labourlewis.bsky.social
MP for Norwich South “The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently” - David Graeber
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If you agree that we can do it better and want to support my campaigns, sign up to my mailing list here: actionnetwork.org/forms/we-can...
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The current contract for the VAS is due to end, but the ICB say they'll commission a new 3-year contract. This is a significant positive outcome. The VAS provides specialist healthcare support to homeless and marginalised patients, delivering critical care for those with the most complex needs.
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In addition to campaigning to save our Centre, Norwich Labour and I also campaigned in defence of both the Centre and the VAS, so I'm delighted that they're both safe.
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The Resolution Foundation says it'd cost £10bn a year to fix "the welfare trilemma", an accounting error for a British state already spending £1330bn per annum, and pretty good value to lift hundreds of thousands out of misery and pull the rug out from under a surging UK authoritarian right.
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If you agree that we can do it better and want to support my campaigns, sign up to my mailing list here: actionnetwork.org/forms/we-can...
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2/2 If you wanted to come up with ways that push people into the arms of the authoritarian right, you'd have awful cuts like these on your list of to-dos.
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Once the law is there, they can expand it to target anyone, depending on any new government front that opens up.
Liberty has to be universal - otherwise next it will be your liberties that will be attacked and undermined.
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This is the second time a united city has saved our Walk-In centre, and it's the second time we’ve been able to say we saved our Walk-In Centre together. Thank you, Norwich—again!"
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Leaders at the N&N said the hospital would struggle if the Centre shut, and out-of-hours GP services are currently under threat too. Where would people be expected to go if the Walk-In Centre had shut?
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If you agree, sign up to follow and support my campaigns - like bringing water back in public hands.
Together, we can do it better.
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Effectively, they are baking short-term, loan-shark logic into desperately needed essential infrastructure.
Until we bring water in public ownership, government will continue to desperately snatch at these loan shark-like, short-term ‘solutions’.
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In a sector crying out for accountability, transparency, and long-term thinking, Ofwat is about to hand water companies a get out of jail free card.
Essentially, our price regulator is giving away their power to regulate prices.
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1/ Yes, we need long-term infrastructure after decades of neglect.
But how it’s financed matters.
Because guaranteed revenues are a green light for vulture capital to swoop in, bleed customers dry, then bolt.
That’s not resilience. It’s extractivism in disguise.
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www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
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Nobody on the progressive left opposes a serious, balanced approach to immigration—one that meets our economic needs, fills gaps in care, supports universities, and treats people with dignity. But that has to be paired with real action to make this country better for everyone.
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Once legitimised, Nigel Farage - and those like him - will feel emboldened to go even further.
At its heart, this is about pride, hubris, and a refusal by those in charge to admit that their strategy has backfired. We are now in crisis mode.
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Labour hasn’t confronted Reform’s worldview—it’s validated it.
You can’t spend nine months echoing your opponent’s values and then act surprised when the public decides to go straight to the source.
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Labour hasn’t confronted Reform’s worldview—it’s validated it.
You can’t spend nine months echoing your opponent’s values and then act surprised when the public decides to go straight to the source.
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7/ Floods, droughts, water shortages; these are existential threats for us.
And as long as water is run for profit, not people, our basic needs will always come second.
It’s time to bring water back into public hands.
If you agree, join the fight: actionnetwork.org/forms/we-can...
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6/ Through it all, the money flows, not into infrastructure, but into shareholders' pockets.
Since privatisation, water companies have paid out £85bn in dividends.
However, the expert National Drought Group say the companies' plan after the driest spring in 69 years is to « simply pray for rain ».
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5/ Over-extraction is wrecking ecosystems, like chalk streams in the southeast.
We need to reduce the water we take out by 480 million litres a day by 2045 to protect nature.
Defra leaves it to companies to promote cutting household water consumption. Unsurprisingly, it continues to rise.
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4/ Astonishingly, companies are allowed to 'mark their own homework'.
Ofwat relies on self-reporting for leakage.
Welsh Water was caught misleading the regulator about leakages for five years.
The fine? Only £40m - a refund of just £10 per customer. No real accountability.
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3/ Leaks are draining our future.
Our crumbling infrastructure is losing 3 billion litres of water daily, 20% of the supply.
Ofwat set a target to halve leakage by 2050. But in 2023, over half of firms missed their own targets. In fact, most saw an increase in annual leakage.
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2/ For-profit companies can't be trusted with vital infrastructure.
During 35 years of privatised water, no new reservoirs have been built. Worse, 25 have been sold off.
Andrew Sells, ex-Chair of Natural England, says water companies are putting profits before water resilience.