6 March 2017

Leader of the Wales Green Party Alice Hooker-Stroud today announced that she will be stepping down at the end of March. Grenville Ham, current deputy leader and expert in renewable energy, will take over.

Grenville Ham, said:

“I want to thank Alice for all her contributions to the Wales Green Party, and to build on this movement which genuinely represents the best interests of Welsh people, rather than one that panders to big business. I look forward to continuing the Wales Green Party’s work of creating a society where people are more important than profit”.

Talking about next steps for the Wales Green Party, Ham added: “It will be an immense privilege to lead the party into the Council elections in May. My priority will be to support all of the hardworking Wales Green Party candidates who offer their communities the chance to vote for fresh ideas and a positive future. I will be standing myself in Brecon, and I’m already seeing local people recognise that in order to get a meaningful change they can’t keep voting for the same old parties”.

Hooker-Stroud, who has led the Wales Green Party since the beginning of 2016, said in a statement today that the lack of funding for smaller parties in the UK has contributed to her position being untenable.

Hooker-Stroud said:

“I love Wales and I feel honoured to have represented the Wales Green Party’s vision on behalf of our members. Though the decision to step down was not easy, it was made easier by the fact I knew I would be handing over to Grenville, a committed, skilled, and experienced member of the Wales Green Party who will take us forward with confidence to the elections in May.

Speaking of her reasons for stepping down, Hooker-Stroud said:

“As a party that cares about who lines our pockets, we don’t take funds from big business donors like other parties do. That means our members have the biggest say – not corporate lobbyists, but it has contributed to my role being effectively a voluntary one, which for me has sadly become untenable. I am proud that every person in our party has an equal say, and proud that when I speak on behalf of the party, that I know I speak on behalf of our members. However, the financing of political parties in general needs urgent reform so that politicians aren’t just the mouthpieces for big business, and so that alternative voices are heard.”

Hooker-Stroud added: “Parties that have a lot of money can do a lot, and those who have a smaller amount can do less. That is how contemporary politics works. We need to level the playing field financially for political parties in Wales, and in the UK. It would be a much fairer country all round for everyone.”

Notes

[1] The Wales Green Party campaigns to make politics fairer, which includes fairer finances for political parties. The party call for a cap on large donations that mean wealthy individuals and organisations have a huge influence on politics, and for state funding to be available to parties who achieve more than 3% of a proportional national vote. Other countries, such as Sweden already give state funding to political parties to level the financial playing field.

[2] Ham was elected as a deputy leader in December in 2016. He gained over 50% of the Wales Green Party membership vote against two other candidates. He ran as a candidate on the regional list for Mid and West Wales in the Welsh Assembly elections last year and is currently standing in this May’s council elections in his own ward, St Mary’s in Brecon. He runs a not-for-profit engineering company in Powys and has been awarded the British Empire Medal for ‘Services to the Renewable Energy in Wales’.

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6 Mar 2017

The British Transport Police has tabled explosive evidence ahead of appearing before MSPs tomorrow about the risks of merging the respected organisation with Police Scotland.

Ahead of the planned SNP move for the single force to take on BTP responsibilities north of the border, both the organisation itself and its authority will detail what the Scottish Conservatives have described as “extraordinary risks”.

In its evidence, the BTP will say that dealing with fatalities could take 50 per cent longer under the new plans, and that “there is well-defined evidence that a non-specialist force is less able to provide the consistent levels of service that a dedicated policing commitment can offer”.

Decades of experience in dealing with IRA threats would be lost, the evidence stated, meaning future terror incidents may cause significantly more disruption than previously.

There is also a “potential risk” of staff deciding to retire from the BTP or leave altogether, rather than joining Police Scotland under the new set-up, meaning considerable experience would be lost overnight.

A number of legal difficulties will also emerge.

The evidence states: “Officers would not have any legal jurisdiction to operate as constables in Scotland.

This would obviously create difficulties in policing any railway service that crosses the border, particularly as officers from other divisions will still need to carry personal protective equipment such as TASER type devices or incapacitant sprays, both of which are defined as weapons.”

The submission goes on: “There is also a real risk that the investigation of crime will become more complicated, and possibly more costly.”

The views, which will be heard at tomorrow’s Holyrood justice committee, also refer to “specialist train services including nuclear trains, MOD trains and the Royal Train” which are currently operated on an “end-to-end” route basis by the BTP.

And on top of the BTP evidence, the BTP Authority will also weigh in on the SNP’s plans. It will point out the skills of BTP officers “differentiate from their counterparts elsewhere”, and that “transferring railway policing is not the same as merging eight police forces with the same function”.

Later in the meeting, Police Scotland is expected to point out it has merger experience following the creation of the single force in 2013.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Douglas Ross said:

“The arguments set out here are extraordinary, and should leave the SNP in no doubt about why it should not pursue this merger.

“It is an utterly needless move, which is inspired by nationalism rather than national security.

“We completely agree that the British Transport Police should be more accountable to the Scottish Parliament, and the BTP itself has set out how that can be done.

“Instead, the SNP is using that reason to swallow up the organisation as a whole.

“And as we see from this evidence, that could have a range of desperately negative consequences.

“From coping with terrorist threats to a delay in dealing with complex fatalities, it’s clear this is the wrong move.

“The Scottish Government should heed these warnings and shelve these unnecessary and unpopular plans immediately.”

To see the evidence from both the BTP and the BTP Authority to be presented tomorrow, visit: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S5_JusticeCommittee/Inquiries/British_Transport_Police1.pdf http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S5_JusticeCommittee/Inquiries/BTP_Authority.pdf

Mr Ireland has given an undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy that he won’t act as a director of a company for a period of 7 years from 21 March 2017.

Scotboys Group Plc was a company set up for wired telecommunication and travel agency activities.

On 22 September 2015, Scotboys Group Plc, with liabilities of £52,106 was placed into compulsory liquidation following a winding up petition lodged by Direct Response Limited. Mr Ireland was the sole director of Scotboys Group Plc at that time.

Following the Liquidator’s appointment, the investigation found as a consequence of Mr Ireland’s failure to co-operate and deliver up the company’s accounting records it was not possible to verify:

• why Scotboys Group Plc failed to meet the legal requirements of a Plc
• the true nature of the company’s trading business and history
• the financial position of the company, at any given time, between incorporation on 07 August 2013 and 22 September 2015 when the company was placed into liquidation
• what became of unpaid goods supplied by creditors totalling £24,958

Robert Clarke, Head of Company Investigation at the Insolvency Service said:

Keeping proper records is a pivotal duty for directors and there is no place in the business environment for those who neglect their responsibilities in this area and thereby cover up the activities of the companies they manage. The lack of records in this case made it impossible to determine whether there was other, more serious, misconduct at Scotboys Group Plc and that is reflected in the lengthy period of disqualification.

This ban should serve as a reminder to any directors tempted to do the same: the Insolvency Service will vigorously investigate you and seek to remove you from the marketplace.

Notes to editors

Scotboys Group Plc (CRO No. SC456211) went into compulsory liquidation on 22 September 2015 with a deficiency to creditors of £52,106. The company was incorporated to provide wired telecommunications and travel agency activities.

Christopher John Ireland is of Dundee and his date of birth is 7 December 1982.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.