Brexit

Post-Brexit UK water quality standards set to be much lower than EU standards

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‘The UK’s decision to diverge from EU water quality standards is yet another blow in a string of post-Brexit setbacks.’

Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.


https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/post-brexit-uk-water-quality-standards-set-to-be-much-lower-than-eu-standards/

The UK government is to diverge from the EU’s standards for monitoring the quality of water in England.

An exclusive report by the Guardian this week revealed that instead of being covered by the EU’s water framework directive (WFD), as it was when the UK was in the European Union, the government will use its own, as yet undisclosed, methodology to assess the quality of England’s waterways. Under the WFD, a national chemical and ecology survey was carried out every year. But from 2016, the government made the decision that water quality under WFD would only be tested every three years, instead of annually.

The last time a full water assessment of England’s rivers took place was in 2019, when just 14 percent were found to be in good ecological health. None however, met good chemical health standards. 

According to the report, government officials told stakeholders about the change at a meeting. A source from an NGO who had attended the meeting said: “When asked how this would affect assessments against the target set out in the government’s environment improvement plan, officials commented that this data would no longer be used for that purpose, and that Defra were looking to use the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) process to assessment performance. I question how developed the work on the NCEA is and whether this is suitable.”

Campaigners have warned that diverging from EU environmental standards will lead to England’s rivers and waterways becoming even more polluted if the new measuring methods are less rigorous. They also warn that it may make it more difficult for the state of England’s rivers to be compared with those in the EU, meaning the public will be left in the dark about water pollution and sewage.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/post-brexit-uk-water-quality-standards-set-to-be-much-lower-than-eu-standards/

Continue ReadingPost-Brexit UK water quality standards set to be much lower than EU standards

Here’s how the Tories will continue their war on the less well-off in the King’s speech

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One of the many occasions climate change denier and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak uses a private jet.
One of the many occasions climate change denier and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak uses a private jet.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/heres-how-the-tories-will-continue-their-war-on-the-less-well-off-in-the-kings-speech/

On 7th November, King Charles III will open the next session of the UK parliament. It is likely to be the last before the general election expected to take place towards the end of 2024.

The King’s speech, written by the government, is the key part of state opening of parliament. It sets out the government’s policy priorities and legislative programme. So what can we expect, or not expect, the Conservative government to do to save its skin?

After 13 years in office and five Prime Ministers the government is spent and is unlikely to reverse any of its economic policies that have resulted in the highest ever public debt of £2.6 trillion (97.8% of GDP) and highest rate of inflation for 41 years.

The government won’t end austerity and real wage cuts. The average real wage is lower than in 2005. 14.4m were living in poverty in 2021/2022. 3.8m people experienced destitution in 2022, including around one million children. In the period 2012-2019, government imposed austerity caused nearly 335,000 excess deaths (nearly 48,000 a year) in England and Scotland.

A government obsessed with privatisation, outsourcing and cuts to public spending may pay lip-service to public investment, but won’t do much to deal with crumbling schools and public buildings. Parts of the National Health Service have been privatised by stealth and the government won’t do much to relieve the healthcare crisis. Some 7.8m people in England are waiting for hospital appointment (1 in 7 of the population). Some .2.6m are chronically ill and unable to work. In the five years to 2022, around 1.5m died whilst awaiting a hospital appointment.

The government is trapped by its subservience to defunct ideologies. It won’t modify Brexit and reach out to Europe to boost investment, trade and jobs. It won’t increase investment in infrastructure. In an OECD league table of investment in productive assets, the UK is ranked at number 35 out of 38 countries.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/heres-how-the-tories-will-continue-their-war-on-the-less-well-off-in-the-kings-speech/

Continue ReadingHere’s how the Tories will continue their war on the less well-off in the King’s speech

Demand to reverse Brexit hits ‘highest ever level’

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/demand-to-reverse-brexit-hits-highest-ever-level/

A poll in May also revealed that both Tory and Leave backers feel that Brexit has been a failure.

The demand to reverse Brexit has hit its ‘highest ever level’, according to a new poll which shows a staggering level of disillusionment with the decision to leave the EU.

The poll from WeThink, affiliated with Omnisis, shows that 63% of those surveyed believe that the UK should now reverse the referendum result, and return to its previous trading relationship with the bloc. Just 37% of voters want to stay out of the EU.

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The Brexit vote has resulted in a 4% hit to the economy over the medium-to-long-term, which amounts to £40bn in tax revenues.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/demand-to-reverse-brexit-hits-highest-ever-level/

Continue ReadingDemand to reverse Brexit hits ‘highest ever level’

NHS waiting list surges despite Sunak’s pledge to cut backlog

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/nhs-waiting-list-surges-despite-sunaks-pledge-to-cut-backlog/

The lying EU bus promoting money for the NHS when all the anti-EU shites are anti-NHS Neo-Liberal shites.
That’s a funny-looking bus, it’s Boris’s lying anti-EU bus promoting money for the NHS when all the anti-EU shites are anti-NHS Neo-Liberal shites.

‘The Prime Minister’s key pledge of reducing the size of the waiting list by March 2024 is looking more and more in doubt.’

The number of people stuck on NHS waiting lists has reached a record high, despite promises from ministers to eliminate lengthy backlogs.  

Figures released on October 12, show that as of the end of August there were 8,998 people waiting for treatment for over 18 months, a sharp increase from 7,289 in July. Overall waiting list figures have reached a record high, with 7.75m people waiting for treatment at the end of August, up from 7.68m in July, marking the highest figure since records began in 2007.

The government had promised that all patients who had been waiting for 18 months for an operation in hospital would be treated by April. The following month, the health secretary Steve Barclay admitted that the government had not met its target. Failure to eliminate 18-month backlogs is embarrassing for Sunak, who made ‘cut waiting lists’ one of this five key promises. In January, the Prime Minister had said that “lists will fall, and people will get the care they need more quickly.”

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/nhs-waiting-list-surges-despite-sunaks-pledge-to-cut-backlog/

Continue ReadingNHS waiting list surges despite Sunak’s pledge to cut backlog

Thousands gather in London for National Rejoin March

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Rejoin Brexit march London 23 Sept 2023. Banner reads "BIN BREXIT You know it's rubbish"
Rejoin Brexit march London 23 Sept 2023. Banner reads “BIN BREXIT You know it’s rubbish”

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/thousands-gather-in-london-for-national-rejoin-march/

The sun was shining on the capital as thousands of pro-EU supporters gathered in Central London on September 23, for the second National Rejoin March (NRM).

Protesters, waving, not just EU flags, but flags from across Europe, including Spain, Ireland, France, and Wales, congregated on Park Lane, where they made their way to Parliament Square.

Speakers from six countries took to the stage, in an event that was supported by 70 affiliated partner organisations. Orators included former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who said there is an absolute need for the UK to rejoin the EU and it is always welcome back.  Terry Reintke, MEP, said the growing citizens movement for rejoin is being followed very closely in Brussels, where Britain is ‘missed a lot.’

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/thousands-gather-in-london-for-national-rejoin-march/

Continue ReadingThousands gather in London for National Rejoin March