As well as squeezing middle-earners, it’s cruel, because it hits those at the bottom – pensioners and the low-paid – the hardest. Many pensioners will be dragged into the tax bracket for the first time, paying tax on incomes below the official poverty line. Much of the recent increase in the State Pension is simply being snatched back in tax! Many of those affected are pensioners who have followed government advice and saved into a small private pension, only to find they are now just above the threshold for Pension Credit. The better-off may have to forgo some luxuries, but we have to forgo necessities, choosing between eating and heating. More people will need to use food banks, and more old people will die during the cold winter months. Punitive taxation of low incomes is counter-productive for the government, as it deters people from saving for their old age. It also discourages the unemployed and those on benefits from entering the jobs market, as taking low-paid jobs may mean they actually end up worse off. Neither is what the government professes to want, yet their current policy has precisely that effect! The government are shooting themselves in the foot, as they are treating the Electorate like idiots, thinking we wouldn’t notice the extra tax bill! And meanwhile they have just removed the cap on bankers’ bonuses….. Here are a few other things the government could do to help the less well-off: 1. Reintroduce a 10% starting income tax band, which we’ve had in the past. 2. Restore the Age Allowance for pensioners, so cruelly stolen by George Osborne in his 2012 Budget (whilst lowering the top rate of tax!). 3. Uprate the thresholds for Pension Credit in line with inflation, as they have done with Universal Credit. 4. Increase the Warm Home Discount by more than the measly £10 we got last year. I ask you to support this Petition and spread the word to your friends. The Government MUST unfreeze the tax thresholds, especially the basic rate, or they will forfeit our support at the ballot box!

Farming communities in the UK have faced unprecedented challenges in the last few years. Uncertainty around Brexit and future policy, the pandemic, market volatility, the war in the Ukraine, declining BPS payments and avian flu. (Clarkson 2023) Small farms are struggling to survive. Dairy farmers have had to contend with milk prices reducing, in December 2022 standard milk price was 49ppl. This years price as of 1st November will be 34ppl, this is also affected by quality brackets of milk sent, and is deducted if butterfat and protein is below a certain level, - cost of production is 41ppl average. We are in a cost of living crisis and everything else is rising. Farmers have this to content with in every day life as do the rest of us though additionally they have the rising feed bills etc ? vet bills, cost to get a calf raised to a milker, costs to repair buildings, machinery and fencing etc How are the cows being blamed for climate change when the country is shipping meat and dairy products in from abroad. Products which are readily available here. What is the environmental (carbon footprint) and financial cost of this? We have the highest animal welfare standards in the world - though produce is shipped in from abroad, how can that be right? Ethically, environmentally? Badgers are protected though they spread TB to cows and can result in loss of livestock, income, business, livelihood etc. How is this justified? How can this be right? It costs more to shear a sheep than farmers are paid for the fleece. This is despite how beneficial the fleece from a sheep is. It is fire retardant, biodegradable, breathable, waterproof, insulating etc. Despite this plastic and other materials are shipped in from all over the world. What happened to build back better? Have we learned nothing since the pandemic/brexit? Britain used to be great, sheepskin and leather, the by-products of the meat industry though as we now have no tanneries, they are wasted. It is estimated that the number of full time UK farm businesses will fall from about 54,000 (2020) to 42,300 by 2030. A reduction of around 20% (Anderson - farm business consultants). In comparison to the previous decade which was 4%. Loss of the Basic Payment Scheme BPS, support for English farmers, which is set to half by 2024, (Richard King). Will cause further financial hardship and loss of small farms. Farmers are vital. “You need a doctor once a year maybe and a fireman once in a lifetime, if you're unlucky. But you need a farmer three times a day” (Kaleb Cooper) They don't get the credit or support they deserve. They work at times 14+ hours a day in all weathers in a thankless job. Bogged down by paperwork and policies. According to the National Farmers Union, 5pc of dairy farmers left the industry in 2022. According to a survey, some 70% of the farmers who grow cereals said Brexit had been negative for their businesses, while 76% of oilseed rape growers felt that way. Similarly, 68% of farmers with beef cattle, dairy cows or sheep had a negative perception.(23 Jun 2023) This is also the same for fruit and vegetable growers, basically the whole of agriculture is in dire straits. It should not be this way. Figures from the ONS show that there were 36 suicides in in 2021 in the farming and agriculture industry. This cannot continue. How many more farmers are we going to lose? I have set up this petition to call on you to make a change. To support farming and the agriculture industry to make Britain great again

This will affect people's productivity because workers across the UK will be confused and upset.

Rishi Sunak has just approved Liz Truss’ move to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses that she floated in her disastrous mini budget last year. At a time when so many of us are struggling with the cost of living crisis, why are wealthy people being given a helping hand? You can almost hear the champagne corks popping! The Government says lifting this cap will make London a more attractive place to do business. But it was put in place in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis - to make sure those in the financial industry don't take dangerous risks that could damage the economy for everyone. So if you agree that the Government should be helping ordinary people up and down the country - not some of the wealthiest - will you add your name to the petition today?

Pembury Circus is one of the most polluted parts of London with nitrogen dioxide levels exceeding 100ug/m3 – 10x the WHO recommended limit of 10ug/m3 and in breach of the UK legal limit of 40ug/m3. It is also one of the most dangerous and inaccessible junctions in the borough. It has one of the highest records of traffic incidents in the borough with more than 123 collisions and 142 casualties in the last six years. On a daily basis school children from the LEYF Pembury Community Nursery, Rooftop Nursery @Brook, Mossbourne Parkside Academy (primary), Mossbourne Community Academy (secondary), Stormont House Special School and Nightingale Primary School have to navigate this hostile and polluted junction. It is used by thousands of residents, visitors and commuters passing through Hackney Downs station on a daily basis; and by more than 750 cyclists daily without any road markings or protected cycle lanes. Hackney Council are well aware of the dangers, having noted the lack of any adequate, safe and accessible pedestrian crossings in the Hackney Central Footways map produced as part of the Hackney Central Impact and Ideas Fund. We're calling for action now.

It has been reallocated to the local shopping centre and it would be far better suited to its original, purpose built building. We do not believe the shopping centre unit is large enough nor secure enough to allow patrons to use the library in the way they have been able to in its own building. Children do not have their own quiet space, the units feel cramped and too full. This space was intended to be temporary and behaves as such. Local libraries are community hubs, they help with not just reading but internet connection, learning, toddler groups, the elderly population getting to connect with other people in the community.

Due to Government incompetence during the Covid-19 Pandemic, many UK citizens now suffer from Long-Covid. Meaning loss of earnings, and loss to quality of life. Many are now unable to work, many like myself have had to give up a well paid job, for lower pay, as we are now unable to continue with heavy work. Many are still in receipt of Statutory Sick Pay of the meagre amount of £99.95 per week, which is grossly insufficient to live on, meaning having to claim for other benefits such as Universal Credit, to top up. The stress of going from well paid jobs to very low benefits, and even lower paid employment, only undermine our health further. At this time, there is no cure for Long-Covid, we are still unaware of what causes this condition. Meaning anyone who had had, or in future suffers from Covid, may well end up also suffering from Long-Covid. It is an awful disabling condition, which leaves you breathless, fatigued, and at times unable to move. You go from being full of beans one second, and in the next, you have no beans at all, every muscle in your body aches, it's like living with 24 hour flu, every day, meaning menial tasks are impossible. Government incompetence during the early stages of the pandemic, left everyone open to contacting Covid, and becoming a Long-Covid sufferer, and with Covid still rife, meaning anyone could still become a sufferer of this awful condition. Many have had to give up work and survive on benefits, or like myself, give up a well paid job, for a lower pay, as we could no longer do the work we used to.

People's privacy should be respected! Their movements should NOT be monitored by big corporations for the purpose of managing contracts and increasing profits. The use of ANPR technology and associated data analysis should be reserved for the prevention and detection crime, or the enforcement of civil laws. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology is something most people will now be familiar with. Used correctly, it is invaluable in the fight against crime and disorder. Used incorrectly, it can be used to invade people’s privacy and boost profits for greedy companies in the private sector. The problem.... ANPR has been around for a number of years. It was designed to enable law enforcement agencies to prevent and detect crime and other offences. More recently, however, private parking companies have been using ANPR cameras to monitor breaches of contracts and worse still ‘MONITOR CAR PARK USAGE, IDENTIFY TRENDS AND PREDICT CUSTOMER BEHAVIOURS’. Let’s be very clear here; when you don’t park correctly or overstay in a private car park, you DO NOT commit a criminal or civil offence, you breach a contract with the parking provider. The use of ANPR cameras is therefore not being used to prevent and detect crime or offences as set out in legislation, instead it is enabling large companies to further increase profits by allowing them to observe our vehicle use remotely. Using ANPR to invade people’s privacy in this way is not proportionate or necessary, but IS currently legal. How it works.... ANPR cameras at the entrance of a private car park detect the number plate of a vehicle upon entry, recording the time, date and sometimes the make / model of vehicle. They also capture an image of the vehicle, as well as the occupants, if the camera is of a high quality. Another camera at the exit performs a similar function. The captured data from both cameras is compared to see if the car park user has breached the parking contract by overstaying or parking incorrectly. More worryingly, the data can be used to analyse the days, times and durations of people’s stays at the locations, or in the words of one parking company ‘MONITOR CAR PARK USAGE, IDENTIFY TRENDS AND PREDICT CUSTOMER BEHAVIOURS’. The parking companies then share this data, which includes: ‘Live car park occupancy, Heat maps of peak occupancy, Capacity and utilisation, Dwell times, Revenue, Vehicle details (make, model, colour, fuel type), Vehicle of interest alerts’. NB - If you’re wondering what the last category means, one such company refers to it as a way of knowing when ‘vehicles owned by undesirables, trouble-makers, or criminals arrive in your car park.’ Whilst that sounds like a positive thing, unlike in law enforcement, there are no rules governing which vehicles / individuals can be placed on the ‘hotlist’. They can therefore deem any vehicle, they so wish, to be a ‘vehicle of interest’ and pass that information to their client. In the case of a supermarket car park for instance, in theory, the parking provider could be alerting shop staff every time young people dressed in scruffy clothing arrive at their location. This could then give security staff an opportunity to unnecessarily follow and monitor those individuals, or ‘undesirables’ as one of the companies so eloquently calls them. Although customers are advised ANPR is used at car parks, they are not advised as to exactly HOW and WHY it is used. One company only says that parking is ‘camera’ monitored at the entrance points and is not specific as to what type of cameras are used. Ultimately, parking companies are charging their clients (shopping centres, supermarkets, local councils) for services that ONLY INCREASE PROFITS. The services do not enable laws to be enforced or crime prevented. The parking companies themselves are paid handsomely for what they offer their clients, with CEOs reportedly earning more than the Prime minister, while all they have to do is sit back and let their computer programs do the work for them. Potential consequences... The misuse of ANPR technology, in the way described, means that private companies can know when and where you are going and for how long. They can know what car you drive and in some cases, even what you look like. Whilst such companies will be keen to tell you that they look after your personal data, the past few months have seen data breaches within even the most secure organisations (police, NHS, etc.) Imagine how valuable it may be to criminals to know where you are likely to be at a given time and for how long. It’s a scary thought, but sadly not an unlikely eventuality, so long as this application of ANPR is allowed to continue.

Kirklees Council is planning to dispose of many assets to help overcome its £47 million black hole. Part of this plan would involve closing the Grade II listed Batley Carnegie Library, and operating a “modern library” service from the Town Hall. This would enable the council to sell the original library building. The money to build Batley Library was donated to the people of Batley by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, and the plot of land for the library was donated by the William Akroyd Foundation, also to the people of Batley. This enabled the building of the iconic library which opened in 1907 and which still dominates the Market Place today, an area which is widely acknowledged as a gem of late Victorian/early Edwardian architecture and a superb legacy for future generations. With its towering illuminated clockfaces, the Batley Carnegie Library building acts as a beacon of inspiration, comfort and familiarity to the residents of Batley, and as a proud reminder of their heritage and hope for the future. Batley Library’s inviting atmosphere has established a place where people have created memories, nurtured long-lasting friendships, and helped build Batley’s strong community spirit. Moving the library, even for such a short distance, would damage this precious legacy. Thanks to the building’s superb design, it is still fit for purpose and perfectly suited to the twenty-first century, accommodating the traditional lending and reference library services and a great deal more besides. The modern library is so much more than a book depository, it now hosts many activities, local groups, performances, displays, and community services, both regular and ad-hoc, for adults and for children. Many of these activities can take place simultaneously. It is a Library of Sanctuary, a Safe Place, and a Warm Space, where anybody can find safety, comfort, and reassurance (and a cup of soup or a hot drink and a snack) whatever their circumstances, and it holds a special place in the hearts of the community. The layout of the building provides the ideal location for all these facilities, providing social space as well as quiet areas of privacy. The Town Hall is not a huge building, and this new proposal could result in a reduction in the number and quality of services provided. Years ago, when the library was refurbished, the service – which had far fewer activities than nowadays – was temporarily relocated to the Town Hall annexe, and it was agreed by users and staff that it was not possible to carry out all the normal functions anywhere other than in the original building. Due to its location, if the building were to be left empty for any length of time it would suffer undetected vandalism from the rear of the building, and would eventually become derelict through lack of maintenance. This would be a tragic loss to the heritage of Kirklees as a whole. Therefore we strongly urge the Council to reconsider this proposal, which would have a severe impact on the quality of life and the wellbeing of local residents.

A crisis has broken out in Palestine and Israel. More than 1400 Israeli people and more than 3000 Palestinian people have been killed by terrorist attacks by Hamas and by devastating airstrikes carried out by Israel in response. It can be hard to imagine what it’s like for the innocent children caught up in this conflict, and their parents and guardians struggling to keep them safe. That’s why we're adding our voices to calls for UK political leaders to call out attacks on civilians, demand an immediate ceasefire, ensure life-saving aid is increased and provided safely, and that civilians have their rights respected and are kept safe. The news right now can be overwhelming and it’s easy to feel powerless - but at the heart of this are innocent people like us who need help. On our own, it can feel like there’s nothing we can do to stop the violence, but if we join our voices together we can petition all political leaders in the UK to do more to protect innocent people caught up in this devastating conflict.

There are structural unacceptable levels of street littering and fly-tipping in Easton, with overflowing bins, ripped open bin bags, rubbish spread around residential and shopping streets, and fly-tipping of household goods. This attracts vermin such as seagulls, foxes, rats and flies, particularly in the warmer months. Please can you liaise with BCC cleansing department to significantly increase the levels of street cleaning weekly, and ask Enforcement Officers to raise awareness and target those businesses and households who are structurally causing this problem to improve the situation for all residents of Easton. Easton is an amazingly vibrant and diverse area of Bristol, however the state of our streets makes the public environment unsightly and unhygienic, and detrimental to the mental and physical wellbeing of all residents - no other residential area of Bristol is as densely populated or as litter-strewn as this, so the residents of Easton urgently need higher levels of service from BCC's Cleansing Department in order to establish and maintain pleasant, clean and hygienic streets and parks for all residents, young and old, to enjoy and benefit from.

After the fire at the old Ayr Station Hotel, there is an opportunity to save the historical facade of the building and build a new environmentally friendly building within it, to repurpose the building for the townsfolk to meet the needs of the 21st century. The exterior could be restored to house a modern building, giving the best of both worlds. If you want to see the beautiful parts of auld Ayr maintained for you and future generations to enjoy, this is important. If you would like an independent charity to get involved to manage such a project, including sourcing independent funding and working with the town to repurpose the building for our needs today, then support this by signing the petition. This is in danger of disappearing forever if the gable wall is allowed to be demolished. We would like an independent expert engineer to make an assessment before a contractor is appointed to demolish the wall. Repurposing and rebuilding a modern environmentally friendly interior, and restoring the exterior will be less disruptive to surrounding road networks than demolition. Act now to save our history for future generations to enjoy. The Ayr Development Trust