The country is in the grip of a cost of living crisis. In response, the government has thrown money at the energy sector – all while firms producing a vital product which people cannot afford declare record profits. Predictably, this energy bailout is now being used to justify the usual toolbox of spending cuts, this time with added tax rises. The government’s response misses the root of the problem, but those critical of the government’s policies often do too. The focus has rightly been on the terrible choices people are making between necessities, but only some necessities, mainly food and … Continue reading Fabian Society spring notice

BREAKING: The Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, Steve Brine MP, is under investigation after allegations he lobbied the head of the NHS on behalf of a firm he received money from.  According to reporting on Matt Hancock’s leaked WhatsApp messages, Steve Brine MP, who is Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee in Parliament, may have lobbied for the NHS to hire medical staff from a recruitment firm that was paying him £1,600 a month. The Health Select Committee is supposed to scrutinise the Government’s running of the NHS – our most beloved public service – on behalf of the … Continue reading Steve Brine MP Lobbied Head of NHS

Statewatch News, 3 March 2023 (also available as a PDF) In this issue: And: new technologies, rights and counter-terrorism policy; EU online content removal orders without judicial review; EU roadmap on police cooperation; “internal security needs” and digital policy.  —————————————- Migration policy undermining access to information The ongoing, expansive enforcement of EU migration policies – at the EU’s borders and beyond – has detrimental effects in a whole host of areas: the right to life, the right to non-discrimination, the right to privacy and the rule of law more broadly. Today, we publish a new analysis, ‘Migration policy overspill: access to information … Continue reading Statewatch march bulletin