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The New Leader of the Labour Party


Numero Veinticinco
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1 hour ago, Barry Wom said:

I think Philips we lead the right leaning candidates, so hopefully she hasn't got a chance. 

It would be very satisfying if she polls less than Liz Kendall's 4%. Her media friends, though, wiil feature her strongly for a couple of reasons  - the belief that she somehow represents the majority of 'traditional' Labour voters and, more aligned to their true quest, that she will be the massive car crash that will kill off the party altogether. Avoid like plague.

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From 2013;

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/16/benefit-fraudsters-prosecutions-10-years-jail

 

Benefit fraudsters face increased sentences of up to 10 years in jail

 This article is more than 6 years old
Director of public prosecutions sets out tougher guidelines, including use of the Fraud Act, which carries longer sentences
 

Benefit cheats will face increased jail terms of up to 10 years in a crackdown on those who "flout the system", Britain's most senior prosecutor has said.

Keir Starmer QC warned it was time for a "tough stance" against the perpetrators of benefit and tax credit fraud as he set out new guidelines for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The director of public prosecutions said the £1.9bn annual cost of the crime to the taxpayer should be at the "forefront of lawyers' minds" when considering whether a prosecution was in the public interest.

Suspects can now be charged under the Fraud Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the CPS said. In the past, benefit cheats have often been pursued under specific social security legislation which carries a maximum term of seven years.

A financial threshold that prevented benefit fraud cases of less than £20,000 being sent to crown court would be abolished, the CPS said.

"It is a myth that 'getting one over on the system' is a victimless crime: the truth is we all pay the price," Starmer said.

"It is vital that we take a tough stance on this type of fraud and I am determined to see a clampdown on those who flout the system."

Under the new guidelines, prosecutors in England and Wales will be told to seek tough penalties in cases with aggravating features such as multiple offences, abuse of position or substantial loss to public funds.

Professionally planned frauds, the use of a false or stolen identity and cases involving attempts to dispose of the evidence will also be targeted.

Benefit fraud of less than £20,000 was previously automatically allocated to magistrates courts, which can hand out maximum sentences of only 12 months.

The financial threshold will be abolished, bringing the prosecution of benefit fraud in line with the prosecution of other fraud cases, the CPS said.

The move follows the merger of the prosecutions division of the Department for Work and Pensions with the CPS in April 2012, and the transfer of staff to the CPS welfare, rural and health division.

Starmer said: "The guidance for prosecutors is clear that if the evidence demonstrates an element of dishonesty, rather than just knowledge of a fraud, the appropriate charges should be used.

"This will ensure that following conviction, all options are on the table for magistrates and judges including custodial sentences. Indeed, prosecutors are also instructed not to shy away from using a range of legislation that carries higher sentences where it is merited.

"The cost to the nation incurred by benefit fraud should be at the forefront of lawyers' minds when considering whether a prosecution is in the public interest. The loss of £1.9bn of public money has a significant impact on communities up and down the country.

"Where frauds have been professionally planned, carried out over a long period of time and include attempts to conceal or destroy evidence, then we will make this plain when advising the courts on sentencing."

Last year, the CPS saw more than 8,600 prosecutions in benefit and tax credit cases, along with 4,000 in the first five months of this year, Starmer said. He said the current conviction rate was 89.7%.

 

Farewell to the 2010s…

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9 hours ago, A Red said:

Governments on the other hand do tend to be shite at running things. 

I recommend taking the GWR up to London of the weekend and give the tube (London Underground) a go. It’s pretty damn sensational. Also most of the top international airlines are state owned. 

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5 hours ago, Scooby Dudek said:

From 2013;

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/16/benefit-fraudsters-prosecutions-10-years-jail

 

Benefit fraudsters face increased sentences of up to 10 years in jail

 This article is more than 6 years old
Director of public prosecutions sets out tougher guidelines, including use of the Fraud Act, which carries longer sentences
 

Benefit cheats will face increased jail terms of up to 10 years in a crackdown on those who "flout the system", Britain's most senior prosecutor has said.

Keir Starmer QC warned it was time for a "tough stance" against the perpetrators of benefit and tax credit fraud as he set out new guidelines for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The director of public prosecutions said the £1.9bn annual cost of the crime to the taxpayer should be at the "forefront of lawyers' minds" when considering whether a prosecution was in the public interest.

Suspects can now be charged under the Fraud Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the CPS said. In the past, benefit cheats have often been pursued under specific social security legislation which carries a maximum term of seven years.

Read more

A financial threshold that prevented benefit fraud cases of less than £20,000 being sent to crown court would be abolished, the CPS said.

"It is a myth that 'getting one over on the system' is a victimless crime: the truth is we all pay the price," Starmer said.

"It is vital that we take a tough stance on this type of fraud and I am determined to see a clampdown on those who flout the system."

Under the new guidelines, prosecutors in England and Wales will be told to seek tough penalties in cases with aggravating features such as multiple offences, abuse of position or substantial loss to public funds.

Professionally planned frauds, the use of a false or stolen identity and cases involving attempts to dispose of the evidence will also be targeted.

Benefit fraud of less than £20,000 was previously automatically allocated to magistrates courts, which can hand out maximum sentences of only 12 months.

The financial threshold will be abolished, bringing the prosecution of benefit fraud in line with the prosecution of other fraud cases, the CPS said.

The move follows the merger of the prosecutions division of the Department for Work and Pensions with the CPS in April 2012, and the transfer of staff to the CPS welfare, rural and health division.

Starmer said: "The guidance for prosecutors is clear that if the evidence demonstrates an element of dishonesty, rather than just knowledge of a fraud, the appropriate charges should be used.

"This will ensure that following conviction, all options are on the table for magistrates and judges including custodial sentences. Indeed, prosecutors are also instructed not to shy away from using a range of legislation that carries higher sentences where it is merited.

"The cost to the nation incurred by benefit fraud should be at the forefront of lawyers' minds when considering whether a prosecution is in the public interest. The loss of £1.9bn of public money has a significant impact on communities up and down the country.

"Where frauds have been professionally planned, carried out over a long period of time and include attempts to conceal or destroy evidence, then we will make this plain when advising the courts on sentencing."

Last year, the CPS saw more than 8,600 prosecutions in benefit and tax credit cases, along with 4,000 in the first five months of this year, Starmer said. He said the current conviction rate was 89.7%.

 

Farewell to the 2010s…

Meanwhile the prosecution rate for rape is somewhere around 1-2%. That is 98% of reported rapes that go unpunished and uncharged. 98%. 

 

Obviously starmer is not solely to blame but that is an absolutely pathetic showing, a serious indictment of the CPS. It’s clear to see where the priorities lie for these people. 

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17 minutes ago, moof said:

Meanwhile the prosecution rate for rape is somewhere around 1-2%. That is 98% of reported rapes that go unpunished and uncharged. 98%. 

 

Obviously starmer is not solely to blame but that is an absolutely pathetic showing, a serious indictment of the CPS. It’s clear to see where the priorities lie for these people. 

I had a quick look at the links and the cases you mentioned, it’s very murky waters. Without knowing the details of each trial or why the judges decided to find  that the accusers were untruthful (and judging from the judge’s comments... they had me ch stronger opinions than that) it’s hard to really comment. I have to be honest, it looks as if the campaigners are against punishing those who knowingly make false allegations of rape. I understand the reason they give for that but - as with the punishing of those who are proven to be fraudulently claiming benefits - I have no issue with punishing them if there’s proof of it. 
 

Moving on to the conviction rate in rape trials, I think it’s be important to note the figures before and after his time, and the steps he took to drive down conviction rates, and also the comparative prosecution rates of other countries’ systems to see if its a case of Keirsy being on the side of the raper (either through incompetence or through him being a horrible bastard) rather than just a case of rape being difficult to prove and being very complex cases, etc. If it showed a marked decrease because of actions he had taken, rather than been the same across multiple people and different countries, then I’d certainly change my view on him. Right now, it feels a bit like it’s a case of trying to see if any shit sticks. 

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On 02/01/2020 at 15:31, A Red said:

They didnt though. If you think the manifesto was fine and the twatting the party got was just down to other reasons, I think you are deluding yourself. I hope Labour isnt going to be going down the, its a failure to deliver the message rather than blaming the message itself, route.

I've got scant evidence for that - stuff like the opinions of a vox pop of Tory voters in Surrey a few years ago, who all supported those sort of policies and the unanimous feedback from people who went out campaigning, who all say that it was "I don't like Corbyn" and "Get Brexit done" that cost Labour.  But however unscientific and anecdotal that evidence is, it's better than the absolute nothing that says (for example) working class voters in northern England and Scotland hated the idea of more rights for workers.

 

If you've got any surveys or evidence that the manifesto (other than Brexit) was unpopular, then please share it.

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19 hours ago, A Red said:

Plenty of people have questioned why the need to spend the time. effort and billion and billions buying water/electric/trains etc for potentially little gain when taxing utility companies higher would have been far easier and raise just as much revenue. In my opinion they are missing the point, nationalisation was critical to Corbyns legacy, he would have been the man that enabled future labour opposition to bring down the tories, with the help of the unions, through mass industrial action. Just like the 70's. 

 

The point of nationalising utilities (including high-speed broadband) and railways is to get them to actually work for the people who depend on them, not just the shareholders.

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18 hours ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

As an outsider looking on, I'm wondering if those of you who are there in the thick of things can answer this question - how soon do you think it's possible to reverse Brexit?

 

What I mean is, now that it's pretty clear it's going to happen, how long will it be before Labour (presumably) feels comfortable labeling it a disaster (which it's obviously going to be) and calling for a referendum to return to the EU fold? Are we talking about 2 years in the wilderness? 5? 10?

 

Or is it going to be one of those where even if it's a complete disaster for the economy and the people, no one will truly feel it's a winning political strategy to call for a reversal of the Brexit vote for a generation?

The thing is, it will be an economic disaster, but I reckon the Government and their media will successfully deflect blame on everything but their own Brexit policy - blame the forrins, blame the immigrunts, blame the leftie traitors...

 

It's going to get very fucking ugly.

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