Tough on crime? Err … when we can be bothered to turn up

As Sarah Ludford MEP has discovered, Labour Home Secretaries only bother to turn up to one in three meetings of the key European Justice and Home Affairs Council, whilst their German equivalents turn up more than nine times in ten.

Not exactly behaviour which matches the tough-on-crime Labour Home Secretaries love using. Tough, that is, when you remember to turn up.