Justice Week 8-12 December 2008

December 13, 2007

Successful Rally - 12 December

Over 150 members and guests attended the rally on 12 December. They were addressed by MPs and Peers of all Parties.

Speakers were universal in their condemnation of the cuts and the impossible position into which Probation staff were being put.

The rally was opened by John McDonnell MP (speaking above), who praised Napo’s campaign in fighting NOMS, and felt a strategy involving a broad alliance of support could win the day.

Support for Napo

He was supported by Elfyn Llwyd MP (Plaid Cymru), Lord Ramsbotham, Mike Wood MP (Lab), Baroness Gibson (Lab), Baroness Linklater (Lib Dem), Colin Burgon MP (Lab), Edward Garnier (Con), Lord Navnit Dholakia (Lib Dem), Diane Abbott MP (Lab), Jeremy Browne (Lib Dem) and finally by Neil Gerrard MP, Chair of the all Party Justice Unions Parliamentary Group.

There were also contributions from Brian Strutton, GMB, Paul Noon, Prospect, Matthew Lay, Unison, Kay Carberry TUC, Deb Coles from Inquest and Frances Crook from the Howard League.

A number of branches also contributed and gave the rally details of the cuts in their Area. These included West Yorkshire, South Wales, Leicestershire, Cheshire, Sussex and Merseyside.

Fuller details and pictures will appear in the next issue of Napo News. We will also be putting some more pictures and some of the speeches on the Napo website over the next few days.

Posted by kfalcon at December 13, 2007 04:25 PM