Successful Campaigns

The museum is saved! After more than 45,000 people signed petitions to protect the science museums in the north of England, Culture minister Ed Vaizey announced that the museums would not be given the proposed 10% budget cut and that there was "no question of them closing." The MP for York Central said: "All the campaigning and all the warnings sent to the government that it would be an act of cultural vandalism if one of these museums were to close appears to have been heeded." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22948171

The Government has decided that the prescription charge upper age exemption will remain at 60, meaning that it will not align to the State Pension age. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/aligning-the-upper-age-for-nhs-prescription-charge-exemptions-with-the-state-pension-age/outcome/aligning-the-upper-age-for-nhs-prescription-charge-exemptions-with-the-state-pension-age-government-response#introduction

The £2 fare cap has been extended and a further £80m has been made available to support critical bus services in England! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64678990

06/07/18 We won! The Mayor's office conceded that there are no rules prohibiting inflatables in Parliament Square Gardens, and that an inflatable effigy of a political figure does in fact constitute legitimate protest!

We did it! We got supermarkets to do the right thing and hand back their business rates relief back to the government. In total, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Asda, Morrisons, and Aldi, are returning £2bn in relief money. Though this money should never have been given to them in the first place, our win proves that by piling on the pressure, we can hold these big businesses to account. And that's not all: we've also influenced how other big retailers handle their relief money. This is huge. By showing support for this campaign, you've played an important role in how we recover from this crisis. Now that we've had £2bn handed back, we need to see this money distributed to the right causes. When we clapped for carers and other essential workers, we weren’t thinking of supermarket CEOs or shareholders, but the thousands of people working on shop floors around the country who took the greatest risks to keep the rest of us safe and well-supplied.

19/09/23: New petrol price information shows that supermarkets are no longer overcharging for petrol. Well done to everyone who signed the petition! https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/petrol-prices-uk-government-figures-data-cost-disparity-zqw53th5h

We won! British Gas reversed their decision to increase the minimum top-up amount for customers on pay-as-you-go tariffs. They’ve slashed the amount from £5 back to £1. This means people will no longer be forced to decide between spending their last £5 before payday on heating their home, or putting food on the table. And it’s thanks to the 91,000 of us who signed a huge petition, and thousands of us who spoke up and shared our experiences directly with British Gas. The 38 Degrees staff team met the British Gas CEO, and took these stories straight to him. Preet Kaur Gill, the MP who started this campaign on the 38 Degrees website, said: “This is a vital win for the thousands of people affected by British Gas’s decision to raise the minimum pre-pay top-up. I am so thankful to 38 Degrees and the 91,000 people who signed our petition. It would not have been possible without them.”

Great news! 03/11/22 The news we have all been waiting for has at last arrived! The Port of Dover recently announced that it has abandoned its plans to dredge the Goodwin Sands for landfill for their port development. As you can imagine, after six and a half years of campaigning this news is extremely welcome as it clearly shows that development does not need to come at the expense of the environment. We would like to thank you all for your encouragement, donations and support, without which we would not have achieved this positive outcome. This campaign has definitely been a huge joint effort. We would like to recognise the support provided by our MP Natalie Elphicke who understood both the need for the port development and our concerns for the marine environment. We have no doubt that she was instrumental in encouraging the Port of Dover to source the necessary landfill elsewhere. Despite this result being a vindication of all we have fought for, we know this is just a battle won, not the whole war and we will not be resting on our laurels. We are acutely aware that assurances need to be sought from all the major stakeholders including The Crown Estate, the Environment Agency and the Marine Management Organisation that they will never allow the Goodwins to be exploited ever again. Thank you again for staying with us over the past six years and we look forward to keeping you updated on our continued work to Save Our Sands. Best wishes, Joanna and Fiona

UPDATE: 03/03/17 We Won! The government is set to scrap plans to allow councils to apply for exemptions from social care legislation in the face of continuing opposition: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/2003279/exclusive-government-set-to-drop-controversial-exemption-clause Previously we also won a battle to get this rejected in the Lords. Peers voted 245/213 in favour of dropping these terrible proposals. This petition signed by over 100,000 people was named twice in that debate! Congratulations everyone! Thank you for helping to get rid of this massive threat to children’s rights!