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On International Day against Homophobia, Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford has given her support to young LGBT people suffering from bullying or discrimination at school.

Sarah has taken part in a video message from European leaders to gay and lesbian youngsters, telling them how they are working to ‘make things better.’ She commented:

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has met with the London team of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and signed up as an ‘Entrepreneur Champion’ to support their campaign to stimulate small business growth.

The FSB Real-Life Entrepreneurs campaign aims to persuade the government to take action such as boosting banking competition and increasing access to finance, tackling late payment, easing regulation and simplifying the tax system.      

Sarah Ludford commented:

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has welcomed a Brussels commitment, secured through strong pressure from Liberal Democrat MEPs, for stricter monitoring of the way the 27 national governments spend EU taxpayers' money.

The Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) group in the European Parliament have long been demanding that Member States produce annual statements of their EU budget spending. Today the European Commission made a commitment to ensure that these reports would not only be submitted but made public.

The Court of Auditors, the EU auditor, has issued a negative report for seventeen years in a row due to the unacceptably high error rate, in national accounts, of EU money received and spent.

Sarah Ludford commented:

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has joined a majority of MEPs in again demanding a single workplace for Euro-MPs instead of the absurd trek between Brussels and Strasbourg that they are currently condemned to because of decisions by the 27 EU governments.

MEPs made the call during a vote on the EU's spending in 2010. A single seat for the European Parliament in Brussels would save around £145 million (€180 million) a year on the EU budget. 

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford has welcomed a deal secured by Members of the European Parliament, due to be voted through tomorrow, which continues the process started in 2007 of pushing down mobile phone costs for consumers travelling abroad, but also for the first time cuts data costs too.

The new EU price cap for calls will mean that from July 1^st the price when abroad will be capped at 24p per minute. This cap will be gradually reduced so that by 2014 a call will cost a maximum of 16p a minute.  

But for the first time, there will also be a cap on data prices, thus making mobile email and internet use cheaper. This capped price will be 59 pence a MB from this July, falling to 18 pence/MB by 2014.

Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford has visited Lithuania as part of a delegation following up the 2007 European Parliament inquiry report - of which she was vicechair - on European collusion in extraordinary rendition and torture.

She is co-rapporteur of a new report aiming to determine European states’ progress in investigating and determining accountability in the last 5 years.

Sarah Ludford commented:

“Credit must go to Lithuania for having instituted both a parliamentary and a prosecutorial inquiry, more than any other country. This positive example shames bigger states, like the UK under the Labour government, which have refused to lift the lid."

European Voice, 26 April 2012

On 24 April, the European Parliament's foreign-policy committee delayed a vote on a trade deal with Israel, extending deliberations that began in May 2010. Here, a cross-party group of MEPs argues for immediate approval, while European critics of Israeli policies argue for the rejection of the agreement until Israel complies with international law.

We're still a long way from uncovering the full truth about the involvement of the UK and other European countries in US-led extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and torture during the ‘war on terror’.

It was one of the best early decisions of the Coalition to set up the judicial inquiry under Sir Peter Gibson. The inquiry's termination was forced by the need for criminal investigations into new allegations of renditions to Libya, including of Abdel Hakim Belhaj.

LibDem European justice & human rights spokeswoman Sarah Ludford MEP will today vote in favour of the agreement on transfer and use of air passenger data to the US designed to help combat terrorism and serious transnational crime. She said:

"This agreement is not perfect. But it's a great deal better than the existing framework and, crucially, than any of the alternatives. There is no chance of the US improving their offer."

"If MEPs reject this deal it creates legal uncertainty, deprives us of any platform on which to build a better agreement, and leaves the field open to weaker bilateral accords which the EU will not be able to control."

Commenting on the statement by Home Secretary Theresa May on Abu Qatada, Liberal Democrat European justice and human rights spokeswoman Sarah Ludford said:

'The guarantees she has secured from Jordan seem sound. Unlike her I supported the Strasbourg court judgement, but I applaud her hard work in ensuring that evidence extracted under torture will not be used at his trial."

"I also welcome her robust rejection of any suggestion that the UK government could 'just ignore Strasbourg and put Qatada on a plane.' It is reassuring that she insists on the UK respecting the rule of law."

Notes to Editors

Theresa May’s statement can be read here: