The Green Party has long supported the public ownership of rail, along with other natural monopolies such as the NHS and water, and we therefore support this Bill. There is hope for a public transport revolution under this Government, but the only way we will get people out of their cars and on to public transport is if it is integrated Continue reading “Passenger Railway Services Bill Committee Stage”
Privatisation of rail has given us higher fares and generated a fat profit for all the state-owned German and French rail companies, which took advantage of UK taxpayers. I congratulate Labour on bringing this to an end. But why not end the disastrous mistake of water privatisation that will cost £12.5 billion in this Parliament alone, only to pay shareholders and creditors, but which will still result in waterways full of faeces, agricultural run-off, other chemicals, drugs, paint, bleach and plastic? If water companies collapsed, we could buy them for pennies and run them ourselves. Continue reading “Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill Second Reading”
My Clean Air Act is top of the Lords’ ballot for private members bills which means that it stands a good chance of getting through all three stages in the Lords, before moving into the Commons. The bill aims to protect the public against air pollution which is one of the biggest public health hazards of our time and responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths in the UK. I’ve been working on this issue for over twenty years, but this is my best chance to get the government to take decisive action.
Green Party Baroness, Jenny Jones, is putting a motion of regret that will be debated in the Lords Thursday, 27th January. The motion reads:
“to move that this House regrets the draft Revision of the Highway Code because, despite making important changes to protect road users from harm, Her Majesty’s Government has failed sufficiently to educate the public on the changes.”
Jenny is worried that the lack of publicity for the changes will lead to conflicts between drivers who are unaware of the new rules and pedestrians/cyclists who are asserting their rights under the new guidance.
View the motion here
July 5th is the 62nd anniversary of the first Clean Air Act becoming law
Local people and communities around the country would be able to take legal action to defend their right to clean air if the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill I introduced today became law. This week’s air pollution episode throughout England and Wales illustrates how widespread the legal actions could become, as people seek to get corporations to change their behaviour and to force councils and government bodies to reduce pollution. Continue reading “Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill launch”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 