LAST CHANCE SALOON FOR BLADE CARRIERS - 25 May 2006

 

Charlie meets with Minister for Justice, Cathy Jamieson MSP and Detective Chief Inspector John Carnochan, Head of the Violence Reduction Unit at Strathclyde Police to discuss the knife amnesty
Charlie meets with Minister for Justice, Cathy Jamieson MSP and Detective Chief Inspector John Carnochan, Head of the Violence Reduction Unit at Strathclyde Police to discuss the knife amnesty

Charlie Gordon MSP withdrew his amendment proposing automatic jail sentences for carrying offensive weapons on 25th May 2006 after most other MSPs called for other new legislative measures and sentencing guidelines to be given a chance to work.

In the debate on the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, Charlie welcomed the doubling of sentences for knife crime, strengthened stop and search powers for the Police and the raising of the legal age for knife purchases, all of which he campaigned for in the last autumn's Glasgow Cathcart by-election.

After Charlie had lodged his amendment, the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd QC, who leads Scotland's Procurator Fiscals and guides its Sheriffs, issued tough new guidelines on knife crime, whereby anyone in possession of a knife will be arrested, remanded in custody, bail will be opposed if they have previous knife convictions and more accused will be tried in courts where higher sentences are available.

Charlie meets with Deputy Minister for Justice, Hugh Henry MSP and is shown one of the 1000 additional hand held metal detectors issued to the Police.
Charlie meets with Deputy Minister for Justice, Hugh Henry MSP and is shown one of the 1000 additional hand held metal detectors issued to the Police.

Interestingly, Charlie Gordon's amendment had been discussed at Prime Minister's Question Time at Westminster on Wednesday 24th May:

Q7.Mr. Tom Harris (Glasgow, South) (Lab): This week, at the start of the UK-wide knife amnesty, the Scottish Parliament will be debating an amendment proposed by my MSP, Charlie Gordon, which calls for mandatory prison sentences for anyone carrying a knife in public, in exactly the same way as the law currently deals with those carrying guns. Will the Prime Minister consider introducing a similar law for the rest of our country?


The Prime Minister: We are certainly looking carefully at how we can deal with that situation, which is somewhat different from that of guns, because there can be reasons for particular people to carry a knife. We are giving urgent consideration not just to banning a whole series of other knives that could be used as offensive weapons, but also to ensuring that there is a minimum sentence if someone is found in possession of a knife without good reason. That is something well worth looking at.


Like Tony Blair, Deputy Justice Minister, Hugh Henry MSP left the door open to the approach proposed by Charlie Gordon MSP when he responded in the Scottish Parliament on 25th May:


The Deputy Minister for Justice (Hugh Henry): If the bill, the measures from the Lord Advocate and the signal that is going out to the judiciary are not having the effect that we hope that they will have  "if people are still foolishly and wantonly carrying knives " then Charlie Gordon is right: the Parliament must consider what else we need to do, even though we might, at the moment, consider further measures unpalatable.


Charlie Gordon said that in the view of Hugh Henry's response, Prime Minister Tony Blair's views and the Lord Advocate ' s new guidelines, he would withdraw his proposal for now.
The rest of the bill becomes law very soon.


The Lord Advocate's guidelines start after the current month-long knife amnesty.  1000 new hand-held metal detectors have been issued to the Police to deal with knife searches.


Charlie Gordon said "Parliament must send a strong, clear message to the booze and blade boys that they are drinking in the last chance saloon"  But in a strong hint to the Courts to use the new measures to protect the public, Charlie added "Sheriffs too can sometimes drink in last chance saloons."

 

 

 

May 2008

News Archive

 
 
 

Carmunnock Primary Visit Holyrood - 29th May 2008

Charlie shows the Pupils a model of the Parliamentary Estate.

This week Charlie Gordon MSP welcomed Carmunnock Primary School to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.  The Pupils had a working lunch with Charlie in one of the Parliament's Committee Rooms where they asked him a variety of questions on subjects as diverse as the credit crunch to fuel costs to planning issues in the village of Carmunnock. 

Speaking after the visit Charlie said "I always enjoy meeting with young constituents and I was impressed at their knowledge of both the Scottish Parliament and the big issues of the day".

 

 

 

Gordon Applauds Announcement on New Rights for Agency Workers - 22nd May 2008

Charlie Gordon MSP (centre) and other MSPs and MPs pictured recently with Trade Unionists campaigning for agency workers rights.

Glasgow Cathcart MSP, Charlie Gordon has applauded the recent announcement by the United Kingdom Government that later this year it will legislate to give agency workers the same rights as permanent workers after 12 weeks employment.

"It's not often that I comment on matters reserved to Westminster…"said Charlie"…But I must take my hat off to the UK Government on this one."

We all know of rogue employers who use agency workers to undercut the pay and conditions of permanent staff; this legislation will give Scotland's 140,000 agency workers parity with permanent employees in terms of pay, holidays, overtime, breaks, rest periods, night work and duration of working time.

"What great news for so many hard working people." said Charlie.

 

 

"The Sooner We Have A Referendum On Scottish Independence The Better" Says Gordon - 9th May 2008

"I have supported Scottish self-determination for over 30 years" said Glasgow Cathcart MSP, Charlie Gordon.

"No one should seek to prevent the Scottish People from settling their own constitutional future and no one should seek to delay that process", "In fact" said Charlie "there's a strong case for a Referendum as soon as possible, as years of constitutional wrangling can create uncertainty in the minds of potential investors and current employers, which in turn could cause increased unemployment.  Having lived through the mass unemployment caused by Thatcherism, we must not turn a referendum debate into a "neverendum" debate; important though our constitutional future is, we mustn't ignore the Scottish Peoples other important and everyday concerns, such as living standards, crime or transport."

 

 

  
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