News from Sarah Ludford MEP (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

News from Sarah Ludford MEP

February 24, 2001 12:00 AM

This has been a busy year for Sarah so far, with several major successes, so we thought we'd give you a bit of a taste of what's been going on! One of the biggest projects that Sarah has been working on has been producing an Opinion for the Justice and Home Affairs Committee on access to Environmental Information - especially improving the public's right of access to data on issues such as pollution, with a particular emphasis on making this available on the Internet. The Opinion also seeks to close the loophole promoted by the Tory government that allowed privatised water companies to escape the obligation of openness. Sarah has also been campaigning for safer car fronts. As well as hosting a small protest in London she has been lobbying hard in Brussels to make sure that this vital legislation is introduced without further delay. I firmly believe that ethical issues like this are not the business of the European Union, but should be decided at a national level, so I am staggered at the hypocrisy of the British Conservatives, who were party to this move considering that they pretend to be champions of national autonomy." In the next few weeks Sarha is attending a two-day conference, hosted by the Swedish EU Presidency, of the Home Affairs spokesmen of all the EU countries and of the accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This will be a great opportunity for Parliamentarians all over Europe to input to the development of a common EU asylum and immigration policy, which is both fair and rational. Also this week she has been in London meeting a representative from Gibraltar Gay Rights, in her capacity as patron of the association. Sarah has previously lobbied the Gibraltar Government about modernising the discriminatory and out of date laws on homosexuality in Gibraltar. Sarah will also be taking the opportunity to raise the case of Ritt Goldstein, an American campaigner for police accountability, who alleges that police harassment forced him to flee the US. He is now in hiding in Sweden after his asylum claim was rejected by the Swedish Authorities. Sarah is doing a report on his case for the European Parliament that will be going to Committee in the next few weeks. As the country gears up for its next General Election Sarah will be campaigning extensively around London.