King's Speech: 'Welcome measures' but concern over poverty, policing and asylum measures

Responding to the Government’s legislative agenda set out today in the King’s Speech, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:  

“After human rights protections were decimated by previous governments there are some welcome measures here.

“We welcome the commitment to repeal the grossly-unjust Northern Ireland Troubles Act. The Troubles Act protected perpetrators of terrible crimes at the expense of victims and it’s a huge relief to see this Government affirm that no one is above the law.

“We welcome the announcement of a draft conversion therapy ban bill to address a bogus practice which has done so much damage to so many.

“The introduction of the Race and Disability Equality Bill is welcome, as well as a review of powers around strip-searches of children.

“We’re pleased to see plans to strengthen renters’ and workers’ rights and their power to challenge sub-standard housing or exploitation by employers.

“The Government has missed a huge opportunity to a reform the wholly inadequate and deliberately punitive social security system by not scrapping the cruel two-child benefit cap.

“Rights respecting benefit levels should be set on the basis of the real cost of essentials like food and housing, rather than arbitrarily-applied limits to income which trap children in poverty. The anti-poverty ambitions of the Children’s Wellbeing Bill will be no more than rhetoric without addressing these underlying causes of child poverty.

"The Government is right to commit to clearing the chaotic asylum backlog, but a narrow focus on ‘smashing the gangs’ and stopping the boats is far from sufficient to deliver a properly-functioning, humane asylum system.

“We’re very concerned that proposals to extend policing powers on antisocial behaviour and to extend domestic counter-terror powers could have deeply negative consequences for the UK’s racialised communities and may further criminalise people experiencing homelessness.

“The introduction of a Prevent-style approach to youth violence, just like the Prevent duty itself, risks replicating and extending the serious human rights violations seen under Prevent.”