Committee stages yet, so it still isn't ratified in its original form.

In its original form it is alleged it provides a level of immunity for torture and war crimes, though Ben Wallace, the defence secretary denies that it will contravene the aims of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Liberty is very critical of this bill and have been following its passage through the houses very closely, as are many MPs now.

Labour came out strongly against the bill in its third reading in the House of Commons.

Everything now rests in the hands of the unelected second chamber.

Bye bye Boris

We can all breathe a sigh of relief that Boris Johnson has resigned from the cabinet.

It is heartening to see Theresa May’s government in disarray, long may it continue.

Hopefully this will sway the populace to a later Labour electoral victory.

Southwark housing quibble

For those of you that have yet to vote today in the Southwark area, here's something to consider.

The Liberal Democrats and Labour in the Southwark area have a disagreement over council housing.

The Liberal Democrat councillor said: "In Southwark, with almost 20,000 people on the housing waiting list, Southwark is in desperate need of new affordable homes. 

Unfortunately, the current Labour-run council has sold-off or demolished 935 homes since 2010, making the situation even worse. 

It has also failed to build new homes to replace the ones we’ve lost, with just 33 new council homes built since 2010...

They have also pledged to end the housing sell-off, and kick-start a new programme of house building. They will fight for a better deal from developers to make sure they are providing affordable homes as part of new developments."

When challenged on this Labour responded with the statement: "The Labour council has the largest council house building programme in the country...

This is despite the council losing almost £100m funding under Government cuts supported by Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes. 



Mr Hughes also cut funding to build affordable homes (from about £128k per home to £25k per home) and backed the Government re-defining 'affordable' as 80% of market rent.

The Liberal Democrats ran Southwark council in coalition with the Tories (2002-2010) and did not build council homes even with higher (Labour) Government funding."

Labour also quote that Labour has repaired 7,000 empty council homes to let for local families, while the Liberal Democrats have sold off or demolished 9,000 council homes.