Fay Cooper 🍃💚🍃

Proof that felling a thousand plus mature trees for a gigantic, greenwashed warehouse and lorry park with the mitigation being the planting of over a thousand whips and saplings to create a “country park” doesn’t work! @SEGRO_plc it’s a disaster isn’t it? stalbanstimes.co.uk/park-street/th…

Revealed: How a Burnham 'land tax' could batter the South East. The idea that people who have bought property with after-tax income and paid huge stamp duty for the privilege should face huge tax annual payments to live in their homes is repugnant. dailymail.com/news/article-1…

📢NEW REPORT 📢 86% of sexual crimes in Northern Ireland swim changing rooms are in mixed-sex changing villages. Our latest report into sexual crimes in Northern Ireland leisure centres confirms that mixed-sex changing rooms are a danger area for women and girls. In Northern Ireland 86% of sexual crimes in swimming pool changing rooms occurred in mixed-sex facilities. The data correlate with our previous research from England and Wales which shows that 88-90% of changing room sex crimes occur in mixed-sex changing rooms. Freedom of Information requests to the Police Service of Northern Ireland revealed that 86% of sexual crimes (voyeurism, illicit filming / photography, sexual assaults and rapes) which occurred in leisure centre changing rooms were in mixed-sex facilities compared with 24% which occurred in single-sex facilities. The FOI request covered 12 months from January to December 2023. Previously, we published Leisure Centres: Putting Women and Girls at Risk containing police data collated from a Freedom of Information (FOI) investigation on sexual crimes in leisure centres in England and Wales. These data showed that in one year (2023) there were 16 rapes, 80 sexual assaults and 65 acts of voyeurism across 257 leisure centres in England and Wales. As there are approximately 860 leisure centres in England and Wales, and as these crimes are under-reported, the totals will be much higher. The Sports Councils have actively promoted mixed-sex changing villages as the preferred option for new build and refurbishment projects. @Sport_England design guides are widely used throughout the UK for new-build and refurbishment projects. Sport England states that mixed-sex changing villages are the ‘preferred option’ but says that local councils must ‘risk assess’ their designs. Councils rarely conduct risk assessments that take into account the increased risks of allowing males into areas where women and children are in a state of undress. Women’s Rights Network calls for: ✅all new-build and refurbishment projects to be designed with single-sex changing as the default option with mixed-sex changing for families; ✅all mixed-sex changing villages to be risk assessed as a matter of urgency and controls put in place to reduce the risk. Links to the report are in the next post.

During tributes today in @UKHouseofLords to Ann Widdecombe I paid tribute to her principles, kindness and intelligence - grounded in her Faith and Patriotism. From different political traditions we celebrated when we agreed and when we disagreed we respectfully learned to handle differences without rancour. Ann became a great friend and was Godmother to one of my children. In the House of Commons she and Sir David Amess became close friends. I am deeply shocked that both have been murdered. I hope that justice will now prevail and that in a toxic climate of hatred and hate speech we will learn the importance of respecting difference. Watch tributes in full: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d8…

@CatharineHoey @reformparty_uk My condolences to you @CatharineHoey and to everyone else who knew the late Ann Widdecombe Your point about being able to be friends despite political differences is so important Respecting others’ views and being able to be true friends (despite differences) matters so much

My tribute to Ann Widdecombe in Lords today She was a proud member of @reformparty_uk

Today Labour’s Gibraltar surrender deal - announced today with no debate - has once again undermined British sovereignty, repeating the mistakes of the Windsor Framework and the Chagos debacle. The terms of the deal are shocking: Spanish officials will now conduct border checks within Gibraltar. Spain can withdraw individuals’ residency in Gibraltar, even if they already live there. Goods sold in Gibraltar must comply with EU regulations. Gibraltar is now subject to a new ‘transaction tax’ to align it with the EU. And Gibraltar must adopt new EU laws or the agreement will automatically be terminated. The practical effect is that foreign officials will decide who and what can enter British territory. British citizens’ fingerprints will be taken and passports checked within our own territory. At the same time, Spain has conceded nothing about its claim to Gibraltar. No self-respecting British government should be willing to accept this. To make matters worse, Parliament and the British public have only seen the final text of this deal today, but it takes effect tomorrow. Labour have shut us out of this process and are avoiding scrutiny. A Reform Government will stand up for our national interest and overturn this one-sided, disgraceful deal. There can be no shared sovereignty between Britain and Spain. Gibraltar is British, not Spanish, and that is how it must remain. This is not up for negotiation or dilution by a thousand individual concessions. And there must be no border between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom. Spanish or EU border and customs officials must not be allowed to operate in Gibraltar, or have a say in who and what can enter our territory. Border security cannot be built on conceding control to a foreign government. gov.uk/government/col…

£101.09. 1 Hour. No Seat. 8 Months Pregnant £101.09 for a 1 hour 3 minute journey into London Paddington with @GWRHelp. Only 4/5 carriages available during peak time, leaving passengers crammed in like sardines. I’m 8 months pregnant and spent the journey standing alongside dozens of other commuters because there simply weren’t enough seats. To make matters worse, I was standing directly in front of a British Transport Police officer who never once looked up to notice I was heavily pregnant or offer any assistance. Where is the care? How can Great Western Railway possibly justify charging £101.09 for a service where passengers are forced to stand for over an hour, despite paying some of the highest rail fares in Europe? This isn’t a one-off either. Around 50% of my journeys are disrupted by overcrowding, signal failures, trains being cancelled because staff don’t turn up, or broken trains. Passengers are paying premium prices for a service that is consistently failing them. We deserve better. @GWRHelp @nationalrailenq – how do you justify this level of service for these fares? #GWR #RailFail #PassengerRights #Pregnancy #LondonPaddington #commuterlife

Rufus is stylish as well as scrumptious & beautifully behaved. Could you be his forever folks? He is currently in foster in South London. Read more about this darling boy: lurchersos.org.uk/dogs-for-adopt… 🌟 💓 🐾

In an unprecedented move, Labour have scrapped the Conservative vote to force Andy Burnham to come to Parliament to answer questions when he becomes PM on Monday. Labour are running scared because they know the honeymoon will be over the minute he has to tell us his plans.

My dad died when I was 22. The idea of someone else that age - left without the support of a parent - being forced to pay the government half of the money left behind to cushion that absence makes me feel sick.

🥩🏷️ Shoppers are being left confused by vague animal welfare claims such as “farm fresh” and “responsibly sourced”, according to a new report calling for mandatory labelling across meat, dairy and eggs READ MORE: farminguk.com/news/governmen…

This is absolutely outrageous. It looks like Lib Dem led Portsmouth City Council are removing England flags from people who are putting them up for the World Cup. If that's not bad enough, they just walk off with it. That's theft! Absolute disgrace!

This is not how the Commons ought to operate.

I am married with a young daughter, both myself and my husband work. -We are not entitled to housing benefit, or any other benefit for that matter. -We do not get free eye tests, free dental care or free prescriptions. -Our daughter is not entitled to free school meals, or free breakfast clubs, or free wrap around care, no help with her uniform. -We don’t get council tax discount, or any other discount. -We don’t get help with our energy bills, or low cost broadband. -We don’t get help with the cost of going to the cinema, or days out at theme parks. -My daughter is unable to play outside unsupervised, because you have failed to secure our borders and the streets aren’t safe. -If I work more hours, I fall into the higher tax band. Why should someone like me, vote for someone like you? @UKLabour @andyburnham What are you offering my family?

Keeping cool #GandalfStyle 🐗 It's been a very hard week at the Sanctuary keeping all the animals cool & hydrated. 💦 Please help us purchase The Boar Barn so we can keep the big boys safe 🙏 donorbox.org/gandalf-needs-…

At last: common sense from MPs: Half the UK's 1.5 million housing target could be achieved by reviving old buildings. We don’t need to rip the heart out of Hardy’s Dorset, building 4000 homes on farmland north of Dorchester @DorsetCouncilUK @RosieP4 @CommunityPlann1 @CHinchliffMP

All the cuteness! Oh my. Orion & Dante are adoring life with our beloved foster folks Kai & Co. 💓 If you adore 🥰 dogs & you think you could help a houndie adjust to home life so they can go on to enjoy their forever home, please learn more here: lurchersos.org.uk/foster

Ted is affectionate in his own gentle way. He may appear aloof at first, but with his trusted people he will happily climb onto laps, press his head into your face for kisses and show just how loving he really is #k9hour lurchersos.org.uk/dogs-for-adopt…

Afghan migrant Dawood Safi, who arrived to the UK hidden in the back of a truck, admitted today to the frenzied stabbing murder of dog walker Wayne Broadhurst after also knifing his landlord & a 14yo boy. Charge for murdering Mr. Broadhurst was dropped and reduced to Manslaughter via diminished responsibility due to psychotic episode. Absolute bullshit.