Lee Jasper is Respect's candidate in Croydon North

The former policy adviser to the London Mayor is Respect's candidate for the Croydon North by-election.

'If I could have composed the perfect candidate to fight this seat then it would be Lee Jasper,' said George Galloway, the Respect MP. 'Lee has a stellar track record in activism and community involvement. As well as being a crucial member of Ken Livingstone's team in governing London, as Director for Policing and Equalities. His record of public service is unequalled.'

Galloway EDM on Hajj travellers

Early day motion 639

PROTECTION FOR HAJJ TRAVELLERS
Session: 2012-13
Date tabled: 25.10.2012
Primary sponsor: Galloway, George
Sponsors:

That this House deplores the exploitation of British Hajj travellers by unscrupulous travel agents; notes that 125,000 pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia every year, that the overwhelming majority of Hajj and Umraj tour operators do not provide written agreements, and that a majority mislead consumers on the package price; further notes that Birmingham City Council's Trading Standards Department found that just one in 10 Hajj tour operators are completely compliant with tour and travel regulations; congratulates that department on its vigorous pursuit of rogue operators; and calls on the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to ensure that enforcing legal requirements on travel agents is a priority for trading standards departments throughout the country and that they are given the funding to do this.

Galloway calls for permanent ban on EDL marches

The Bradford West MP George Galloway welcomed the decision to ban marches by the English Defence League in London at the weekend and called for the Home Secretary to permanently bar the ultra-right wing group from demonstrating its race hate on the streets of Britain.

'Congratulations to policing minister Damian Green and Home Secretary Theresa May for clamping down on these neo-Nazi thugs. This needs to go further,' he said, 'ending these parades which are hugely costly, where the number of police involved dwarfs the number of marchers, marchers whose sole aim is to jackboot through largely Muslim communities in an effort to provoke a violent reaction. Free speech has limits and carries responsibilities. Clearly Green and May understand and respect that, unlike the cut-rate gauleiters of the EDL.'

Bettison goes following Galloway EDM

George Galloway MP commented on Bettison's resignation....

'I have been calling for this in my Early Day Motion in parliament and outside it since this furore broke, to force the chief constable to do the decent thing. His position has been untenable since the Hillsborough report came out and it speaks volumes for his judgment that he believed he could hold onto his salary and the reins of power to go at a time of his choosing. He is gone and good riddance. The criminal inquiry is ongoing but the verdict is already in on SIr Norman Bettison. I will now be demanding that he be stripped of his knighthood and his pension.'

Time for 'cheerleader' Green to pipe down

'I warned weeks ago that Westfield were planning to sell the city centre site,' said George Galloway, 'and was told by council leader Dave Green, the company's main cheerleader, that I didn't know what I was talking about. Now it turns out that either he didn't have a clue whether what he was saying was true, or he deliberately misled the council and the people of Bradford. Fool or a knave, own up Dave!'

Galloway was commenting after it was revealed that the Australian developers were selling the 23-acre site to the investment company Meyer Bergman. 'Last week we had the farce of a five-hour meeting in front of what was supposed to be a council scrutiny committee where two senior Westfield executives repeatedly batted away incisive questioning with the claim that they couldn't answer because of “commercial confidentiality”. Green mouthed the same mantra.

Galloway again demands police boss suspends chief constable

George Galloway today repeated his demand that the chair of the West Yorkshire Police Authority convene a special meeting to immediately suspend Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison. The chair, Mark Burns-Williamson, is also the Labour candidate for regional police commissioner.

'The latest revelations in the House about Bettison's conduct make it impossible for him to remain in charge of the force a minute longer. He has to be suspended now. I've said it before. "Why has Burns-Williamson not moved for his suspension after the damning Hillsborough report and the subsequent revelations?"' the Bradford West MP demanded. 'Is it a failure of leadership or is that he has a cosy relationship with Bettison? Whatever the reason he certainly isn't inspiring anyone that he could be a decisive and just police commissioner.'

Galloway calls on police boss to suspend chief constable

'Why has the chair of the West Yorkshire Police AuthorityMark Burns-Williamson not moved for the suspension of Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison after the damning Hillsborough report?' Bradford West MP George Galloway demanded today.

'I have already put down a parliamentary motion calling for the chief constable's resignation and although he has said that he will retire next year that is not good enough. He should be suspended forthwith pending the outcome of the various inquiries. And the public needs to be told why the people with the power to do this have done nothing. Burns-Williamson has been the chair of the authority since 2003 and he needs to explain to the people of West Yorkshire why he has failed to remove this pernicious chief constable from day-to-day control of the force. It is destabilising for the police officers and it's an outrage to the families of the dead of Hillsborough.'

Galloway accuses senior Met counter-terrorism officer of dirty tricks campaign

In an Early Day motion today Bradford West MP George Galloway named senior SO15 officer Afiz Khan over his involvement in a dirty tricks campaign against the MP and his constituency office.

In EDM 577 Galloway says Khan co-ordinated his campaign from his Metropolitan police email address and from at least two other aliases he created. Galloway is calling on the Home Secretary to make an urgent statement.

Galloway demands Home Secretary investigation

BRADFORD West MP George Galloway has today called on Home Secretary Theresa May to investigate a 'dirty tricks campaign' involving a senior Metropolitan police counter-terrorism officer and a member of his staff.

'A very senior officer in SO15 has been feeding disinformation aimed at damaging me to a national newspaper and to others, aided by a member of staff in Bradford who has now been suspended,' Galloway said. 'This involved him using the Met email as well as creating at least two false email addresses to spread the deceit. I have incontrovertible evidence. He either did this a freelance or it was sanctioned by his superiors. I have today asked the Home Secretary Theresa May to act on this and I have also written to the Met police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and to the Speaker of the House of Commons.'

Galloway to demand Home Secretary acts on police 'dirty tricks'

A senior Metropolitan police counter-terrorism officer has been involved in a campaign of disinformation and 'dirty tricks' against George Galloway, which involved an agent in the MP's constituency office and also setting up a series of fake email addresses in an attempt to smear him.

Galloway, the MP for Bradford West, will tomorrow ask the Home Secretary whether the operation against him and the Bradford Respect party branch by the officer ('K') in the Met's counter-terrorism unit SO15 was sanctioned by his superiors, or whether it was a freelance campaign using police resources. He will also bring it to the attention to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

'A very senior officer in SO15 has been feeding disinformation aimed at damaging me to a national newspaper and to others, aided by a member of staff in Bradford who has now been suspended,' Galloway said. 'This involved him using the Met email as well as creating at least two false email addresses to spread the deceit. I have incontrovertible evidence. He either did this a freelance or it was sanctioned by his superiors. I will be asking the Home Secretary tomorrow (Monday) to act on this and also bringing it to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Commons.'

GALLOWAY BACKS LIFE-SAVING HOMELESS CAMPAIGN

'The drama-documentary Cathy Come Home shocked the country, but almost 60 years on the crisis of homelessness is as bad as ever, or even worse,' said George Galloway. 'The average age of death for homeless people in the UK is 47, thirty years lower than the national average. This is a scandal and a tragedy in modern-day Britain. That's lower than in the poorest country in the world, Congo. We need urgent action now, which is why I am backing the campaign by the charity Crisis in its campaign Homelessness Kills and lobbying the health minister Jeremy Hunt for urgent remedies.'

Galloway pointed out that research by the University of Sheffield for homelessness charity Crisis showed that the average age of death for homeless people is 47, thirty years lower than the national average.

Lies, damned lies and New Labour statistics

Responding to a denial by Bradford MDC council leader David Green that there was not £183 million in the council's usable reserves and therefore an urgent need to impose a 10% budget cut George Galloway countered. 'In one way he is right. In the latest Bradford council accounts the total has risen from £183m to £191m. It says so clearly on Page 14. He could ask his colleague Lynne Smith, who actually signed the accounts, to explain it to him. Perhaps he was off the day they did sums.'

Galloway continued: 'Green also says that the council has not underspent by £86m compared to its own budgets. Despite this being clearly stated in both sets of accounts. They have added to this by again underspending by £5m in the most recent financial year and once again they have simply added this to reserves.'

Galloway demands Bradford investment not cuts

Bradford council should be investing its massive financial reserves, not making another round of savage cuts which will hit the most vulnerable people in the city, Bradford West MP George Galloway said last night.

'Bradford MDC has underspent by £86 million in the last two years and has total usable reserves of £183 million, so why is the council proposing another round of much deeper cuts than are required?' Galloway demanded. 'For a Labour-led council to effectively follow a Tory austerity programme is worse than deplorable, it's economic madness. The national economy needs stimulus, as does the local one. Bradford needs to put the money it has put aside to work.'