House of Lords' Labour speaks to Bognor party members

Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords was a guest speaker at the Bognor Regis Labour Party's first branch meeting of the year.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jan 2016, 06:12 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 06:27 BST

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

Angela Smith, Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords, speaking to members of the Bognor Regis Labour Party (photo submitted). SUS-160501-154431001Angela Smith, Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords, speaking to members of the Bognor Regis Labour Party (photo submitted). SUS-160501-154431001
Angela Smith, Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords, speaking to members of the Bognor Regis Labour Party (photo submitted). SUS-160501-154431001

Baroness Smith, who was MP for Basildon from 1997 until 2010 and is a member of the shadow cabinet, talked about her role in Parliament’s upper chamber and the Lords’ role in scrutinising Government legislation on Monday night.

She said: “For the first time in a long while, the House of Lords does not have a built in Tory majority which means it can be more effective in looking closely at what this Government are trying to do.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The vote by the Lords last November to ask the Government to think again on damaging cuts to tax credits which would have impacted severely on many hard working people is a classic case of how the Lords can be effective, and next week we’ll be looking carefully at the Tories trade union proposals which will have the effect of muzzling legitimate protest and cutting funding to the Labour Party if they go through in their current format.”

Angela Smith, Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords, speaking to members of the Bognor Regis Labour Party (photo submitted). SUS-160501-154417001Angela Smith, Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords, speaking to members of the Bognor Regis Labour Party (photo submitted). SUS-160501-154417001
Angela Smith, Labour's shadow leader of the House of Lords, speaking to members of the Bognor Regis Labour Party (photo submitted). SUS-160501-154417001

She claimed that the Tory Government was trying to shut down opposition by changes to the Freedom of Information Act, limiting the ability of charities to criticise Government policies, new policies on trade unions, new constituency boundary proposals, plans to limit the power of the Lords, and undermining the European Convention on Human Rights as it applies to the UK.

The meeting finished with a question and answer session ranging from the importance of campaigning to keep Britain in Europe, electoral reform, and the need for Labour to reach out to a wide cross section of the local and national electorate.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.bognor.co.uk/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BognorRegisObserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @BogObserver

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Bognor Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.

Related topics:House of LordsBognorGovernmentLabour