The New Politics of Asylum

After the welcome announcement that the Lib-Con Coalition intended to end the detention of child asylum seekers in prison-like facilities such as Dungavel, (and the climb-down over time scales), we might be seeing a glimpse of how this issue is going to be dealt with. It could be rather bad news as regards the future of immigration policy in the UK and EU.

Last week, the EU agreed, in principle, to various member states setting up reintegration centres in Afghanistan. The centre planned by the UK Border Agency will be based in Kabul, with the facilities to handle 12 deported orphans per month and assistance for 120 deported adults per month. This would represent a massive step up in the numbers of asylum seekers being deported to Afghanistan.

It is worth remembering that Afghanistan is still an active warzone with a high degree of political instability and considerable problems with warlords, rape, murder and general human rights breaches. It is unlikely that British or NATO troops will exit Afghanistan in the near future without chronically destabilising the country. The idea that Afghanistan is safe to return asylum seekers to en mass is obscene and shows a lack of compassion or decency in the minds of our policy makers.

While initially, this is only going to apply to Afghanistan, I am concerned that it might open the doors to further similar projects in other countries. Many of the asylum seekers and immigrants from outside of Europe are here for genuine reasons and will face death or worse if they return to their original countries, something which this initial policy does not seem to take into account. Even with the recession, we should not be valuing the  wealth of state or the appeasement of the right above the value of a human life.

The Slow Death Of English Education

This week, Michael Gove quietly hammered a nail into the coffin of the English education system. Admittedly, the English education system isn’t in the coffin yet, despite the confused system of exam boards, varying examination standards, the failure of the City Academy project, the involvement of increasingly unsavoury figures in the education system and the introduction of private curriculums by the back door. It isn’t far from being fitted for it’s last suit though.

The particular nail which I wish to hold forth on is the abolition of the General Teaching Council of England (GTCE). This body was set up by the Tony Blair’s Labour Government to perform the same job as the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCfS).

The GTCfS was created in 1966 to address concerns over unqualified teachers teaching in Scotland following the Second World War. More specifically, it was charged with ensuring that all teachers were trained to a high standard, maintaining a register of qualified teachers and removing teachers who did not meet professional standards. This role continues today.

As a registered charity, it is independent of the government or local authorities, although it works with both in an advisory capacity. Nearly all teachers in Scotland are required to register with the GTCfS, hold an approved teaching qualification and complete a probationary period after which their registration may be refused. There is little debate on the fact that the GTCfS is the best placed organisation to do it’s job. Indeed, the GTSfS is held in high regard by the education establishment within Scotland and has the support of various teaching unions.

The GTCE had yet to reach quite the same level of impact as it’s Scottish counterpart. In England, only teachers in state schools are required to register with the GTCE, but teachers from independent schools of which there are considerably more then in Scotland, may choose to so. Prior to full registration, potential teachers must obtain Qualified Teacher Status from the GTCE. This is to ensure that all state teachers have sufficient qualifications, both in their subject and in education to perform their jobs.

The use of qualified teacher status helps to ensure that teachers in England meet an educational standard which can be passed on to their pupils. It is also intended to weed out people who are not necessarily suited to the teaching profession. It is a weaker standard then in Scotland, lacking the probation element and with less stringent qualification requirements, but it is adequate. The lose of the GTCE will be reflected in the English education system as more poorly and even unqualified qualified teachers take up jobs.

The abolition of the GTCE is analogous to the abolition of the General Medical Council, over which there would be mass outcry. That such outcry has not been forthcoming over the loss of the GTCE is saddening and we can only hope that the GTCE manages to mount a legal challenge against the Government to ensure it’s continued existence.

Note: Wales has an independent GTC from that of England. It’s existence is not thought to be under threat.

David Laws Falls On His Sword

Yesterday, prior to David Laws’ statement on his expenses, I predicted that he would be an early casualty in cabinet. I had no idea quite how prophetic my post would be, and I could never have foreseen that he would be brought down in such circumstances.

I suspect that Laws has taken the correct course of action.

Had he not chosen to stand down from his office, it would have called David Cameron’s rhetoric on new politics into question in the minds of the general public. With expenses widely forgotten in the wake of the election (as sleaze and cash for questions were in 1997), for the new government to be seen to contain any element of ‘old politics’ would be unacceptable, with the right-wing press struggling to defend it after months of rallying against expenses cheats. In that situation, action would have to have been taken to distance the new regime from the expenses scandals, which would likely involve Mr. Laws being ejected from Cabinet by the Prime Minister.

Some commentators have claimed that Laws is the victim of a witch-hunt. I don’t think this is the case. The Tories must protect the reputation of the cabinet and the idea of new politics for as long as possible in order to retain what credibility they have. Had Laws been a Tory rather then a Lib Dem, I suspect he would been presented with an unsigned resignation letter a lot earlier then he was.

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I have already made my feelings regarding Danny Alexander, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey, clear in a previous post. Annoyingly, that post is now due some reassessment, as Mr Alexander has been promoted into Mr Laws’ job. While Alexander has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, he has little experience in the field, having served in various press and communications jobs prior to being elected in 2005. It’s difficult to criticise him for this alone, however, since George Osbourne is a career politician with a modern history degree.

Time will tell how this partnership will shape up, but if the satirists were having fun with David Laws, they are going to have even more fun with the youthful, ginger Alexander.

Alexander has been replaced in the Scottish Office by Michael Moore, who interestingly holds a Tory target seat and a majority of just 5,000.

Question Time For New Politics?

A new age of openness and transparency? Or not perhaps.

Like many others, I’m slightly bemused by the refusal of Downing Street to send a minister on to Question Time opposite Labour spin-doctor, strategist and talking-head Alastair Campbell. Lets be clear here, this is the man who was behind much of Tony Blair’s success, the 45 Minute Iraq dossier and supposedly one of the masterminds of Labour’s 2010 election strategy. He also recently authored one of the truly awful works of English fiction, a half-baked romance novel called Maya. Up against any half decent spokesperson, Campbell’s credibility would have been though the floor as it was pointed out what he did to his party.

There are two problems for the Tories here. Firstly, they seem to lack figures who are willing and able to come forward and speak in public at the present time. Indeed, the vast majority of the Cabinet appear to have disappeared from the political scene in the last few weeks, leaving David Laws, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable to deal with a surprisingly large amount of public flack. Read into that what you will, but I think that several recent Guardian cartoons are becoming more apt by the day.

The second issue involves who was to be sent. It was said that David Laws, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was to be the whipping boy, which may well explain the reluctance of the Con-Dems to send him to slaughter. After all, during a question tabled by Alastair Darling on emergency cuts, Laws was resolutely pasted by Labour, feebly holding up a pledge on social housing amidst a torrent of ice-cold anti-cut rhetoric. Dennis Skinner and several older, pre-Blair Labour MPs have easily slipped back into opposition (although it could be said that Skinner never left opposition), managing to pin continuing problems with social deprivation in areas which were devastated by the Thatcher cuts on the Tory Party rather then the previous government of thirteen years. If Laws cannot control an argument in which he has a clear advantage, then what hope has he on Question Time where he faces not only political figures, but the questioning death-gaze of the public?

I suspect that very soon, we’ll be seeing cracks in the Lib Dem facade as the realisation the extent of the pact with the devil sinks in. I also suspect that Laws may be an early casualty in Cabinet if he fails to improve his performance.

The Tories also need to think very carefully before they attempt to dictate how the BBC runs it’s news programs. We have a unique level of press freedom in this country thanks to having an independent, rather then state owned or wholly private broadcaster, and that independence should not be threatened lest our televisual landscape end up like that of America – dominated by political interests with little thought to fairness or parity of exposure.

Initial Thoughts On The Full Coalition Agreement

Where’s the cuts?