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HubMP2012

“Legitimizing this aggression by accepting the occupation would embolden dictators around the world”

Thousands are set to march to the Russian Embassy on Saturday 22nd February to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

They will carry placards saying Occupation is not Peace! and Don’t Betray Ukraine! behind a banner calling for Russian Troops Out.

The demonstration is called by a coalition of Ukrainian community organisations, trade unions and civil society organisations.

Ukrainians sponsors include Vsesvit, the Campaign for Ukraine, KHARPP humanitarian charity, Rozviyyouth movement and Ukrainian student societies.

The march will be led by the Ukrainian singers from the Hromada choir.

The Trade Unions Congress is supporting the demonstration along with national unions GMB, ASLEF, PCS, UCU, UNISON and the NUM.

The march aims to show Ukrainians we still stand with them in their battle against Russian aggression, for as long as it takes for them to liberate their country.

The organisers issued a joint statement  declaring that Ukraine has been made vulnerable by not being provided enough aid to defeat Russia, and is being expected to consign its own citizens to occupation under a deal imposed by Trump.

We are calling for renewed solidarity, that peace must come with the full withdrawal of Russian forces, for a surge in military aid to strengthen Ukraine in any negotiations and be able to finally end the occupation if no just agreement is secured.

Saturday 22nd February

Assemble St Volodymyr Statue, Holland Park, 12:00 noon

March to Russian Embassy for rally at 13:00.

Olena Ivashchenko, Director of the Campaign for Ukraine said: “Right now, Ukraine’s future is being decided by politicians behind closed doors. But one thing is clear – true and sustainable peace cannot be achieved without justice.  We call for Russia to withdraw its troops from all of Ukraine, for Trump to end his backroom power games, and for the UK to strengthen its leadership in safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty and Europe’s security.”

Barbara Plant, President of the GMB union said: “GMB remains firmly in solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom from Russian military aggression. Only the ability for the Ukrainian people to truly determine their own future free from Putin’s occupation will bring about a just or lasting peace, and certainly not an alliance of oligarchs. 

“We will be marching on Saturday for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and for a peace that has Ukraine’s sovereignty, social justice and support of the Ukrainian people at its heart.”

Christopher Ford, Secretary of Ukraine Solidarity Campaign said: “The millions who have stood by Ukraine are appalled at the conduct of Trump and the threat of betrayal. Promises made to do whatever it takes to help Ukraine win have collapsed without any explanation. We must show that this is not inevitable and raise our voices that a partition and occupation is not a sustainable peace. The UK and Europe must not repeat the errors of 1930s appeasement.”

Mariia Pastukh of Vsesvit, Ukraine solidarity collective said: “We are calling this rally near the Russian Embassy to draw attention to the root cause of this war: Russia’s imperialist ambitions, which fuelled its brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. We demand that Russia’s crimes in Ukraine not be forgotten. Legitimizing this aggression by accepting the occupation would embolden dictators around the world.”

John McDonnell MP, a founder of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign said: “We’ll be calling for peace, but a just peace determined by the Ukrainian people and not imposed upon them by either Trump or Putin. Join us in solidarity with Ukraine.”

El Salvador declares state of emergency – again

HubMP2012

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

The State of Exception, the brainchild of President Nayib Bukele, suspending basic rights and leading to the arrest of thousands of alleged gang members, has been renewed again.  This report is edited from the blogs of Tim Muth, who lives in the country.

On January 29th 2025, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly passed a resolution extending for the 35th time the State of Exception under which the country’s residents have lived since March 27th 2022. 

There was no debate. There was no evidence presented of the emergency circumstances required by the Salvadoran constitution to justify the suspension of rights to due process in the criminal justice system and warrantless interception of communications.   Where would such evidence come from today in the country that Nayib Bukele proclaims the safest in the western hemisphere?   

In the almost three years of the State of Exception, the government says it has arrested more than 85,000 persons and put them in the country’s prison system, imprisoning 1.8% of the country’s population. As of the fall 2024, 12,900 of the country’s prison population are women.

The online periodical Focos notes that the high level of incarceration does not bother Bukele:

“For Nayib Bukele, these figures are a source of pride. When asked whether more than 1% of the population is behind bars, he responds: ‘We did not imprison 1% of the population, we freed 99%,’ said Bukele in a speech he gave when visiting a prison in Costa Rica in November 2024….

“’Obviously, the operations are not perfect and, without any intention of harming an innocent person, some were captured in the same way as they are in France, in Germany, in Japan and in all the countries of the world. We are freeing them. We have already freed 8,000 people and we are going to free 100% of the innocent people,’ added Bukele.”

As a side note, the suggestion that people are being ‘freed’ is misleading.  I have spoken to several persons wrongly detained and subsequently released, and have read many other reports. The vast majority are still being charged with somehow being criminals and have the possibility of prison hanging over their heads. The government does not acknowledge in any individual case that it arrested an innocent person, it just stops imprisoning them before some unscheduled future trial date.

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) commented on the president’s number of 8,000 freed:

“The release of these people is difficult to corroborate because the lack of transparency, reliable data and access to information is a serious problem. The state security forces, the prosecutor’s office, and the judiciary, act without any control or counterweight, with confidentiality being the rule. On the one hand, the recognition made by President Bukele should be subject to international scrutiny, including crimes under international criminal law, since there is an explicit acceptance of violations to human rights, access to justice, and due process. On the other hand, the documentation work of human rights organizations and complaints from many relatives of those detained indicate that there are probably many other innocent people who have been detained under the state of emergency.”

Although Bukele seems to be admitting that up to 10% of the persons jailed, often for month or years, were wrongly detained, human rights investigators believe the number may be closer to 40%.

The group Socorro Juridico says that it has identified 366 prisoners who have died during the State of Exception.  According to their investigations, 40% died as a result of acts of violence and 30% through medical neglect.  The group worries the actual number of deaths could be much higher.

In December 2024, Amnesty International wrote about the conditions in prisons under the State of Exception:

“[There is] a crisis of extreme overcrowding in most penitentiary centres, some of which, according to civil society organisations, have been running at over 300% capacity since the state of emergency was instituted. Victims have described conditions as ‘hellish’, characterised by a lack of medical care, substandard basic services such as food and water, and the cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment frequently meted out, including torture. According to local organisations, more than 300 deaths under state custody have been recorded. Amnesty International has documented cases of deaths due to beatings, torture and a lack of proper medical care.”

A new investigative report by Focos and RevistaFactum describes the conditions under which women detained during the State of Exception are incarcerated, unable to access basic feminine hygiene needs and lacking insufficient access to potable water in their cells.

Children of the thousands incarcerated unjustly suffer as innocent victims.  Veronica Reyes of Passionist Social Services conducted a study of the damage caused:

“The impacts recorded in this study showed psychological effects such as anxiety, sleep problems, sadness and depression, unfocused grief, as well as avoiding places that generate fear due to the presence of the police or military. This study also identified abandoned children, who do not have adult relatives to care for them, and who, due to the social stigma of the arrest of someone in their family, receive very little or no support for their subsistence, with the community itself seeking to accompany and provide food or money, even out of fear of being unjustly arrested just for helping them. In certain cases, children have been identified as victims of sexual exploitation, particularly girls and adolescents.”

The United Nations heard in January from human rights groups, member nations, and UN bodies about the State of Exception and other human rights issues as part of its Universal Periodic Review for El Salvador.  The Universal Periodic Review is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years.  The entire  submission of the government of El Salvador has only a one sentence mention of the State of Exception, attributing a reduction in homicides to its adoption.

A United Nations body has also agreed to look at four exemplar cases of arbitrary detentions during the State of Exception.  

While the US government has been silent about human rights abuses under the State of Exception, and nothing should be expected from the Trump administration, Democratic members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin and Tim Kaine, issued a statement in November 2024 which reads in part:

“For 32 months, tens of thousands of Salvadorans have been arbitrarily arrested without due process – presumed guilty, crammed into overpopulated prisons, and unaware of the charges against them….The Bukele administration must restore constitutional order for the Salvadoran people, immediately end its practice of mass trials, grant detainees access to family and legal counsel, and provide reintegration support for those innocent Salvadorans unjustly swept up in this crackdown.”

Bukele welcomes deportations

Meanwhile Nayib Bukele has offered to receive not just citizens of El Salvador, but persons from other nations expelled from the US by the Donald Trump deportation machine. Salvadorans are wondering what this offer, coupled with Trump’s promise of “massive” removals, portends for their country.  

During a visit of Secretary of State Marco Rubio to El Salvador this month, Bukele offered to sign an agreement not only to take back Salvadorans from the US, but also to accept deportees from other nations, and even to imprison US citizen criminals for a fee.

Bukele very much wants MS-13 leaders like “Crook” held in the US on terrorism charges to be returned to El Salvador. Bukele wants them back in El Salvador before they can testify in US courts about his negotiations with MS-13 to lower homicide levels in the country.  

The deportation flights that currently arrive two or three times per week, may increase to daily, or multiple flights per day if Trump succeeds in his vision for mass deportation.  There are today 127,000 open cases in US immigration courts against Salvadorans who lack the protection of TPS (temporary protected status). They are part of the estimated 741,000 undocumented Salvadorans living in the US. Trump’s massive deportation promise puts all of them at risk.  The recent census conducted by the government in 2024 revealed that 159,415 Salvadoran households, representing 8.3% of the total, had at least one family member emigrate to another country in the last five years, during the Bukele presidency.

Tim Muth is a US-trained lawyer who works on matters involving civil liberties and human rights. He blogs at El Salvador Perspectives, and you can follow him on Twitter as @TimMuth.

Image: https://pix4free.org/photo/995/el-salvador.html El salvador by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free Licence: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed

 

This Land is still Your Land

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Mark Perryman celebrates the 85th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s anthem.

On Sunday, 23rd February 2025, it will be the 85th anniversary of Woody Guthrie writing his anthemic This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land. Ever since, it has been sung out loud and proud as an American, global, song of resistance quite like almost none other.   

February 1940: the United States hadn’t yet entered World War Two; that wouldn’t come for almost another two years following Imperial Japan’s deadly air attack on the US naval base, Pearl Harbor. Nazi Germany was in the process of taking all of Europe by Blitzkrieg. The Soviet Union was quelled by the shameful, and to prove treacherous, Ribbentrop-Molotov pact.

While US President Roosevelt’s sympathies were with Churchill and the British armed forces leading the resistance both in Europe and South-East Asia, American support was purely economic, transactional lend-lease and of entirely financial benefit to US business. American public opinion was for non-intervention, appeasement. But for a section of the American right it went further. Just like the Daily Mail’s notorious front page “Hurrah for the Blackshirts”, this is a moment where there are many in America who resent being reminded that a year before Woody penned his song, 20,000 American Nazis filled the famous Madison Square Garden, sieg-heiling their American support for Hitler to a huge backdrop of George Washington squeezed between two equally large Swastika flags. 

Such was the context of This Land Is Your Land. In Mike Marqusee’s brilliant book Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan’s Art (updated and expanded as Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and The 1960s) Mike provides the details of Woody’s authorship including the missing lines ‘purged’ from the more sanitised version that has become popular ever after.

 A big high wall there that tried to stop me

 A sign was painted said: Private Property”

And

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple

By the Relief Office I saw my people –

As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if

This land was made for you and me.

One can scarcely imagine Vance, adding such lines to his Hillbilly Elegy soundtrack. And there lies, in Woody’s and our time, the falsehoods, but dangerously successful populist right appeal of Trumpian and Faragist versions.

Mike Marqusee is much missed by many, including myself. He was that very rare kind, a public intellectual, a hugely creative political organiser – at the height of opposition to the Iraq War, only Mike would have the idea and the ability to organise an Iraq v USA football match; Philosophy Football (of course) provided the kits. He was a gloriously gifted writer who was as at ease writing about Dylan, his Jewish identity, Muhammad Ali and most of all his quixotically American love of cricket, as about Labour Party politics.

It is his take on the latter that helps explains Mike’s disavowal of one particular accolade This Land is often accorded: “The song combines a sense of longing and belonging, and has been cursed with the soubriquet of the ‘alternative national anthem’.”

By political inclination I’m a pluralist. I have simply no interest in a political culture founded on the pressing need for all of us hankering after a label, ‘left’ or Labour, for want of any other, to entirely agree with one another and exclude those with whom we don’t. In my experience, I learn just as much engaging with those I don’t share wholehearted agreement with as those with whom I do. I would often debate with Mike his rejection of the national popular, in particular Englishness, a position he waggishly entitled “Anyone but England”. His position was  far more illuminating and instructive than Sir Keir’s entirely performative ‘progressive patriotism’, never to be articulated without a Union Jack draped somewhere or other in the camera shot.

However, this rejection of the national popular, if you like, This Land as an ‘alternative national anthem’, reflects a broader rebuttal of a Gramscian (yes, yes, Philosophy Football do a Gramsci T-shirt too) politics that focuses on popular culture as an absolutely central site where ideas are contested and changed. It’s a focus that recognises and doesn’t downgrade the meaning given to our nation for many which is key to this. In this sense the very special power of This Land is that it is both, and at the same time, universal and very distinctly American.  

And it is this mix, the national, the popular and the radical that framed future generations who sang in the different ways of who their land belonged to: Simone, Dylan and Baez via Patti Smith, the Clash, the Specials. Billy Bragg, to new-generation minstrels of change, Grace Petrie, Joe Solo and Calum Baird, with plenty more where that rebel-rousing lot came from. Now that’s what I call a soundtrack of however many revolutions per minute takes your fancy. 

Mark Perryman is the co-founder of Philosophy Football.                    

The 85th anniversary This Land T-shirt is available exclusively from the self-styled ‘sporting outfitters of intellectual distinction’ aka Philosophy Football here  

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Unite lays hard hats outside Scottish Labour conference in Grangemouth protest

Luke O'Reilly    

21st February, 2025

Photo: Luke O’Reilly

Labour’s green transition plans cannot be fuelled by “transitioning our jobs abroad”, Sharon Graham has warned at a Scottish Labour conference protest over saving the Grangemouth oil refinery.

Speaking to LabourList at the protest outside the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow on Friday, Graham argued that Grangemouth was ideally placed to provide green aviation fuel for the expansion of Heathrow Airport.

It was announced last year that the oil refinery, the only one in Scotland, would be closed, with the loss of 400 jobs.

Unite workers battled the elements as they laid 400 helmets, one for every job lost, outside the Scottish Event Campus venue.

At one point a particularly powerful gust of wind blew several helmets across the parking lot, though nearby Waspi campaigners were on hand to help the trade unionists gather them back up.

‘Labour can’t put their fingers in their ears’

The protesters chanted: “You said our refinery was your top priority” and “keep Grangemouth working”.

Graham echoed their sentiments.

“We’re here to say to the Labour government in the UK, and obviously the politicians in Scotland, that they need to save the Grangemouth site.

“It’s not acceptable for them to put their fingers in their ears, and not save this site, and that’s what we are demanding today.”

Grangemouth’s closure is a terrible thing for the UK

She said Grangemouth’s closure wasn’t just a terrible thing for the people of Grangemouth but also the UK.

“I think it’s a terrible thing for the UK. Rachel Reeves went on the telly a couple of weeks ago to say that for our Heathrow expansion we’re going to need green aviation fuel.

“And the question I keep asking is: Where are you going to get it from?

“We don’t make green aviation fuel at the moment. So if you’re not going to get it from sites like Grangemouth, which is sitting there read to make it, where are we getting it from?

“Are they seriously telling me that this transition is about transitioning our jobs abroad? Because if they do that, that will never be forgotten, and we will not allow that to happen.”

‘This is a highly skilled workforce’

Graham said the hard hats represent the skills of Grangemouth’s workforce.

“This represents 400 workers, a hard hat for every worker, and the skills these workers have.

“This is a highly skilled and trained workforce. We need those skills in Britain.

“It is a matter of national security that Grangemouth stays open and transitions into an aviation fuel site. We need to make sure that they do that.”

Woke-bashing of the week – The woke-bashers’ ironic distraction from the real meaning of the Invictus Games

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead

16 February, 2025 
Right-Wing Watch

Sadly, with a new president beginning his new war on woke, the woke-bashing knee-jerkers are more emboldened than ever.

.

It’s funny – in an exhausting way – how the right-wing press, having stayed suspiciously silent on Prince Harry’s landmark legal victory over Murdoch’s media empire, couldn’t wait to pounce on the much more minor story of his supposed ‘woke’ speech and dig at Donald Trump.

Last weekend, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the seventh edition of the Invictus Games in Canada, an event Harry founded in 2014 to honour wounded, injured, and sick military personnel. Yet, instead of focusing on the purpose of the Games, the celebration of veterans, the media jumped on a minor detail from Harry’s opening speech.

Speaking in front of 40,000 people, Prince Harry said: “This moment when there is no shortage of crises, no absence of uncertainty, no lack of weak moral character in the world, the values you embody—the way you carry yourselves—not only at the Invictus Games, but each and every day… your courage, your resilience, your humanity… illuminate a path forward for us all. And for that, we thank you.”

To put it in context, Trump recently dismissed the idea of deporting Harry following revelations from the prince’s memoir about his past drug use, and called Meghan “terrible.”

Yet, the press spun Harry’s speech as a ‘woke’ attack on Trump. The Daily Mail’s ‘exclusive’ was centred on an Invictus Games insider – a volunteer at the event – who called the speech a ‘woke’ distraction from the important work of the Games. The anonymous source complained that Harry’s speech, which honoured veterans, undermined their service, claiming the real issue was his ‘woke’ agenda.

The usual suspects, from GB News to the Express, eagerly jumped on the ridiculous non-story. Headlines screamed: “Harry and Megham savaged for ‘overshadowing’ Invictus Games veterans after Trump jibe,” and “Invictus Games insiders reject Prince Harry’s ‘woke’ agenda in clear message.”

But perhaps no-one summed up this pathetic obsession with ‘woke’ Harry and Meghan quite as badly as Amanda Platell. Platell, a columnist for the Daily Mail and former editor of the Sunday Express, demanded to know: “Who is Harry to lecture anyone on ‘weak moral character’?”

Her indignation reached a new low as she accused Harry of “utterly tin-eared” behaviour for daring to speak about moral character in front of the Games’ audience. This, Platell claimed, was “appalling” because Harry had the audacity to respond to Trump’s derogatory remarks about his wife. According to Platell, if Harry and Meghan didn’t recognise how “deeply inappropriate” his words were, it was their problem, a problem that “brings into question not just Harry’s own character, but whether the couple have a moral compass at all.”

Sadly, with a new president beginning his new war on woke, the woke-bashing knee-jerkers are more emboldened than ever. And, ironically, it was the veterans who really suffered with this story, as the right-wing media’s efforts to undermine Harry’s speech with tired jabs about ‘wokeness’ only reveals their own failure to engage with the true essence of what the Invictus Games represent.

Far-right leaders vow to ‘Make Europe Great Again’ while critics hit back, reminding why Europe’s already great

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead 

16 February, 2025

LEFTFOOT FORWARD/RIGHT WING WATCH

The usual suspects gathered in Madrid for the Patriots for Europe event.

At a rally in Madrid last weekend, far-right leaders across Europe vowed to ‘Make Europe Great Again,’ while hailing Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

The usual suspects gathered for the Patriots for Europe event, including the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, France’s National Rally’s Marine Le Pen, Italy’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, and Geert Wilders, leader of the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom.

Addressing a crowd of around 2,000 supporters, Orbán said: “The Trump tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks … yesterday we were heretics, today we’re mainstream.”

Marine Le Pen said Trump’s election victory meant Europe stood on the brink of “real change.”

“We’re facing a truly global tipping point. Hurricane Trump is sweeping across the United States. For its part, the European Union seems to be in a state of shock,” said the far-right leader.

Gert Wilders was equally as gushing towards the Trump, saying he is “is like a brother in arms [to us].” Wilders also called for a “Reconquista” of Europe, a reference to the medieval re-conquest of Muslim-controlled parts of Spain and Portugal by Christian kingdoms.

The rally was the first official summit of Patriots for Europe, which formed after the EU elections last May, and has become the European Parliament’s third largest voting bloc.

Le Pen said it was the European leaders present at the rally who had the best chance of communicating and working with the US president.

“We are the only ones that can talk with the new Trump administration.”

The rally follows the same mantra peddled by Trump’s ‘troll-in-chief’ Elon Musk. The world’s richest man stirred up yet more controversy last month, with the provocative post on X, stating:

“From MAGA to MEGA. Make Europe great again.”

But many hit back, informing the richest man on earth, why Europe is already great.

Commentator Tomas Pflanzer responded, saying, “Europe doesn’t need your unsolicited advice to ‘be better.’”

He then proceeded to outline the aspects where Europe excels.

Healthcare

“Most European countries have universal healthcare systems that provide high-quality care without bankrupting individuals. In contrast, the U.S. struggles with exorbitant healthcare costs and a system that leaves millions uninsured,” wrote Pflanzer.

Indeed, the 2024 Best Countries rankings from US News, ranked eight European countries among the top ten for the best public health systems in the world, including the Netherlands, UK, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. The US on the other hand, lagged behind in 19th place.

Worker protections

“European labour laws guarantee paid vacation (often 20–30 days annually), maternity and paternity leave, and robust job security. Compare that to the U.S., where there is no federal mandate for paid leave and “at-will employment” often leaves workers vulnerable,” wrote Pflanzer.

As EuroDev notes, one of the most notable differences between the US and Europe is the concept of at-will employment in the US, where either the employer or employee can end the relationship at any time for any reason. This can lead to job insecurity for workers.

Conversely, European countries offer stronger employment protections and laws that make it more difficult for employers to terminate employees without cause.

Education

“Many European countries offer free or affordable higher education, creating opportunities for all. Meanwhile, student debt in the US is a burden for generations,” wrote Pflanzer.

In Europe, higher education is largely subsidised, and students often don’t need to save vast amounts of money to attend university. As Intelligencer explains, higher education costs in Europe are either free or very low for citizens of those countries and EU nationals, unlike the expensive tuition fees that can leave US students drowning in debt.

Infrastructure

“High-speed rail networks, walkable cities, and efficient public transport are standard across Europe, reducing dependency on cars and promoting sustainable living,” wrote Pflanzer.

A study published in Nature Cities in September found that Europe outperforms the US when it comes to walkable, liveable cities. The study highlighted European cities such as Zurich, Milan, Copenhagen, and Dublin, where over 95 percent of residents can access essential services within 15 minutes on foot.

In contrast, at the bottom of the rankings were North American cities like Dallas, San Antonio, and Detroit, where car dependency is high.

Equality and human rights

“Europe leads in social safety nets, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights, setting a global example,” wrote Pflanzer.

Indeed, the European Convention on Human Rights protects people from discrimination – including discrimination based on ethnicity, gender or sexuality.

Judgments from the European court have provided justice for the victims of discrimination. They have also led countries to change their laws and practices, to protect all members of society equally.

Tomas Pflanzer summaried:

“Before telling Europe to improve, perhaps focus on addressing the glaring issues in the US — the growing wealth gap, lack of healthcare access, gun violence, and crumbling infrastructure, to name a few.

“Your success in business is undeniable, but that doesn’t make you an expert in geopolitics or societal systems. Please, work on fixing the real issues at home before attempting to lecture us.”

Image credit: Patriots for Europe – X screen grab

Tories wasted £715 million of taxpayers’ money on failed Rwanda plan

Olivia Barber

17 February, 2025 

Left Foot Forward

Labour is now repealing the Safety of Rwanda Act

The Rwanda plan, which was ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court, cost £715 million in taxpayer money, and did not result in the deportation of any asylum seekers.

Last December, the Home Office provided a list of the scheme’s costs including £270 million to support economic development in Rwanda, £95 million on detention and reception centres and £280 million on “other fixed costs”.

An additional £50 million was spent preparing for deportation flights that never took off.

According to Tortoise Media, £37.8 million of that was allocated to hiring and training security escorts for deportees.

Another £8 million went towards airfield preparations, while £4 million covered the cost of policing the airfield.

Just £200,000 was spent on the flights themselves.

In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the plan was unlawful as deporting migrants to Rwanda would breach British and international human rights laws and agreements.

The government will repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act as part of its new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

Reform UK’s Richard Tice calls man-made climate change “absolute garbage” in embarrassing interview

Olivia Barber

17 February, 2025 
Left Foot Forward 

The Reform UK  MP said the idea of “stopping the power of the sun and volcanoes” is “nonsense”

Reform UK MP and party deputy leader Richard Tice has rejected established climate science and said it’s “absolute garbage” to say human activities are causing climate change during a Sky News interview.

Tice pointed to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) from 2023, stating that it says achieving net-zero tomorrow would have no impact on sea level rise for the next 200 to 1,000 years.

He claimed that this shows they “haven’t got a clue” and that it “won’t make any difference”.

Tice said that climate change is “real” and has occurred for millions of years, but he claimed there is “no evidence” that human-made CO2 has played a role in driving it.

He also said that suggesting that “a bit less CO2 is going to stop the power of the sun and stop the power of volcanoes is arrant nonsense”.

The deputy leader of Reform argued that vested interests are pushing the “net-zero agenda” because of the significant money involved, despite big oil companies paying out billions to lobby against climate action.

When asked by Sky’s Ali Fortescue whether we should listen to experts, Tice responded: “There are experts, vested interests, and then people who tell the truth.”

He said that vested interests are “making fortunes” out of renewable energy and that “decent ordinary people” are being ripped off.

Tice spread misinformation, claiming that scrapping net-zero would lower people’s energy bills, claiming that people currently pay an extra four or five hundred pounds a year before tax due to net-zero policies.

He also suggested that the growing support for Reform UK in the polls might reflect that “The British people are starting to realise, we’re talking the truth. They know they’re being lied to.”

Tice said that the “net-zero” has “got to stop” and “only Reform UK is going to stop it”.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

Transport secretary reveals UK state-owned rail company to be launched in two years

Olivia Barber 

19 February, 2025 

Left Foot Forward

The RMT union has said Labour needs to go further and bring the rest of the railway into public ownership

The UK’s railways are set for a major overhaul, with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirming that state-owned rail company Great British Railways (GBR) will be launched in early 2027.

The transport secretary has said GBR, a new public body that will bring together Network Rail and train operators, will be a new powerful public body to manage the rail infrastructure and train operations and stop the “total mess” that currently exists.

Alexander said: “Passengers have put up with broken railways for far too long. This landmark reform will sweep away decades of failure, creating a Great British Railways passengers can rely on.”

Labour’s Passenger Railway Services Bill will bring passenger train services into public ownership, but private freight and rolling stock companies will not be renationalised.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has said that the creation of GBR is a “welcome first step” and will “end the disastrous fragmentation of our railway and create a unified network”.

However, he said: “We must not forget that the profiteering of these companies is just the tip of the iceberg”.

“The rail industry is riddled with inefficiency and widespread profiteering that extends far beyond the train operators.”

Lynch said that if the government is serious about cutting fares for passengers, the launch of GBR “should be the moment to bring the rest of our railway back into public ownership—taking on the rolling stock leasing racket and ending the rampant outsourcing of key railway operations to the private sector”.

The government has launched a consultation on plans for a new passenger watchdog, fare reforms, and more devolved control over rail services.

The consultation states that the private sector will continue to play “a key role” and that GBR will be required to promote use and investment in the rail network by private freight operators.

Asked why it will take until 2027 to set up GBR, Alexander said: “The passage of legislation in Parliament, from presenting a bill through to it getting Royal Assent, normally takes something between six months and a year. I have to consult, because these are very significant structural changes to the way in which the railway runs.”

Image credit: SavageKieran – Creative Commons

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

UK Campaigners blast court decision to approve £3 billion Thames Water loan

Olivia Barber 

19 February, 2025 

Left Foot Forward

"It's a massive injustice"

Campaigners have called Thames Water’s £3 billion bailout, approved by the High Court yesterday, a “massive injustice”.

Thames Water is already struggling with debts of £19 billion and requested another £3 billion loan, warning that without it, they would have run out of cash in six weeks.

Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, told Channel 4 News: “It’s a massive injustice”.

She added: “Thames Water is not just any other company, it can’t just go through a restructuring plan, […] this is a public utility serving nearly a quarter of the population.”

We Own It has claimed that the loan could add £250 to the average household’s Thames Water bill.

Ash Smith, Founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said that Thames Water wanting to add a further £3 billion to its debt is “the stupidest idea anybody can think of”.

He added that Thames Water should not be bailed out: “what needs to happen is what would happen to any other company in this situation, it would go bust”.

Liberal Democrat MP for Witney Charlie Maynard, who is challenging the judgement, said: “I stand by my evidence to the court that allowing Thames Water to take on £3bn more debt is not in the interests of their millions of customers. They will all be paying the price for this futile, expensive, and extremely short-term bail out.”

He added: “This restructuring is simply throwing good money after bad. The money from our bills which is being spent on interest repayments is desperately needed to repair water infrastructure, improve customer service, and clean up our rivers.”

Mr Justice Leech, who heard the case, said: “The costs of finance and adviser fees in the present case are very high.

“Indeed, they might be described as eye-watering.”

Before the loan is even paid out, £443 million will be immediately spent on interest payments and unspecified costs to the new creditors.

A further £245 million will go toward existing interest payments, while professional fees for the loan will amount to £210 million.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward