This petition has been amended to correct an error, to incorporate new information and to add this new development: On the 8th May 2018, the government announced a consultation on 'litter officers' and is asking for your views. Please sign this petition and then see the government DEFRA consultation page to make yourselves heard. The 1990 Environmental Protection Act is being misused for profit by Kirklees Council and its controversial private outsourcing firm Kingdom Security. The following cases are a small sample of what is happening across the UK in each of the 30+ areas where councils have initiated a ‘litter policing’ scheme by outsourcing to Kingdom. These cases highlight some of the ways in which our rights are being abused by local councils in the pursuit of shared revenue. They also highlight some of the dangers of local authorities outsourcing to private companies, abandoning oversight and disregarding responsibility; and illustrate why Kirklees should immediately cancel its contract with Kingdom. Imagine your elderly mother is leaving a shop and is suddenly cornered by two strange men demanding she give them £75 and her personal details because they say her receipt fell out of her bag as she left the shop. They are not policemen and they do not look or act like professionals, so she tries to ignore them but they stand in her way. They threaten her with the Police and the Courts if she does not 'comply' with them. They say they work for the Council. They do not tell her she has the right to remain silent but they do tell her she has no right to question them or to protest. How would she feel? Imagine you're in the park, peacefully feeding the ducks, and two of these 'officers', equipped with little more than a basic security check and a lanyard, loom over you to demand the same because they say feeding the ducks is littering. They intend to issue you with a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for an environmental 'offence'. You protest at such a ludicrous interpretation of the Act and try to leave. They follow you, demanding you comply. People are stopping to stare and listen. How would you feel? You come home to find your wife distraught after she and your two young children were followed in a car for ten minutes by a stranger demanding she pay £75 because she had stopped for a moment to shake something from her shoe. She was so scared and upset she had to seek shelter in a friend's house, when the Kingdom officer finally left her alone. How would you feel? That case was witnessed by a Welsh undercover reporter who expressed the discomfort he had felt while spying on the victim and following her. In the same report, an ex-employee described Kingdom’s pressure to achieve four FPNs a day. The staff issuing these fines are not trained police officers and they have no professional rigour or standards. They have little understanding of the law and they use no discretion in its application. They are frequently caught on camera denying people's own right to film them. They wear bodycams but record no evidence of alleged offences. They only start recording evidence once they cherry-pick a target, giving no protection against false accusations. One ex-employee said he made almost £1000 in financial incentives in one month. The system is ripe for exploitation and that is exactly what is happening. The dubious practices of Kingdom Security have also been the subject of countless other newspaper reports and a BBC Panorama documentary in May 2017, after which Kent Council suspended all their Kingdom staff. In addition, YouTube has hundreds of videos by shocked victims and witnesses which evidence the aggression, as well as the distress and the public disorder being caused. In one of these, a Kingdom 'officer' in Liverpool is chased off by a small crowd of shopkeepers, disgusted by his manhandling of a visibly frail, elderly man with learning difficulties.  This is what happens when police powers are given to members of the public. This is what happens when councils like Kirklees put profits before people. This is what happens when services are outsourced to private firms. Kirklees has already seen many complaints from its own residents, demanding to know why they are being intimidated, harassed, publicly humiliated and falsely accused on the council's behalf. A sham appeals process does not allow for the concept of innocence, since no evidence is apparently required; meaning victims are simply stonewalled with threats of court action. I have been falsely accused myself by Kingdom in a distressing, humiliating experience which felt like an assault. All protests were overridden with threats of the police and demands for personal information. I will be giving my testimony in court. Kirklees will not bully me. Pensioners, students, the unemployed, the homeless, people with learning difficulties and mental health issues: no distinction is made as Kirklees demands money with menaces from its already austerity-hit residents. In 2017, one of Kirklees' own councillors publicly cautioned them against Kingdom after personally witnessing a worrying incident in Huddersfield. In March 2018, following public protests by several campaign groups over the dubious tactics employed by Kingdom, Gwynedd Council in Wales halted a 12-month trial after just two days. Anglesey Council also suspended their contract in March. In May, Llandudno’s tourism chief stated that Kingdom are doing more harm than good to the town; underlined by another official’s description of the environment being created by Kingdom as ‘purely negative’. It is time for Kirklees to adopt some respect for the public it serves; to follow the lead of these councils and to end its contract with this unethical company. Kirklees needs to clean our streets of the Kingdom 'litter police'.

This issue was brought up at my local Patient Practice Group of which I am Chairman. There were quite a number of instances reported by the committee who support this action unanimously. The following are two of my own experiences. 1. In December, 2017 I took my sister-in-law to Sunderland Hospital. She was unable to walk and there was no ambulance available. I parked at the accident & emergency and with my wife I got her out of the car and into a wheelchair. My wife pushed her into the hospital whilst I reversed my cat into a disabled parking bay. several days later I received a £70 fine Parking notice 2. In February 2018 i took my wife for a scan to North tees Hospital. After I dropped her off I parked my car and went to the parking meter. Unlike Sunderland their was a fee chargeable for disabled drivers. The first 20 minutes parking was free but after that there was a charge which if not paid was subject to a £90 fine. It is impossible to be able to assess that my wife would be able to receive her treatment within 20 minutes. I decided to pay for the parking. The cost was £3 for the first hour as well as for the next 11 hours. As it happened my wife did not have to wait and she had her scan and returned to the car. We were parked for exactly 26 minutes. I had paid the 12 hour fee for 6 minutes. I also was inconvenienced as I had no change and the meter did not take notes or give change. I had to go back into the hospital for change for the parking meter.

I want them to cancel the planned visit of this person who is openly racist, insulting the memory of all who have died from knife crime here and has lied about our NHS. I fear he will cause a riot with his ignorant and inaccurate careless words. It is not safe to allow him into our country. He is not, in my opinion, wanted here.

Homelessness due to domestic violence is an issue which women are unable to control, these women often have nowhere else to go which is why they are resorted to living on the streets. Women on the streets are vulnerable, especially if they are pregnant or have dependent children, consequently, it is crucial for the government and local authorities to help eliminate this and recognise more women as homeless.

When MP's are walking around the London bubble that is Westminster they are surrounded with only the business of the London streets; this distracts away from political issues in the North, West, East and other areas in the South of the UK.

We have a nursery in our local church at the end of our road. Our road is used as a cut through to get to Chessington Road, hence we get lots of speeding cars down our road. Our kitten was hit by one of these cars last week and we are devastated as he sadly died. We need to do something, although we cannot bring him back. Which is why I am starting this petition.

Fibromyalgia and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis sufferers have very little chance of finding any medication to help their condition. There isn't one specific drug designed for treatment of symptoms. Drugs that are prescribed have many damaging side effects and patients show little to no improvement taking them. Many pain killers do not work. Since 2016, the consumption of products containing CBD has doubled and in the last year the number of consumers increased 100%, from an estimated 125,000 consumers in 2016 to 250,000 in 2017. In the UK, it is estimated that the cannabis market could be worth £10bn. Although the legal situation for CBD and CBD containing products has eased, the same can not be said for THC, whose only legal medical source is Sativex, a medication produced by the British company, GW Pharmaceutics who are currently the only company in the country to have permits for the cultivation of cannabis and the production of derivative products.

My husband and I met in March 2016 through E Harmony, he lived in Florida and I here in the UK, I spent alot of time in Florida with him throughout 2016 including our first Christmas and subsequent New Year together. He came to the UK in March 2017 and lived with me throughout the 6 months of his stay. During this time he really fell in love with the UK and we decided this is where we'd settle. We happily got engaged shortly afterwards and began planning our wedding. In order for us to get married here in the UK we were required to meet with the Home Office and get permission. We met with them in May 2017, we were interviewed together and seperatley and provided all documentation of our relationship etc that was required. Because we didn't have nor had we applied for a Marriage Visa the Home Office had to decide if they were happy for us to go ahead and marry. It took a few weeks but we were thrilled to recieve correspondence from them saying we had been approved. We had our ceremony on August 7th 2017. My husband left the UK on 1st September 2017 a few days short of the 6 months he was able to be here without a visa. On the 4th September 2017 he submitted his application for the Spouse Visa along with sending our supporting documents to the Home Office Sheffield Offices. Our supporting Docs were gathered in accordance to the list and guidlines on the Gov.UK website which we used as a checklist to ensure complete compliance. It was a few weeks after this that we discovered we were pregnant and expecting our first child. We were thrilled and excited and just joyous, eager for our reuniting to enjoy the baby journey together. In November we were hit with a massive blow when my husband received a letter stating he had been refused the visa. The letter stated that despite our Marriage Certificate we hadn't proven that we had actually met. This statement made no sense, the marriage certificate is a UK marriage certificate and it was the Home Office who had previously met us and given us approval. We wouldn't have been able to get married without this permission. They also said that my income wasn't proven to meet the threshold despite my submitting over 12 months worth of invoices along with corresponding Bank Statements and a statement from the Company I work for. (All stated as required on gov.uk) We decided at that point to appeal as we had more than enough extra documentation to show the points raised were unfounded. In our appeal bundle we submitted our entire relationship from the day we met back in the beginning of 2016. E Harmony supplied us with all our communications from the day we met to the day we closed our accounts. We included all our pictures including wedding pictures, txt messages, phone calls, video calls, emails basically our entire communication history, boarding passes showing the numerous times we were physically together and length of time we spent together, all the new pregnancy documentation we had to date, social media, statements from supporting bodies. As for my finances, we submitted all my HMRC documentation including SA302, Tax Year Over view for 2016-2017 & 2017-2018, my current position and upcoming Tax Bill. I also resubmitted all supporting bank statements and invoices from April 2016 right upto that point which was November 2017, this time I highlighted each deposit to match it to the corresponding invoice and highlighted all my details such as name, address etc stated on the invoices, bank statements and Tax Docs to show they were all matching. I also paid an ICAEW Registered Accountant to audit me and provide a statement stating all income was lawful and correct and my Landlord issued a statement to show home stability and security and that our property is more than adequate size wise. My husband submitted the entire bundle well within the 28 day time scale given to us if we wanted to appeal. The Courts and Tribunals Dept approved the appeal, they processed it and our bundle was submitted back to the Home Office Sheffield Offices on December 21st 2017 for them to over turn the decision. They were given a deadline of April 4th 2018 to have dealt with our case. We are still waiting. Now facing a judicial review which could take yet more months. All because the Home Office made the mistake of denying us in the first place and then ignoring our appeal since. They have even ignored my MP. I had advised the Courts and Tribunals Dept that my due date was May 20th 2018 (now 15th May)and asked them to bring the deadline forward because given the length of time it takes to go through the various processes we would be right up against it for my husband to be home in time for our daughter being born. All Expedite Requests have been denied stating our circumstances weren't compelling enough. That statement alone raises the question as to why there are thousands and thousands of pounds every year being spent on research done by the NHS to show how important it is for expectant mums esp first time mums to be as calm and relaxed as possible and the importance of the father being there for the birth and to bond with the new born. Not only that but the guidance on gov.uk is not accurate. My husband and I had to dig out Requirement Appendixes not stated on gov.uk in order to guarantee compliance. The system is designed to keep people out despite their right to be here. The problem is that we are being ignored and dismissed along with the countless other families out there going through the same process and being so cruelly kept apart. Our lives just put on hold with a shut up and suffer attitude. My husband is about to miss the birth of our daughter, it's disgusting. Please sign this petition, stand up and show that as British Citizens we are not going to allow our rights to be violated like this. We are not going to allow our families to be torn apart by this terrible system. Changes need to be made and they need to be made now.

Most importantly this will save lives, and fires getting out of hand so that the issue can be dealt with before it’s a full scale evacuation l.

It is important because when a family/parent loose their child and an inquest has come out and said that that person did not deliberately hurt their child but it was natural causes that killed their child, therefore everyone should let people grieve in there own way and time and the press shouldn’t have to publish it and plaster it all over social media such as my daughters case for example, I want to help change people views about how it is wrong for the press to think it’s a “story” then can announce to everyone on the social media especially without any consent and for my daughters case we didn’t even consent to it being published but it somehow was a “story” to the press and they published it when I was in the hospital grieving about my dear daughter who sadly passed away at 12 days old.

There is no legal requirement for the prime minister to consult MPs before taking military action, or even to inform them. In 2007, shortly after entering No 10, Gordon Brown vowed to limit the Royal Prerogative under which the prime minister can unilaterally declare war. Parliament, Brown proposed, would be guaranteed the right to approve “significant, non-routine” deployments of the armed forces to “the greatest extent possible”. But absorbed by the 2008 financial crisis and the recession that followed, the government abandoned reform. Under the recent era of international relations and modern warfare catastrophic and irreparable damages to human and other life can be caused on errors of judgement. The constitutional powers, accordingly, need to be reviewed and renewed.

This is important so that democracy in the U.K. is upheld and not ignored.