We, the undersigned members of Unite, were disappointed by Unite's decision, announced on 2 July 2014, to urge the Labour Party to commit to holding a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union.[1] We believe this decision by Unite's Executive Council was a mistake. It does not reflect our wishes, it was taken without consulting Unite's members, and it demonstrates race-to-the-bottom politics. We believe the UK should remain a member of the EU because membership enhances UK workers' rights, including via the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.[2] We believe the best way to ensure the UK remains a member of the EU is for political parties to reject referendum calls and instead make the case for continued membership. With no referendum, there would be no risk of the UK exiting the EU. We note that the Conservative Party rejected the Charter when previously in power, and that it is only thanks to the Labour Party that it covers UK workers.[3] We note that because the Conservatives have committed to a parliamentary vote in favour of an in/out referendum on the EU, the only realistic prospect of avoiding such a referendum and saving the Charter is for the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats to commit themselves against such a vote.[4] The Liberal Democrats have already done this.[5] We emphasise that neither this petition, nor the act it requests, brings any injury to or discredit upon Unite or any member of Unite. On the contrary, the act requested would strengthen Unite by demonstrating Unite's commitment to the EU's protection of worker's rights, and would help to forge a Labour Party that will provide a real alternative to the Conservative Party in opposition and at the next General Election. REFERENCES: [1] http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/unite-urges-labour-party-to-hold-eu-referendum/ [2] http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/charter/index_en.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charter_of_Fundamental_Rights_of_the_European_Union&oldid=614017036#Legal_status [3] http://socialrights.net/community-charter-of-fundamental-social-rights-of-workers/ [4] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/02/david-cameron-eu-referendum-pledge-disaster [5] http://www.libdems.org.uk/european_election_manifesto_2014 Image source and license: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/skuds/3736995016/

GCHQ are taking away our freedoms and rights to privacy. Collecting masses of data that will undoubtably be leaked in the future. All of UK citizens privacy is now at risk!

For all the right reasons it needs to happen to demonstrate how safe it is to the british public

The interest of the general public should be the sole motive of government. If other motives exist, these should be publicly known.

Israel's continual blockade of Gaza, expanding illegal settlements in Palestinian territory and massacre of Palestinian women and children needs to STOP. This is state terrorism. Our government together with the US and other European countries sell Israel the arms to do this. All the Palestinians can do is fire rockets which are intercepted easily by Israeli mighty fire power. We all feel helpless as the world cannot stop Israel from killing more civilians. A boycott of Israeli goods is something we can all do in our small way, maybe it will affect them and make them consider longer term peace options. In the meantime let's sign a petition to our government to stop selling arms to Israel.

These companies (only a very few of which have been named and shamed in the press, and that is ALL they have suffered as the politicians are still doing nothing about it!) are pouring money out of this country, with full collusion from our politicians who are clearly doing nothing to prevent it. I would not be surprised if the entire deficit could be paid for by legislating to stop the sicking levels of tax fraud and evasion.. Next time you check your wage slip, ask yourself if you are ok for a portion of your tax to go to some fat cat corporation owner so they can have a slightly bigger yacht in the med..

Self evident to anyone with a conscience

Genocide is wrong and i can't sit back while Cameron condones it in my name...

I asked the MEPs for the North west what they did, by email before the last election, only two of them out of 8 replied, only one with a thoughtful response. I am prepared to believe that some of them work hard to earn their money but I receive no direct evidence of them representing me on a day to day basis. We have a website 'theyworkforyou' that tells each of us when our Mps ask a question in the House of Commons. Using this as a template, it ought to be quite cheap, given the resources of the EU, to set up a system that keeps all EU voters better informed.

At a time of austerity, when almost a million people per year in the UK depend on food banks and when the average wage is stagnating, it's completely inappropriate for MP's to be getting a pay rise. We are not 'all in this together'. http://www.trusselltrust.org/stats To be fair to them, most MP's have already criticised the pay rise. Let's make sure they put their money where their mouth is.

Kew Garden is the largest oldest and biggest repository of plants and plant research in the world. The Governments and Defra's irresponsible action in cutting its grant aid and nudging it towards privatisation is a sacrilege, when we are dealing with the world's greatest. Rather our Government fund our own world ranking expertise than waste money on funding countries like India with overseas aid.It has achieved fame for being the world's greatest centre for botanical research, a place where the planet's rarest plant and tree species are preserved and studied. But now Kew Gardens, established more than 200 years ago, is set to become the focus of an international battle following an intervention by renowned biologist Jane Goodall, who has denounced a recently inflicted budget cut as "unbelievably stupid". Goodall, who carried out pioneering work on the behaviour of chimps, has written to the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, urging him to hand out £5m to restore the centre's budget in the wake of financial cuts imposed by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs. "To read that 125 professional staff members are set to lose their jobs because of cuts in government funding is shocking," Goodall says. In an interview with the Observer, she revealed that she had made contact with several Kew scientists while researching her book, Seeds of Hope. "There is a tremendous feeling of anger and frustration there and I share it. This an unbelievably stupid thing to do. This is the mother of all other botanical research centres. Britain should be proud of it, not dismantling it. It is like tearing up the union jack. That is why I wrote my letter. I want my protest to go viral. I want thousands and thousands of people to protest as well." Last month a petition demanding the restoration of Kew's budget – signed by more than 100,000 people – was handed to 10 Downing Street, while 34 MPs signed an early-day motion expressing alarm "that vital international conservation work would be threatened should further cuts take place" at Kew.

The government commission on Digital Democracy is investigating "the opportunities digital technology can bring for parliamentary democracy in the UK" and will make recommendations in January 2015 (Google "Commission on Digital Democracy" - on their site you can see all the submissions so far to the commission). This submission proposes a form of e-consultations which provides an approach to e-democracy that is genuinely democratic, with people rather than politicians controlling the process. It also may help to get more young people involved in democracy and provide a means of youth constructively expressing its views and perceptions (which were certainly very relevant in the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes!) Whereas e-petitions, e.g. as organised by 38degrees, go a long way in e-democracy, they can be dismissed as un-representative of the population as a whole. An "official" e-consultation mechanism would be less dismissible - it becomes the MP's job to convince his constituents to support his "party line" on each issue raised by himself or by others. If there is a "Silent Majority" then the proposed e-Consultations would help them to be less silent. The "campaign website" (linked to above) contains a draft detailed presentation of the idea, based on the principles of "liquid democracy", for eventual submission to the commission - comments welcomed. An outline of the proposal is- • Govt. consultation websites on which anyone can include their issue, e.g. a petition on which citizens can vote. • Any activist group (from a local community assoc. to Greenpeace or a political party) can include their viewpoint on any issue, including links to supporting evidence. • There is a web page listing all the issues, each linking to: A page on which all the viewpoints on that issue are listed, each linking to: a page presenting that viewpoint. • Like Google search results – what matters is the order in which entries for issues and viewpoints are listed on these web pages - their relative position. • All citizens have equal “units of influence” which they have delegated to activist groups which they think should be listened to. At any time they can change how their influence is delegated. • An activist group applies the influence units delegated to it - to vote on the relative position of issues and of viewpoints on the web page listings. • Thus each citizen directly influences which issues and which viewpoints are most strongly presented to their fellow citizens.