Clive Lewis MP

Mainstream is serious about winning a democratic socialist future We stand for the redistribution of power and wealth, the defence of human rights dignity at home and abroad, the creation of a new political economy & much more. Find out more here: mainstreamlabour.org

I wrote to the Minister for Housing and Planning to raise my concerns about plans that would weaken protections for pubs. We need a planning system that safeguards all our pubs.

Horrifying to hear of another antisemitic attack on ambulances in Golders Green last night We are being dangerously divided against one another like no time I can remember. Saturday there’ll be a huge march against hate, for the country we need where we stand TOGETHER #r4today

Great to join the makers of Channel 4’s ‘Dirty Business’ and everyone behind the Sewage Campaign Network, including @labourlewis and @Feargal_Sharkey . Privatised water is a clear danger to our health. Anything less than a publicly-owned water system that puts people and the environment before profit simply isn’t fit for purpose. #RenationaliseWater

We were there! Really worth re-sharing. Thanks @labourlewis

Great news for our community. I am pleased that the application to close Cotman House Dental Surgery and convert the building into flats has been rejected. The surgery supports about 1,500 patients and provides an important service for many older and vulnerable residents. I set out my concerns to the planning team before the meeting, along with many constituents and patients who spoke up to protect this local practice. Your voices made a difference. Access to NHS dentistry is already limited. Losing a specialist practice of this size would have caused real harm. The decision shows the impact that organised local action can have. Thank you to everyone who submitted objections, took part in the process, or attended the meeting.

What a fantastic event... 107 MPs coming to hear about the Dirty Business that is the water industry. Time to end the corruption, time to end the greed, time for a new approach, time for public ownership.

I held an event in Parliament with Anna Dixon MP and the Sewage Campaign Network on the Water White Paper, the sewage scandal and Channel 4’s recent docudrama ‘Dirty Business’. Campaigners travelled from across the country to share their experiences and brief MPs on the causes of the water crisis, the Water White Paper and what is needed to secure the future of our water services. Over 100 MPs attended – a massive turnout reflecting the years of hard work by tireless activists to draw attention to this issue. It was a pleasure to see so many colleagues attend and hear the case for a better, people-led, profit-free system. @saveourswale @WindrushWasp @CleanIlkley @MattStaniek @sascampaigns @GMBLondonRegion @c4news @annalouisedixon

Wow. On Tuesday 107 MPs met frontline sewage campaigners, including those featured in Channel 4’s 'Dirty Business', to hear directly about their experience and what needs to change. Campaigners, including prominent figures like @Feargal_Sharkey, had one clear message: it’s time for public ownership.

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time" Maya Angelou

Let's make public ownership of water happen. Add your name: actionnetwork.org/forms/water-be…

In the more than decade I have had the privilege of serving as your MP for Norwich South, I don’t think I have ever attended a meeting quite as moving as the one we held in Parliament this week. We hosted the people behind Channel 4’s Dirty Business. It tells the true story of campaigners and families who have spent years fighting not just water companies, but a system that was meant to protect us and has too often failed. Many of you will know that since introducing my Private Member’s Bill to bring water back into public ownership, I have been raising these issues in Parliament and beyond. I have heard the evidence. I have read the reports. I have listened to accounts of pollution, regulatory failure, and companies putting profit before the public good. But nothing prepares you for sitting in a room with people who have lived the consequences. The most difficult moment came when we heard from a mother who lost her daughter after exposure to polluted water. Her story is part of the series, but hearing it in person was something else entirely. To hear her voice break as she described the moment she lost her child is something I will not forget. There was no anger in her tone. No performance. Just grief, dignity, and a determination that no other family should go through what she did. At the end of the meeting, she came over to speak to me. She gave me a hug and thanked me for the work we have been doing to bring water back into public ownership. I have to be honest. That meant more to me than almost anything else I have experienced in Parliament. Because in that moment, this stopped being about policy, or process, or politics. It became about something much simpler. What kind of country allows this to happen? And what kind of country decides it will not allow it to happen again? For years, we have been told that this system works. That it just needs tweaking. Better regulation. Stronger oversight. But when a system allows pollution on this scale, when it fails families in this way, when it continues to reward failure with profit, we have to be honest about what we are dealing with. This is not a system that is broken. It is a system doing exactly what it was designed to do. That is why I believe there is no alternative to bringing our water back into public, democratic ownership. Not as an abstract idea. Not as ideology. But because it is the only way to align this essential service with the public interest. The people I met this week are not politicians. They are not lobbyists. They are ordinary members of the public who have given years of their lives to holding power to account. They are the ones who have tested the water, gathered the evidence, fought the legal battles, and refused to be ignored. They are the ones who have carried this issue when others would not. They are, quite simply, the reason this fight continues. And it will continue. Because water is not just another commodity. It is something we all rely on, something we all share, and something that should belong to all of us. So we keep going.

The Government needs to realise more regulation won’t fix our broken water system. We need to kick financial predators out & take it back into public control. But don’t just take it from me. Listen to a sewage campaigner who inspired Channel 4’s ‘Dirty Business’. @WindrushWasp

Today I voted against raising tuition fees. I am concerned that the government does not appear to have a sustainable strategy for dealing with higher education funding. Students at universities, including in my constituency, are suffering as a result. Allowing ministers to increase tuition fees will just load more debt onto students during a cost of living crisis. The way England's tuition fee system is currently set up up means working class students and those from low and middle-income households pay much more for their education. That's because the wealthiest students are in a position to pay their fees up front - therefore accruing no interest - while the rest are forced to take out loans and are then saddled with mounting debt from interest. Raising tuition fees is neither a fair or long-term solution to the funding challenges facing our universities.

@WindrushWasp Let's get public ownership of water done. Add your name now: actionnetwork.org/forms/water-be…

Our privatised water system epitomises so many things that are wrong in our society today. People instinctively know they are getting ripped off. I spoke at the Green Gathering on how public ownership could, among many other things, help renew our atrophied democratic muscles.

I wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to raise my concerns about the impact of Universal Credit rules on food poverty in Norwich. Under the rules, new Universal Credit claimants must wait five weeks before they receive their first payment. In a survey of Universal Credit claimants, the Trade Union Congress found that nearly 1 in 10 respondents cited having to use foodbanks to get by while waiting for their first payment. The Government should end the 5 week wait and take action to close this gap in provision driving food poverty. @norwichfoodbank

Your critical reminder of who Tony Blair’s biggest paymaster is: Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, friend to Netanyahu, donor to Trump & evangelical about getting his hands on data, specifically your data. 5/ thenerve.news/p/tony-blair-i…

Distracted by the slaughter of children in Iran & Lebanon? Me too! But what better time could there be for govt to quietly relaunch its Digital ID plan? Missed it? Me too! But look who’s celebrating… The director of ‘govt innovation’ at the Tony Blair Institute! 1/