The Jersey branch of pressure group Attac intend to picket the venue where the UK prime minister’s wife will speak in the afternoon.Branch president Jean Andersson said the protest was partly an opportunity to express their continuing concern over the ‘half-passports’ held by some Jersey residents, in that they are not automatically entitled to live and work in Europe.However, they also wanted to demonstrate their displeasure over the cost of the seminar, she said, which has been organised by executive search and selection consultants Thomas & Dessain and law firm Bailhache Labesse.Miss Andersson explained that tickets to the seminar cost £55.
‘To me, that seems amazing,’ she said.
‘If they are talking about human rights, it should be accessible to anyone concerned about the subject.’The exact venue of the talk by the prime minister’s wife, who uses her maiden name Booth in her professional life, will not be revealed until tonight, in line with normal security protocol.Miss Andersson said that the group would be notified and intended to be present when Ms Booth, QC, arrived at the conference to talk about employment law and human rights in the workplace.She stressed that Attac were not protesting against Ms Booth herself, adding: ‘As the wife of a socialist prime minister I would imagine it (demonstrating) would be something dear to her heart.
I don’t think it will surprise her in the least to see people in the streets having their say.’
