People who cannot return to their home country because it would breach their human rights shouldn’t be charged fees for their visa applications to remain in the UK. Currently the government charges extortionate amounts from people with human rights applications. These include people • whose human rights to family and private life in the UK would be violated if they were removed or not allowed to enter, • who cannot return home because there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences or very significant obstacles to their integration if they were removed to their country of origin, • who cannot be removed because of their ill-health The fees the Home Office charges for visa applications are extremely high. An application on human rights grounds costs £1,033 and has to be renewed 3 times before someone can apply for indefinite leave to remain at an even higher fee of £2,389. This means a total payment of £6,521 over 10 years. Dependants are charged the same fees: a mother with two children would have to nearly £20,000 in fees over 10 years! These sums are entirely out of the reach for Myrtle and Stephanie who cannot return and were granted leave to remain on human rights grounds: Frail 94 year old South African Myrtle Cothill visited her only daughter Mary, aged 68, in the UK in 2014. Whilst in the UK, Myrtle’s health deteriorated and her family were told that if she left she would be at greater risk of death within months of her return to South Africa. After a huge public outcry Myrtle was granted leave on human rights grounds in 2016. But she is left to pay the fees to extend her visa every 2.5 years. It’s a huge financial burden as Myrtle obviously cannot work, her 68-year-old daughter Mary lives on a small pension, and Mary’s 62-year-old husband David (who suffers from Parkinson’s) battles on working part-time as a cashier in a supermarket. Both Stephanie*, a South African national & her British mother Louise* were subjected to domestic violence & cruelty at the hands of Stephanie’s father in South Africa. They fled to the UK in 2010. After a lengthy legal battle, Stephanie was finally allowed to stay on human rights grounds. A medical condition means Stephanie is unable to work and Louise supports both of them working as a care assistant. Every 2.5 years Louise has to pay huge home office fees to keep Stephanie in the UK, and it’s a real struggle on her salary. Many of those applying for further leave to remain will have paid taxes for years without having access to many public services. Charging people on top of this for wanting and needing to remain in the UK is unjust and inhumane. Sajid Javid and the Home Office should scrap the visa application fees in all human rights cases (including family reunion cases, applications by children, adult dependent relatives and partners), scrap nationality application fees for children and charge a maximum of what it costs them to process immigration applications (the ‘unit cost’) for all other applications. *Names changed due to safety concerns and legal reasons

The Little Big Gig - among the other events staged by Henry’s Campsite - boosts tourism for the village. Far from being detrimental, they are a draw card for other local businesses. The Little Big Gig itself is held in late September, out of high season and provides a welcome influx of visitors before a long winter. This is an extremely rural community and events such as these are key in keeping us close knit. The village socialises together, bonds are formed and the village thrives. The council have threatened to close down the festival despite considerable effort to accommodate noise complaints. Next week they will make a decision. Will you sign this petition to let them know you want the festival to continue?

We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee from war and persecution. To date, Lincolnshire County Council has refused to respond to the Government ‘invitation’ to Local Authorities to offer their support. Please sign this petition to show your support for Lincolnshire offering its help to refugees. It’s right to care, it’s important to reach out - that’s what makes a community. Let’s play our part.

Somer, 15 and his brother Areeb, 13, are terrified that they will be murdered by Islamic extremists if they are forced to leave Scotland - the country they love and call home - and deported to Pakistan. They fled the country to Glasgow with their parents, Maqsood and Parveen, in 2012 following death threats because they are Christians. The brothers, who think of themselves as Scottish and are both thriving at secondary school where they have lots of friends and play a full part in community life, have lived in limbo for more than six years. The Home Office have rejected the Bakhsh family's applications for asylum because officials do not accept their lives are at risk in Pakistan, despite the fact it is a country where Christians are persecuted and blasphemy carries the death penalty. The catalyst for the family’s move to Scotland was the murder of two of Maqsood Bakhsh's Christian friends who were gunned down outside a court, while in police custody, in the Pakistan city of Faisalabad in July 2010. Maqsood Bakhsh claims the people responsible for their deaths have targeted him, know exactly who he is and would kill him and his family if they had the chance. Four of his friends have been killed by Islamic extremists, his sister in law’s brother is serving life in jail because of Pakistan’s blasphemy law and his nephew was kidnapped last month. An uncle of Maqsood was murdered on his doorstep in Pakistan, shortly after he returned to the country after living for nearly 20 years in the USA. Once you have been marked by people who mean you harm, you are forever marked. The family feel safe in Scotland and want the chance to stay and make a full contribution to society.

Back in 2012, the UK Government changed the required salary for UK residents to bring their foreign spouses into the country from £12,000 to £18,600. (An increase of more than 50%) This is utterly unfair, was deemed so by the House of Lords, and is even disproportionate to inflation rates. The House of Lords was concerned about immigration and therefore raised the issue in Parliament as to whether the impact on communities and families on modest incomes had been examined, but it received no direct response. Many hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens — who prior to 2012, hoped to be settling towards a married life with their overseas partners, so long as they could acquire a full-time contract and salary of £12,000 or more — had their dreams shattered and their families' lives torn apart by this unjust legislation. Furthermore, this legislation has done absolutely nothing to rid the UK of those unfit to live harmoniously with or adapt to the British way of life.

Mahsa is seeking asylum after fleeing Iran because she was persecuted for being in a same sex relationship. She has been in Newcastle Upon Tyne for 6 months, she has made Newcastle her home and has people here she considers to be her new family. The Home office want to send her to Austria as that was her first point of entry in Europe. She is now in the UK and is part of our LGBT Community, she has been active as a volunteer for The LGBT Federation and despite all of her troubles she shows concern for others and wants to help. She has made great progress in learning English, she has made every effort to join groups and has struggled to get her spirits up after the trauma of leaving Iran, she will not survive a deportation as she is already feeling crushed by the Immigration System. She was removed from her home in Newcastle without warning and taken to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, this is bad for her already fragile mental health and it will set back the progress she has made. It's possible she will be leaving Yarl's Wood on the 25th June, If she is sent out of the UK it will destroy her, she has already been removed from her place of relative safety and it is inhumane to be sent out of the UK to somewhere she is not familiar with. She should not be persecuted further because of who she loves. We are asking for the Home Office to have her asylum case heard in the UK and for her to be allowed to claim asylum in the UK.

The EU Copyright Directive is a proposed new law that could destroy the internet as we know it, allowing big companies to control what we see and do online. It would mean that every website would have to introduce “upload filters” that automatically block material it thinks has been illegally copied. The filters are meant to block copyrighted music, films or text, but filters struggle to tell what legal uses really are. Online commentary, reviews, art, and internet memes could all be censored automatically. This would stifle freedom of expression and speech online - everyones content would be targeted from individuals posting on facebook or writing on their own blog, to small charities speaking out against big businesses and graphic designers creating art. It is far too high a cost for enforcing copyright. We have a chance to stop this in its track. Sign the petition and add your voice to the growing wave of UK and EU residents opposing this threat to free speech online.

There is undue suffering and disability caused by preventing patients to medicinal cannabis. In light of accumulating scientific evidence that medicinal cannabis is not only alleviating pain and suffering but can also treat severe medical conditions, like severe epilepsy, it amounts to medical negligence to forbid access to treatment. Furthermore, it violates one's human rights to accessing life saving medication. The UK is a progressive country and needs to change the law to account for the scientific evidence available.

In 2011 I moved to the UK from Nigeria. After denouncing my membership in a gang my two brothers were killed for revenge. My life would be at risk if I returned. In 2012 I claimed asylum. Ever since then my application has been outstanding and the Home Office have refused to make a decision on my application. They know I have a young family here in the UK and I’m struggling because I can’t work and pay tax to support my family. Everyone in my family is British, my partner had 3 kids in her previous relationship and we have a daughter. I'm the one looking after everyone ever since she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Several letters and proof of our relationship have been sent to the Home Office, but they refuse to take this into consideration. My situation has gone from bad to worse. This is destroying me physically and mentally I don't wish this situation on anybody. Please make a decision and grant me asylum.

The monstrous act by colonial rulers is embedded in the psyche of Indian People and inspired them to seek complete independence In February 2013 the Former Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited Jallianwala Bagh adjacent to the Golden Temple, wrote in the visitor’s book,” This was a deeply shameful act in British history, one that Winston Churchill rightly described at the time as Monstrous. We demand this to be formally recorded in the House of Parliament. A formal apology by the serving British Prime Minister will cost nothing while the effect on the people of Indian Diaspora will be off a historical Magnitude and will help to move forward.

If your dream was to live in another country, what would you hope that country would say if you asked to stay? How would you hope to be treated by that country’s laws, when you applied to remain there? You might reply “With respect, fairness and dignity. I’d like to be given a fair chance of success”. Well, this is the dream of many foreign nationals, who apply for U.K.: - Work Permits and Visas, - Asylum or Refuge Status, - Residency and - Citizenship. Do we treat these people as we’d hope to be treated? Our Goverment can Recreate a UK Immigration Policy which our grandchildren will not look upon with shame, but with pride, as they live within the consequences of our choices.

Highland Council Pension Fund currently holds £5.4 million of shares in US arms company, General Dynamics, manufacturer and supplier of the MK-82 1000-lb and MK-84 2000-lb bombs that were used with such devastating effect by Israel against the people of Gaza during ‘Operation Protective Edge’ in 2014. Because of their ‘wide area effect’, the use of these weapons was condemned by the UN Human Rights Council as violating ‘the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks’; more thn 2,000 people, including at least 500 children, were killed as a consequence of the bombing of one of the world’s most densely populated areas. Highland Council Pensions Fund acquisitions are subject to explicit 'social, environmental and ethical considerations'. It is the duty of public institutions to uphold international law and human rights norms, and it is completely unacceptable that, through its pension fund, Highland Council should finance their ongoing violation! It’s time for Highland Council to examine its conscience, put its principles into practice and follow its own guidelines on ethical investment by divesting itself of its shares in General Dynamics.