letter to Julian Sturdy MP Please sign the pledge 'MPs not border guards'

Please email your MP too.

I am writing to ask that your surgery remains a place where everyone in our constituency can safely seek guidance and support.

I am horrified by reports of MPs turning over constituents to the Home Office to face possible detention or deportation. MP surgeries should not be a place where the government’s ‘hostile environment’ approach towards immigrants is allowed to flourish. In a democratic society everyone should have the right to safely meet with their member of parliament and expect representation without fear of being detained or deported.

The recent Windrush scandal has exposed the dangers of the government’s hostile environment policy and the inadequate and dysfunctional nature of the Home Office's procedures. As my MP, please show leadership in standing up against this vicious attempt to turn us all into border guards reporting on members of our community.

Please sign the pledge 'MPs not border guards' at http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/pledge to reassure your constituents that you will never hand anyone over for immigration enforcement, and instead maintain the discretion and care we expect from MPs.

By signing the pledge you will send a message that you reject the idea of making the country a hostile environment for immigrants, and instead guarantee a safe and confidential surgery for anyone in your constituency who needs it.

Yours sincerely

Tom

Tom Franklin

Open letter to Julian Sturdy MP on Inquiry into UK involvement in rendition and torture.

Dear Mr Sturdy,

I am writing to you to ask that you take action to secure an independent public inquiry into UK complicity in torture and rendition. There is clear evidence of UK involvement in both torture and rendition since 2001, including in the aftermath of the Afghan and Iraqi wars.

Recently Theresa May’s government apologised for the government’s role in  the rendition and torture of Abdul-Hakim Belhaj and Fatima Boudchar in Ghaddafi’s Libya.

Last year the government stated that it ‘condemns torture in all circumstances’, and issued a call for ‘governments around the world to eradicate this abhorrent practice.’ If the Government is to prevent any such cases arising in the future, and is to speak with moral authority against torture overseas, a full public reckoning into the UK’s own involvement in these practices is essential.

In 2010, the UK Government promised such an independent public inquiry into UK complicity in torture and rendition. However, over eight years later the Government has failed to deliver on this promise, and has instead allowed only a narrower, restricted study by the Intelligence and Security Committee. This investigation was not public and did not have full access to vital information, including the cases of Abdul-Hakim and Fatima.

Last week, a cross party group of MPs and Peers, led by former Lord Chancellor, Ken Clarke, wrote the Prime Minister to demand that an independent judge-led inquiry now be established.

I am therefore asking that you add your voice to this growing cross-party consensus and write to the Prime Minister, demanding that the Government deliver on its original promise, and hold an independent judge-led inquiry with access to any information that it needs.

Please support this initiative to ensure that the UK is never again involved in rendition or torture.

Best wishes

Tom.

Open letter to Julian Sturdy MP on CETA (Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement)

Dear Mr Sturdy,

I’m writing to you as one of your constituents, because I care about the impacts that modern trade deals can have on many areas of life, from food standards to jobs to the environment.

This Monday, 18 June, the Commons will vote on a motion on CETA (Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement), the EU-Canada trade deal. I believe this deal poses unacceptable risks and I ask you to vote against it.

Key areas of concern include:

• Job losses and inequality:

The Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament said that CETA is likely to lead to job losses, long-term unemployment and increased inequality. (See: https://bit.ly/2JDak0G )

• Undermining standards:

CETA could undermine standards on health, food safety, the environment and other areas, and similar trade deals have been used to bully countries into lowering standards including severely delaying the implementation of plain packaging for cigarettes and safety standards for oil pipelines.

• Public services:

CETA will open up public services to privatisation and make it harder for them to be taken back into public hands in future, and making it impossible to ensure that they are delivered for the benefit of users of the service rather than the profits of corporations.  We have already seen some of this with the health service and education and railways.

• Corporate courts:

CETA includes provision for corporate courts, which allow foreign corporations to sue governments outside of the national legal system. Following public pressure, the provisions in CETA have been marginally improved to make them more transparent (the Investment Court System), but without changing their fundamental basis. They have also been put on hold and face a legal challenge, but would pose a huge risk if implemented. If you believe that one of the reasons that we are leaving the EU is to take back control then you should vote against corporate courts as they are outwith parliamentary control, and will bind future parliaments even more than being a member of the EU and without any democratic oversight.

I believe that trade deals like CETA need to be rethought to support people and planet. I ask you to vote against the motion and work for trade deals that will help to build shared prosperity in the UK and around the world.

Kind regards,

Tom Franklin

4 Frazer Court

York

YO30 5FH