The Act makes it illegal to sleep rough and/or beg. Whilst I do not wish anybody to have to sleep rough or beg, the people who are forced to do so should not be persecuted in any fashion, let alone from a legal stance. The Act was written at a time when wealth defined whether you were a criminal or not, thus segregating the poor from the rich, as a wealthy person would never find themselves in that position. The Vagrancy Act is out of date common law and needs to be vanquished so that Councillors cannot try and force Police to enforce such legislation when they are on a power trip, such as in the case of https://news.sky.com/story/outrage-as-council-leader-asks-police-to-clear-homeless-before-royal-wedding-11194599

Other countries had advanced industrialists, inventors and scientists but did not have the labour to match Britain's economy. In addition, the Irish in Britain played a pivotal role in politics in order to ensure social justice and improving our level of equality! The Irish, also, had a prominent role in the British Trade Union movement and it is the very reason to educate society on the role of Migrant Workers and Refugees within Britain, today! It is, also, important to ensure that the British public has a greater understanding of Irish culture and our own neighbouring country, Ireland. Through education, we can achieve a far greater peaceful relationship at grassroots level for both the isles of Britain and Ireland.

Brexit, whether you voted for it or not, will be a moment where we will have to think afresh about how we present ourselves in the world. And it is matter because our future success as a country will be determined by whether people around the world want to buy goods and services designed, provided and manufactured in Britain. Get it right, people from around the world will want to buy British. Get it wrong, and people won't want to be associated with us. Passports are a physical manifestation of how a country sees itself and presents itself. So, let's create a passport which reflects our past, but isn't captured by it.

The proposed changes will mean Basildon Hospital will become the only local 'specialist centre' for some stroke, heart and respiratory care. This means that many patients in Southend or Chelmsford will be transferred to Basildon for treatment. Public transport links are very poor between Chelmsford and Basildon (and even worse from further north in the county), and many people will find it very difficult, or impossible, to visit relatives and friends there. But such support networks are vital to patients in recovery. Additionally, Basildon Hospital has not been able to cope in recent years, and has often been on black alert. How will it cope with the extra demand? The STP has opened a public consultation into these proposed changes. Please sign the petition to let them know we think the planned changes compromise patient safety and recovery. There needs to be stroke, heart and respiratory care across the county - not just in Basildon. These proposals are part of Sustainability & Transformation Plans. These are the means by which the government is delivering huge cuts to our local health services. If you want to read more about the changes to our area you can here: file:///Users/jess/Downloads/NHS-Mid-and-South-Essex_Your-Care-in-the-Best-Place_Summary-Document.pdf https://midessexccg.nhs.uk/about-us/mid-and-south-essex-stp-joint-committee/committee-papers/november-2017-1/2703-full-part-i-papers-29-11-17/file

There should be no such drastic and permanent change without a mandate given by the public. Local councillors, such as Cllr Pat Hanlon, have expressed concerns that merging the councils will take away representation from local communities. There are fears that Bury St Edmunds will become the main hub, with Newmarket, Brandon, and villages in between feeling more isolated and less represented than they already do. Indeed, Colin Copus, professor of local politics, says "the larger the units of local government become, the greater the damage done to a range of democratic criteria, such as trust in councillors and council officers." Given that the case for merging is going to affect the lives of all local residents, and that referendums on mergers were given to other communities such as Christchurch/Dorset and Baberg/Mid Suffolk, we the undersigned call on the Councils to give all local registered voters a free, fair and open referendum on the merger. Don't forget to share the petition when you've signed! Thanks.

Residents in Newtongrange and Mayfield were promised that community facilities would be retained. We call upon Midlothian Council to honour this commitment.

Peel Ports are vandalising the facilities at Inchgreen Dry Dock purchased in 2002 from Clydeport. They blew up the cranes in July 2017 claiming it was too costly to service and maintain. No investment has been made in the facility since 2002 and rumour was they wanted to infill the dock and sell the land for housing. They have now confirmed to Inverclyde Council that they are not selling the dock or infilling. The Dry Dock is the second largest in the UK and a major asset for Inverclyde and the west coast. Who are Peel Ports? The Peel Group is constructed like a Russian Doll, a company within a company within a company and so on that produces hundreds of companies. The holding companies are registered in Tax havens, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands, owned and controlled by John Whittaker tax exile and his sons through Billown Trust. They own 75% of the parent companies Tokenhouse Ltd, Tokenhouse Investments (Guernsey) Ltd and Peel Port Holdings, the other 25% is owned by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate the Olayan Group. The Peel Group own A&P Group (APG) based at Cammell Lairds in Birkenhead Merseyside and have 4 Dry Docks, they also have dry docks in Falmouth, Tyneside and Teesside, and now control Inchgreen according to their web page. APG have a joint venture with BAE Systems (BAES) and tendering for the Type 31e Frigates (each £250m +) have the same build time as the Type 26 Frigates being built by BAES in Govan and Scotstoun. The Frigates and a £200m BAES investment promised and supported by the Tory Government during the 2014 Independence Referendum did not materialise. Former Tory Defence Secretary of State, Lord Michael Fallon also reduced the build number of Type 26 from 13 to 8, another broken promise and BAES have only been contracted to build 3. Sir John Parker’s 2016 Report ‘The National Shipbuilding Strategy“ has also been used to break promises to Glasgow hence the joint venture, BAES providing Engineering, Design and Systems and APG doing the build in Birkenhead. However this report also suggested that a Regional Industrial Strategy could be developed to build the Type 31e and Clydeside has the capacity. Which begs the question- Did BAES not consider a joint venture with Ferguson’s Marine using Inchgreen and develop a Regional Strategy to build these Frigates? We think not, the joint venture would not like Ferguson’s Marine gaining expertise in MOD work, and APG would prefer their Merseyside investment to benefit. Peel Group have invested over £250m in Cammell Lairds and have grand plans to invest £50 Billion over 50 years in the Atlantic/Ocean Gate Project which covers both sides of River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, the docks, container facilities, shipyards and riverside developments etc. Their future investment and the millions of public money they receive from the EU, Merseyside & Manchester Local Authorities, Enterprise & Regional Boards and Government is all for the Atlantic/Ocean Gate Project and none for Inchgreen. Merseyside and Manchester newspapers with community groups have asked whether the tax payer is getting value for the vast amounts of public money Peel receive and continue to receive. Their control of the Merseyside waters and coast has been a major concern for some community groups and one ExUrbe produced a critical 2013 report on Peel’s operation - “PEEL AND THE LIVERPOOL CITY REGION”. Peel has no intention of investing in Inchgreen Dry Dock and attracting work or they would not have destroyed the cranes. The Peel Group’s investment strategy is totally focused on Merseyside. However they could be in for another Public Purse payday when the Greenock Ocean Terminal Project under the City Deal gets final business case approval. Estimated costs are £14.793m, £7.193 from the Tax Payer, identified private sector investment £6.1m from Peel and £1.5m from the Dunard Art Fund, to date no contract has been signed or approved. We petition the Scottish Government and Inverclyde Council to bring Inchgreen Dry Dock into Public/Community Ownership for the future prosperity of Inverclyde and its citizens. We now have support from the local political parties Lib Dem’s, SNP, Greens, Labour and most Independent Councillors, local MP & MSPs also Unite and Unison Trade Unions. Our local newspaper the Greenock Telegraph have raised the profile of the Campaign with the Inverclyde public by their many articles on the issue. Copies of the Campaign petition can be obtained by contacting the below or sign online at:- https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/campaign-to-save-inchgreen-dry-dock-1 email: [email protected] Tel 07719 646944 Its important for the future Industrial development of Inverclyde, attract good paid skilled jobs, secure a major asset for the West Coast of Scotland and preserve its shipbuilding heritage.

The reason the Home Office gives for denying access to the UK to Foreign Nationals married to British Citizens is to avoid paying them Welfare, but, in prohibiting family's from reuniting in the UK they have created single parent family's that are much more likely to be dependant on Welfare, and, they have caused the family members great upset making them more likely to be dependant on Welfare, and, by forcing applicants to apply for work they have no experience of, that is above their pay scale, they remain out of work and on Welfare. Also, as 47% of UK workers do not earn £18,600, and, 70% of all Family Visa applications fail, and, the very high cost of a Visa, and, the quantity of the application forms are so numerous you need to pay a lawyer thousands of pounds to file them, the HC-194 Immigration Law, for nearly half the UK Labour Market, approxamatly 15,000,000 people, is no more than a Travel Ban probably meeting targets. This 'Ban' segregates foreigners from the UK, devides and destroys familys, seperates children from their parents causing them great upset even trauma, and traps adults and children in War Zones and Third World Countries putting their lives in danger. The HC-194 Immigration Law needs to be repealed.

It is estimated that at least 8 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean every year – which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one rubbish truck into the ocean every minute. This plastic then causes harm to our wildlife, pollutes our water, washes up on our shores and even ends up in our food chain.

Onshore wind energy is our most abundant and cost effective form of renewable energy, and until it was banned by the previous government it was our most successful. It remains highly popular with opinions polls (including the government’s own) showing almost three quarters of the public support it - this support has been consistent for the last 20 years. With energy bills in Britain generally regarded as being too high and our government proposing a cap to address the issue - it makes no sense to pay considerably more than we need to for new forms of green energy. Fighting climate change with green energy is essential, we should not make it more expensive than it needs to be. A recent report from the ECIU (Energy and Climate Change Intelligence Unit) estimates that we will pay over £1 billion more on our energy bills - over just the next four years - if we continue to exclude onshore wind energy. Onshore wind is an economic and environmental opportunity for Britain.

Fife's Education Service is proposing to cut all instrumental tuition in schools except for those pupils taking SQA Music. This will decimate music for Fife's children and young people. Learning any instrument will become an exclusive activity, reserved for those who can find a private teacher. Only these pupils will have the option of taking SQA Music at high school. Pursuing further study in music, at school or college, will be closed off to children whose parents cannot afford years of private tuition. Starved of upcoming players, school and youth orchestras and bands will struggle to survive and become increasingly elitest.

We oppose the racism, sexism, bigotry and Islamophobia of Donald Trump, including his recent retweeting of the far right group Britain First. This attempt to whip up divisions is not welcome in a multicultural city like Leeds or anywhere else in Britain. Leeds Stand Up to Trump.