On November 21, MPs will vote on a Private Member’s Bill aimed at halting the spread of privatisation across the NHS. Clive Efford’s Bill would scrap the worst parts of the Government’s Health and Social Care Act of 2012. The 2012 Act unleashed privatisation by imposing competition law on the NHS and exposing services to bids from private companies. Clive Efford’s Bill would rein in privatisation by • Removing competition requirements and regulations • Preventing the NHS watchdog Monitor acting as a competition enforcer • Restoring the Secretary of State’s duty to provide National Health Services • Shrinking what NHS hospitals are allowed to earn from private patients – currently up to half their total income! This petition has been launched by Stockport NHS Watch. We will deliver it to all four of Stockport’s MPs and lobby them to stand up for the NHS on November 21. We cannot stand and watch the NHS being stolen from us!

On the 18th of September 2014 almost 45% of the Scottish electorate voted for Scotland to become a fully independent country. 55% voted No having been assured that a No vote would result in ‘extensive new powers’ being transferred to the Scottish Parliament. We believe that this result constitutes a clear indication that an advanced form of self-government within the United Kingdom is required for Scotland. We refer to this proposal as Home Rule for Scotland. Home Rule means that some powers would continue to be shared across the UK. Shared powers would cover royal succession, foreign affairs, defence, a shared currency and free movement. But everything else, including the raising and spending of money, would be Scotland’s responsibility. Moreover, in recognition of the Sovereignty of the People of Scotland, constitutional arrangements as they pertain to Scotland, including EU membership and the role of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Scotland, would be determined by the people of Scotland through referenda. This arrangement would be enshrined in a ‘Charter of Autonomy’, which would function as a written constitution for Scotland. Powers for the Scottish Parliament will include: • Full fiscal autonomy, including income tax, national insurance, corporation tax and VAT including the right to create and abolish taxes. • Full control of welfare policy and spending, including pensions and unemployment benefits including the right to introduce new benefits. • Employment and industrial relations. • Regulation of Trade and Industry. • Oil and Gas regulation and revenues. • Broadcast Media. • Transport. • Full Borrowing Powers. • Full control of the Crown Estate. • Energy. • Control of Elections and Voting arrangements. • Recognising the Sovereignty of the People of Scotland, constitutional arrangements as they pertain to Scotland, including EU membership, to be determined by the people of Scotland through a referendum.

Clearly there is a conflict of interest problem... we are already in thrall to the business lobby. Read more here: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/10/civil-service-boss-john-manzoni-sabmiller-director

For MPs to be truly representative they must be true residents of that constituency. Currently career politicians of all parties are parachuted in to 'safe seats'. This leads to MPs with no understanding of their local constituency needs.

Palestine deserves to be recognised as a State and we should follow Sweden's example, as they say: "We hope that this will give a new dynamic to the discussion of what is going on in the Middle East"

We are continually told that MPs are on our side and understand what ordinary voters are going through. USA presidents publish tax information but UK politicians balk at the thought. Why should we not see how they earn their income and who might they be favouring in their policies. If they have nothing to hide why not publish and be damned or not as the case may be.

Make sure your vote counts! At the recent local government elections in London and other parts of the UK (May 2014) the current "first-past-the-post" electoral system served as a huge barrier to local democracy, with voters' genuine choices not reflected in the seats allocated in local councils. For example, in the London borough of Hackney, the Labour Party took 50 out of 57 seats (88%) seats from 58% of the vote, whereas the Green Party received 20.5% of the vote but not a single council seat. The Liberal Democrats received 8% and have three councillors, and the Conservatives with 12% have four councillors. The numbers from "first past the post" elections don't add up. Most of Europe (including Scotland) uses variations of proportional representation in local elections, only Britain still clings to "first-past-the-post"; it is archaic and outdated. As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation concluded in a 2000 study, the system "does not always perform effectively against standard criteria used to assess the performance of electoral systems". Some boroughs have opted to elect an independent Mayor, local governments should also be able to choose to use a fairer voting system. We propose offering councils proportional representation (PR) at the next local elections, using the Additional Member System. Make everyone’s vote count.

This is important to allow a fair and balanced presentation of the separate parties arguments without the unrelenting bias faced by the YES campaign, this is already being seen by the public in that the press are lining up AGAIN to demolish the SNP while the press have every right to decide who they support, what they should not be allowed to do it lie about the SNP,Which as anyone who was part of the Yes campaign will know they did with impunity, The OSCE is The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and will support the freedom of the press to report in a fair and unbiased manner without pressure from government and provides oversight of elections and referenda to ensure a fair and interference free poll. Heres the OSCE http://www.osce.org/

Though many Minsters and MP's tell obvious lies that do not require much effort to identify some go to much greater lengths to pervert the truth. Though it is commonly accepted that constant lying is part and parcel of politicians way of life, it has lead to very bad governance and law making. This is because people, like me, do not have time to go through ever statement to check for lies. The shear levels of lies is currently so high it is easier for me to assume everything they say is a lie. However many people have come to take these lies to be true and as a result support policies, parties and politicians to the detriment of this country. A register of lies will put an end to this and restore some semblance of honesty to government.

Repeatedly the benefits bill has been discussed by politicians and the media as being too large that we cannot afford it, despite it including housing benefits, pensions, disability allowances and job seeker's allowance, all of which help the poor, old, sick and unemployed in a time of need. The details of these social benefits are well known and publicised. The Conservatives have just promised to freeze this benefits bill to help cut the budget deficit if they are elected at the next election. Recent research published in the Guardian [1] has shown that at least £85bn was given to large corporations by the government to help make the rich richer in the financial year 2011-12 alone, but with the budget deficit we just cannot afford it. This information was hidden; it is about time that the government publishes the amount given in corporate benefits - so called wealthfare - and starts considering this costly expense as an area to cut to reduce the budget deficit instead of welfare because the poor cannot cope with anymore cuts. We are all in it together, as Prime Minister David Cameron keeps saying. We've cut social benefits, it's now time to cut corporate benefits. [1] Aditya Chakrabortty, "Cut benefits? Yes, let’s start with our £85bn corporate welfare handout", The Guardian, Monday 6 October 2014 20.30 BST, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/benefits-corporate-welfare-research-public-money-businesses.

This is an issue that I have heard from some people in my own area, as well as this is repeated news stories of people losing their homes over this issue. A link to one such story is here http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Stoke-Trent-City-Council-forced-evict-25-tenants/story-23048087-detail/story.html The authority has confirmed that in the last year a total of 65 tenants were evicted, with many already in rent arrears before the introduction of bedroom tax in April 2013. But 25 of that number went into arrears purely because of the levy, after previously being able to afford their rent. Nobody should face homelessness over this all the while they are at least attempting to avoid it by moving.

Recognition to bring about piece and with an overwhelming number of Conservative and Labour MP`s members of friends of Israel, the Palestinians will need all the help they can get.