Our roundup of the progressive news you might have missed this week…

Your weekly dose of under-reported news, in no particular order… 

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10. Women’s Aid has welcomed the extension of a ‘lifesaving’ travel scheme for domestic abuse survivors.

The ‘Rail to Refuge’ scheme, which was due to end next week, is being continued by train companies to help more people escape domestic abuse and reach a safe refuge. The decision comes as figures show four survivors a day, on average, have been using the lifesaving scheme to access free train travel.  

Rail to Refuge is a joint initiative between rail companies and Women’s Aid in which train operators cover the cost of train tickets for women, men and children travelling to refuge accommodation. Since April 2020, train operators have provided free tickets to 1,348 people, including 362 children over five, equivalent to four survivors travelling to safety each day on average.

Free travel can be a lifeline for people fleeing abuse who may not have access to cash. Almost two-thirds (62%) of people who used Rail to Refuge said they would not have travelled if the journey had not been paid for.

All train operators in Great Britain took up the initiative on 9 April 2020, initially for the length of the first lockdown, before extending it until the end of March 2021.

Train companies have now decided to continue Rail to Refuge as reports show that abuse has worsened during coronavirus restrictions.

9. The SNP brought in 12,500 new members in March, despite the ongoing furore over First Minister’s Nicola Sturgeon’s handling of the Alex Salmond affair.  

Nicola Sturgeon was accused of misleading the Scottish parliament over her dealings with Alex Salmond – but not knowingly – in a highly critical report by MSPs passed on a party-line basis this week. But the SNP are still expected to remain the largest party this May, and could secure a majority.

SNP campaign director Keith Brown says the party’s 12,500 new members that have joined this month shows the SNP is ‘fighting fit’ as it goes into the election campaign. 

The SNP says the new number of new members in two months will exceed the total Scottish Labour membership of 16,467. The Scottish Tories refuse to reveal how many members they have.

Mr Brown also announced that the party’s NEC has agreed to hold a summer conference. He said: “We are a party and a movement powered by our mass membership. The fact we’ve had 12,500 new members sign up this month is a massive boost as the election nears.

“Our new members’ input at the summer conference…will be invaluable as we drive the case for independence forwards.” 

8. Vaccine equity campaigners have lashed out at Boris Johnson for claiming “greed” is behind the UK’s “vaccine success”.

The Sun reports that Johnson told the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs on Tuesday: “The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed my friends”, before adding “Actually I regret saying it.”

Global Justice Now, an NGO campaigning for fair distribution of vaccines, said the comment reveals “just how warped” the Prime Minister’s understanding of the coronavirus crisis is.

Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, said: “The Prime Minister will call this comment a slip of the tongue, but it’s an incredibly revealing remark. It shows just how warped his understanding of this crisis is.

“We have a vaccine because of massive public investment and the remarkable work of scientists at publicly-funded universities. We’ve rolled it out because of our incredible National Health Service.

“Greed, however, drove big pharma to privatise this work and withhold doses from millions worldwide to protect their profits. And, if Boris Johnson keeps letting it happen, there’ll be more coronavirus mutations that could send us back to square one.”

The UK, EU, and US have repeatedly blocked attempts by low and middle income countries, spearheaded by India and South Africa, to temporarily waive intellectual property on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

7. London bus strikes scheduled for this Wednesday have been suspended following, eleventh hour negotiations that have produced improved offers.

The strikes, over pay and attacks on drivers’ conditions by the French owned bus company RATP and its three subsidiaries (London United, London Sovereign and Quality Line), were due to affect  routes in North West, West and South West London.

However, negotiations in the London United dispute have significantly moved, following talks with Unite about a draft agreement on proposed changes to workers’ contracts. Negotiations will resume tomorrow and continue on Thursday. 

Meanwhile separate talks about the London Sovereign dispute have produced an improved pay offer and members will be balloted on its details this Friday.

In light of the improved offers Unite, which represents the bus drivers, has suspended the strikes at both subsidiaries.

6. A specific exception for protests will be included in the new Covid regulations, following outrage over police handling of the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham last month.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “It shouldn’t have taken the appalling scenes on Clapham Common to force the Government to make clear that peaceful, COVID-safe protests are lawful. They should never have tried to stop them going ahead in the first place.

“The right to peaceful assembly and protest is a fundamental human right. It has always been a crucial part of our democratic society.

“But changing these temporary regulations isn’t enough. The Conservatives must now drop the dangerous, draconian plans to crackdown on protests in their new Bill.

“These new laws are part of the Conservative Government’s anti-democratic attempts to silence anyone who dares speak up against them. Liberal Democrats will fiercely resist them.”

5. Unions have told the Chancellor to stop a round of ‘savage’ university research funding cuts.

UCU was responding to the cuts to the Official Development Assistance funding for UKRI projects, which will initially lead to a £120m shortfall for research programmes in 2021-22.

In a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, the union said the scale of the cuts is unprecedented and the enforced cancellation of existing international research projects represents a massive breach of trust on the part of the UK government.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “These cuts undermine the UK’s role in combatting the world’s most pressing challenges such as infectious diseases, food security and climate change. Unless they are stopped, they would also lead to job losses, with early career staff particularly badly affected.

“UCU calls on the UK government to immediately reverse these savage cuts to UKRI funding and to work with the research community to ensure that the UK can continue to play a leading research role in tackling global challenges.”

4. The Women’s Equality Party has announced that it will be standing in the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election in May, to demand action from the other parties on ending violence against women and girls.

The party will be standing campaigner and abuse survivor Gemma Evans, who previously stood for the party during the 2019 General Election.

The Hartlepool by-election has been triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Mike Hill, who is currently under investigation over sexual harassment allegations. Hill was previously suspended from Labour over harassment allegations in September 2019 but was reinstated to the party a month later, in time to stand in the general election. Hill denies the allegations.

Gemma Evans said: “We have seen the huge outpouring of grief and anger over the last few weeks, after the tragic murder of Sarah Everard. We all know that her murder was not the first, and unless we take action it won’t be the last. Male violence is an epidemic that damages hundreds of thousands of lives every year. But despite that, the government and the main political parties still don’t take it seriously.

The WEP claims the major parties have frequently ‘rehabilitated’ MPs who have behaved inappropriately, failed to investigate allegations of abuse or harassment properly, and held back from introducing consequences for those who are found guilty. 

The Labour Party has announced Dr Paul Williams as the party’s candidate for Hartlepool. Paul is a family doctor who has been working on the frontline during the ongoing pandemic.

3. The BBC has announced it is moving 500 roles out of London and closing another 150 posts.

The corporation says the aim is to better serve the audience by becoming less London-centric.  

It had previously earmarked 450 jobs to go in News as part of a £800m savings package across the whole of the BBC, now the total of jobs going in News will be 600. News has been set a savings target of £85m.  

Under the plans, a Climate and Science team will move to Cardiff, a Learning and Identity team will move to Leeds and World Service current affairs to Salford.

There are also proposals to launch six new peak time local radio services in communities facing some of the biggest social and economic challenges.

Paul Siegert, the NUJ’s national broadcasting organiser said: “We welcome more diversity and creating more content out of London is a good thing, as is extra investment in apprenticeships.

“However, it’s strange that at the same time the BBC is talking about the importance of getting out of London and investing in the regions as a means of better serving the audience, it has also axed 450 post in English Regions and cut £25m from that budget. Are jobs in Cardiff, Bristol, or Leeds more important than jobs in Southampton, Tunbridge Wells or Norwich?

2. Exemptions to the government’s planned ban on public funding for overseas fossil fuels project could be ‘disastrous’, climate campaigners have warned.    

Rachel Kennerley, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “It’s great that the UK government is finally waking up to the disastrous impact of investing in fossil fuel projects overseas. But it is still stubbornly pushing on with investing hundreds of millions of pounds in a climate-destroying mega gas project in Mozambique.

“The new policy would not allow this to go ahead, but ministers are still backing the project which is already proving disastrous for local communities in Mozambique while preventing us from stopping further climate breakdown.

“The government also needs and that development aid funding…aligns with this new policy and is not spent on fossil fuels, particularly at a time when there are plans to cut aid funding. There’s a real risk that ending the funding of overseas fossil fuel projects won’t become a reality if these holes aren’t closed.”

1. Ministers from across the devolved governments have joined together to outline their concerns about the UK Government bypassing Devolved Governments and existing structures to allocate replacement EU funds.

Following a tri-lateral meeting, Finance Minister, Rebecca Evans, Northern Ireland’s Finance Minister, Conor Murphy and Scottish Minister for Trade, Innovation and Public Finance, Ivan McKee have issued a joint statement calling on the UK Government to enter into meaningful engagement and respect the devolved arrangements.

The joint statement notes the First Ministers’ shared concerns about the UK Government’s decision to bypass ’democratically agreed devolution arrangements’ to deliver the Levelling Up and Community Renewal Funds announced at Budget 2021. The funds have been accused of siphoning cash into Conservative seats rather than most in need.

“Monies to replace EU funds should be allocated in full through the Devolved Governments and successful structures that already exist specifically to deliver economic development to address the needs and opportunities of the people of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland rather than through a new, separate layer of bureaucracy,” the First Ministers argue.

“The UK Government ignored the Devolved Governments’ efforts and requests to input to the development process for these funds for almost three years and is now using powers under the UK Internal Market Act to bypass us completely. It is ignoring our respective devolution arrangements, delivering funding to meet Whitehall’s priorities rather than those of the people of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

“This must be addressed before further policy development takes place on the Shared Prosperity Fund.”

They add that, with decisions on the funds being made entirely by the UK Government: “This falls far short of commitments made during the EU referendum for all these powers to be fully devolved after EU-exit….We will jointly be seeking an urgent meeting with Treasury to raise these important matters.”

Josiah Mortimer is co-editor of Left Foot Forward. Catch audio versions of previous roundups for the UnionDues podcast.

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