Update 2020-12-2: The Trussell Trust has called for a freeze on all universal credit deductions after it found that they are the reason why half of all food bank users need help. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of struggling families face benefit caps which could leave them hundreds of pounds a month worse off — and make them destitute; and Sunak has not yet committed to keeping the £20-a-week boost.

‘I see a country very fragmented, very polarised and very divided — more divided than I have ever seen it before’
— Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown says that unless the government comes up with an immediate anti-poverty programme it will face a rebellion from a deeply divided Britain. The former prime minister cited research by the Resolution Foundation showing that unemployment and reduced wages had already cut into the incomes of millions of households. He called on the Government to extend the £20-a-week increase in universal credit beyond next spring, and to increase child benefit.

Meanwhile, MPs are saying that new universal credit claimants should be given a ‘starter payment’ so they can afford food and rent during the five-week wait before normal payments begin. 38 Degrees has also launched a petition in support, as well as one calling for the £20 raise to be given to disabled people as well.

Although new claimants can request loans, these have to be paid back from future payments ‘which are already barely enough to get by on,’ said Stephen Timms, chairman of the work and pensions select committee. The committee, which has a majority of Tory MPs, also calls for the £20-a-week boost, introduced in April as a temporary measure to help the low-paid during the pandemic, to be kept.

If you agree that we should make it easier for the low-paid to afford food and rent, write to a Tory today. And sign this petition and this one.

‘If I were prime minister, the home secretary would have been removed from her job’
— Keir Starmer

The row continues over Priti Patel; Ken Clarke has now expressed concern over the prime minister’s refusal to sack her for bullying civil servants.

The former home secretary said he was particularly worried by the resignation of Sir Alex Allan, the prime minister’s ethics adviser, who quit after Johnson overruled his conclusion that Patel had broken ministerial code.

If you think this is an appalling way for ministers and, for that matter, the Prime Minister to behave, take action now.

Update 20-11-20: The National Audit Office says that almost 500 PPE suppliers with links to senior Tories were given ‘high-priority’ status which meant their bid for government contracts were 10 times more likely to succeed. Meanwhile, one expert said the Moonshot scheme struck her as ‘the most unethical proposal for use of public funds or for screening that I'd ever seen’.

Good Law Project (GLP) says that it has seen leaked documents which reveal that Cabinet Office contacts and others have been helping 'VIPs' sell PPE to the Government outside normal procurement channels.

'The leaked documents also evidence a startling opportunity for price gouging by favoured suppliers,' says the GLP. 'It is only if prices were more than 25% above the average paid to other suppliers that questions were to be asked about value for money.'

This meant that these firms were able to make enormous margins on contracts which were sometimes worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

If you think it is wrong that these firms have been enabled to make huge profits from our hard-earned taxes — in this pandemic, moreover, when so many are facing crushing poverty — tell a Tory now.

UPDATE 2020-11-16: Johnson is clashing with the Treasury over plans to fight climate change and create tens of thousands of jobs. The Treasury is concerned about costs; earlier this year, Tory donors apparently reacted with fury to Sunak’s plans to increase taxes on the wealthy...

‘No more kicking the can down the road till 2050’ — Caroline Lucas, MP

The Government’s climate change adviser says reaching net zero carbon emissions in the UK is likely to be much cheaper than previously thought — but the Government is not yet doing enough to meet our legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050.

Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, the UK’s independent statutory adviser, says it is essential for the Government to have a coherent strategy before the UK hosting of the next UN climate summit, Cop26,  in November 2021. He also criticised the current policy of `lumping costs onto the electricity bill’, which hits the poorest the hardest, and said there was `a lovely opportunity’ for the Treasury to ensure a fair and cheap transition.

Meanwhile, 38 Degrees are also calling on the Government to step up action on climate change. They have launched a petition asking Johnson to back Caroline Lucas’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, which has cross-party support from seven political parties.

If  you want our country to play its part in stopping the world burning up around us — without the cost falling, as ever, on the backs of the poor — tell the Tories now. And sign the petition.

Update: 2020-10-26 Pressure is mounting on Downing Street; more than 2,000 top child-health specialists have signed a letter condemning the Tories, saying they see 'far too many' children who don't have enough to eat, and it is 'heartbreaking'. Meanwhile, Labour plans to hold another Commons vote; and Rashford's petition for measures to stop child food poverty is nearing 900,000 signatures.

“Never forget this. In a time of national crisis, they subsidised their own meals despite £80k salaries, propped up their wealthy mates, and left over a million children to go hungry”
— tweet by anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe

Last week footballer and hunger hero Marcus Rashford spoke of his 'despair' as Tory MPs voted down the plan to stop 1.4m children going hungry. The Labour motion to provide food vouchers as a substitute for free school meals was defeated by a majority of 61, with 322 votes to 261.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to change its mind on this issue, as they did in the summer. Write to a Tory today. And sign the petition.

Update: 2020-10-21: More than 100,000 have signed the European Movement’s petition against a no-deal Brexit. If you agree that no deal would be a disaster, sign the petition.

The duty of a government is to its country: to the welfare of its people - which, on the whole, requires a healthy economy. Yet our Government seems intent on a no-deal scenario which could hit our economy three times harder than Covid-19 has, as ITV reports: with shortages of food and vital medicines and, in a worst-case scenario, water rationing and power outages.

In this scenario, the major beneficiary will be hedge funds. Ordinary people, however, will suffer. Our people voted, with a small majority, to leave the EU. They did not choose a no-deal scenario, with its inevitable chaos and economic damage. Protect our people. Take action now.

Update 2020-10-18:
As Rashford's petition nears 300,000 signatures, Labour has joined the campaign, saying it will force a vote this week unless the Government agrees to expand the free school meals scheme.

“This is not going away any time soon and neither am I”
— Marcus Rashford MBE

Hunger hero Marcus Rashford has vowed to fight on after Downing Street rejected his call for free school meals to be provided during all school holidays. It is one of several measures he is calling for in a parliamentary petition which has already reached nearly 200,000 signatures just a day after going online.

The footballer is also backing the School Breakfast Bill, which is aimed at guaranteeing children in disadvantaged schools a free breakfast and has the support of a cross-party group of 65 MPs. If you think it is wrong that children are going hungry in the 21st century, write to a Tory today — and sign Rashford’s petition.

“Huge sums of public money have been awarded to companies with no discernible expertise. Sometimes the main qualification seems to be a political connection with key government figures”
— Jolyon Maugham QC, director of Good Law Project

Green MP Caroline Lucas, Lib Dem MP Layla Moran and Labour MP Debbie Abrahams have joined Good Law Project (GLP) in taking legal action against the Government over its failure to account for £3bn spent on private contracts since lockdown.

If you think that the Government should account for taxpayers’ money, and that money to combat Covid should go to the NHS and not private firms, write to a Tory today. And, if you can, consider making a donation to the Good Law Project to help this legal battle.

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