In April of 2016 the government, on recommendation by The Centre for Research in Social Policy, intend to raise the National Living Wage to £7.20 p/h with the objective of increasing it to £9.00 p/h by 2020. As a worker earning a similar amount to the 2020 target I feel from both personal experience and by listening to the struggles faced by fellow workers that the term is a misnomer and would be much more accurately described as the 'Subsistence Wage'. Definition; The lowest wage a worker and their family can survive on.

To plead to the Council to open its empty buildings to the homeless this winter. We have a night shelter for 25 people run by volunteers but due to health and saftey many vulnerable people are not allowed to access the service. It is communal sleeping in a hall , usually with no showers .The HIVE DALSTON showcases what our community can do when we work together . Open your empty buildings and our homeless can have privacy to sleep , a proper bed at night , support to move forward and be inclusive . Please can we have an empty building so we can help turn peoples lives around and look after each other. Thankyou

Last night, the full 6000 page TPPA treaty was released online for the general public. The trans-pacific partnership is a trade agreement signed by 12 Pacific Rim countries, and it is very much their version of TTIP, our agreement between the US and Europe. Although the deals text has been 'agreed to', it is still under scrutiny and has not been signed. In the wake of its release, I demand that TTIP's full text also be released. Whatever bargaining power and 'holding our cards close' techniques the negotiators were using, is now irrelevant. In the name of transparency and democracy, this document should be available for us all to see. Its a shame we have to make this demand in the first place. This document should have been public from the moment it began being negotiated. But now that TPPA is in public domain, TTIP should also be published. We demand that you publish the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in its entirety, available for translation and with no chapters censored. Thanks very much. Lydia.

They are there to represent the people who voted them in, if they are asleep in Parliament they are not fulfilling their duty or role. This should warrant instant dismissal. There seems to be an absence of monitoring of MP s behaviour after being voted in. I suggest the public expect them to face the same expectations as anybody else in the workforce. Our MPs represent our views as the people who voted them in, we the people don't want to see them sleeping on the job, it is an insult to us the people. How dare they show such disregard for their position and the things that matter in our life's. Some of us can't sleep thanks to the decisions those in power have made, if some had been awake or even present perhaps there would of been some genuine representation. !!

The new UK passport design supposedly celebrates the British 'cultural pantheon' but in 16 pages features only 2 women, despite finding plenty of space for men, as well as everyday objects such as the postage stamp and telephone box. British history contains countless inspirational women such as Jane Austen, Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Bronte, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Laura Ashley, Boudicca, Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, Mary Wollstonecraft, Marie Stopes, Agatha Christie , Beatrix Potter, Maggie Smith and Amy Winehouse - and many, many more besides! It is wrong that in 2015 men and women do not have equal representation on this important document - a document that will be in the hands of every man, woman and child for years to come. We are constantly hearing about how we must encourage women and girls to become engineers, doctors, company directors and much much more, but this sends the message to our women and girls that their contribution to society does not count. Is the contribution of inspirational women such as Emmeline Pankhurst or Jane Austen really not as important or interesting as a postage stamp or telephone box?

Because all workers in the UK deserve the same workers rights! Prison Officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland do no currently have the right to take strike action over legitimate disputes! The Scottish government have this week given back Scottish Prison Officers the right to take strike action, the same must be afforded to colleagues in the rest of the U.K.!

The conflict in Syria has resulted in the greatest humanitarian crisis in a generation. It has led to millions of displaced people living outside the borders of the country, including appallingly high numbers of children. The figures are truly shocking: More than 4,000,000 refugees from Syria (95% of the total) are in just five countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt (Amnesty International September 2015). This influx is having a devastating impact on these countries (UNHCR 2013). Around 220,000 people have been killed and 12.8 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria. More than 50% of Syria’s population is currently displaced. In total, 104,410 resettlement places have been offered globally since the start of the Syria crisis, which equates to a mere 2.6% of the total population of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey (Amnesty 2015). 1,168,996 children were living as refugees outside Syria in 2013, the figure is likely to be far higher now. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has said: “Syria has become the great tragedy of this century – a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.” When history looks back on what we did to assuage this terrible crisis, let's show Britain as a compassionate nation that doesn't sit back and watch a tragedy unfold, but one that holds out its arms and shares its resources with the Syrian people.

Having a job and earning a decent wage is a necessity if we as a society are going to address some of the biggest concerns facing our generation. Poverty has a devastating effect on families across Scotland and in-work poverty has no place in the 21st century. There is no excuse for low-pay, when time and time again it has been shown to be not only an ineffective means of employment, but also a hindrance on long-term sustainable economic growth. Low wages result in poorer services, higher staff turnover, increased absences from work and a lower quality of life for staff stuck in low pay. We have not only an opportunity, but a responsibility, to tackle poverty and eradicate the blight it puts on people’s lives once and for all. Addressing low pay will not put an end to hardship overnight, as it is only part of a much wider and more complex picture of social justice, but it is a start, and it should be our goal to achieve it.

Other countries are using this fund to support their steel industries. Here’s a giant pot of money into which Whitehall should dip its fingers. Please do. Jobs, communities and a vital industry should be supported.

I'm a former season ticket holder and lifelong West Ham fan. I was disgusted to see that West Ham's Vice Chairman, Baroness Brady, voted with the government to take away tax credits from working families, even through around 40% of working families rely on the credits. Nearly half of all children in Newham are growing up in poverty according to the Campaign to End Child Poverty, so why is Baroness Brady taking it out on our community, instead of supporting the people of West Ham?

People have died in their thousands and will continue to die if this government is allowed to continue!

The devolution deals in Greater Manchester have been done behind closed doors and local people cannot be confident that the new deals will work for them. For example, many healthcare professionals are very concerned about the impact on health services and social care in the region, with impending, severe cuts on the way to Council funding. But the 'northern powerhouse' revolution also has an opportunity to be an inspiration for cities all over the UK - if the devolution process takes place in a truly transparent and democratic way that delivers real social, environmental, economic and democratic benefits in the genuine best interests of the many. That is not what is currently happening and needs to change fast! If the new devolved powers are to work for the people of Greater Manchester, local people must be the drivers of devolution, not the passengers. It must be driven by the people, not by small cliques in central government and City Halls.