Lisa Durston

Some really welcome news from the Government today!

✅ Powers to speed up implementation of children’s wellbeing consultation outcome

✅ Preserving online data in tragic events of children’s deaths

✅ Powers to close loopholes to keep AI chatbots safe from illegal content

“We were crushed by the horror” but “I’m a survivor”

Gisèle Pelicot speaks to #Newsnight

Lucy with Andy Burnham, Angeliki and Ed Miliband

Huge numbers of Labour activists out today in Denton, Burnage and, with me in Levenshulme, @edmilibandmp.bsky.social @andyburnham.bsky.social, Angeliki Stogia, speaking to progressive voters who recognise that only we can stop Reform across the whole constituency.

"Epstein victims and Al-Fayed victims are watching what we do - they're not listening to what we say."

MP Natalie Fleet says it’s time to talk about the victims of sexual abuse with the same passion we’re talking about how bad the government is.

@lewisgoodall.com

So the Epstein scandal is about politics? Silly me for thinking it’s about the mass abuse of women and girls | Marina Hyde Obsessing over individual players and political chaos leaves less time to focus on the misogyny. And that’s for the best, isn’t it guys, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

Well said by Marina Hyde

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The media coverage is unrelenting and, at the centre of it all, are the lives of the girls that were devastated by abuse. Imagine if we just believed women and girls the first time round. Solidarity with survivors everywhere.

We're working with Bristol Charities to launch a first-of-its-kind food and essentials distribution hub.

Bringing together charities from across the West would help reach more people in crisis, with FareShare South West able to deliver an extra 3 million meals by 2030.

Amidst the noise, we must never forget the voices of the women and children who were trafficked and assaulted for years by Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful accomplices.

Mandelson should never have been pushed for the role of US ambassador, he and other hugely powerful men must be held to account.

Tonight, Labour MPs voted to scrap the two child limit – a move that puts us on course to drive the biggest reduction of child poverty in a single Parliament.

The Tories and Reform UK voted against it.

Don’t let anyone tell you voting Labour doesn’t make a difference 🌹

Bristol Labour’s position on the Park Street proposals This Thursday, the Transport and Connectivity Committee will vote on plans to install a bus gate on Park Street, closing it to through traffic. This follows a period of negotiation between the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and Bristol City Council over the funding arrangements. Despite offers of a compromise from WECA over a trial period for a bus gate only at peak times, the Green-led council has rejected this, seeking to take forward their original proposal and fund the majority of it through Clean Air Zone charges. We remain concerned about these plans. Modelling commissioned by the council shows that closing Park Street will worsen air pollution outside of the BRI and the Children’s Hospital. We consider it unconscionable that this council would take steps to make air quality worse where some of our most vulnerable children and adults access specialist healthcare in this city. We want cleaner air across Bristol, especially near our hospitals. Putting the brakes on the Park Street scheme frees up £5.3m of funding from the Joint Air Quality Unit for different measures to improve air quality. The council has a shortlist of other options on the table, including improving financial assistance to get more polluting vehicles off our roads and replaced with cleaner alternatives.

Not proceeding with the Park Street plans would free up a further £8m of Clean Air Zone charges for investment elsewhere. We have put forward a proposal to spend it on: Commissioning new bus routes or improved frequencies of existing ones Unblocking every drain in the city, audit them and put in measures to mitigate flooding in future Tripling the road marking repainting budget Installing solar lights on dark active travel routes Replacing bus stops that have been removed Improving cycling and road safety Filling more potholes When you weigh up the benefits of our proposal against the Park Street plan, there’s a clear winner. On this basis, we will vote against the Park Street proposals. Councillor Tom Renhard Councillor Tim Rippington Councillor Kaz Self Labour Members of the Transport & Connectivity Committee

📣 Our statement on the plans for Park Street

Anti-rape start-up’s kits ‘endanger survivors and victims’ MPs sound alarm on self-swab kits, as new questions raised over how Bristol-based start-up Enough is failing women

I am extremely concerned by the proliferation of dangerous ‘rape kits’.

Victims of sexual assault and rape should get help directly from professionals: www.nhs.uk/live-well/se...

www.opendemocracy.net/en/enough-an...

Anti-rape start-up’s kits ‘endanger survivors and victims’ MPs sound alarm on self-swab kits, as new questions raised over how Bristol-based start-up Enough is failing women

When Maria was sexually assaulted, she used an Enough kit to take a self DNA swab. Her friend posted it and then it was lost.

My follow up to my July investigation into Enough

www.opendemocracy.net/en/enough-an...

We can't walk on water, but the UK can start to run on it!

Tidal power can help lead our clean energy transition.

The Severn Estuary has the second-biggest tide in the world, and we need to harness that to deliver energy that is cheap, renewable, safe, and reliable.

Parents to save £450 a year as major expansion of free breakfast clubs unveiled Free breakfast clubs will roll out to a further 500 primary schools from April - with a £6,500 yearly funding boost compared to last year’s phase

We’re announcing the next 500 schools to join the Best Start free breakfast club programme. Support is being targeted to the 300,000 children who need it most.

Labour is giving our children the best start in life – no matter their background or postcode.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

A screenshot of a Bristol Green Party post reading “Big thanks to Cllr Barry Parsons and all of our Green councillors for building over 280 affordable homes in just six months”

Every one of homes was under construction during the Labour administration

All Councillor Parsons has done is attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies, pat himself on the back, and cut over 2,000 homes from the council housebuilding programme…

A rainy but very positive morning in Henleaze talking to local residents about local and national issues.

AI nudification: the latest weapon of violence against women and girls In Julie Burchill’s recent article in the Spectator, Does it really matter if Grok undresses us all?, she makes the argument that those who, like me, have repeatedly had their clothes removed by socia...

This week, an X user created an AI video of me being chloroformed and prepared for rape.

Victims are told it's not real and they're getting offended for no reason.

But nudification tools are weapons of sexual assault, and the harm they cause is real 👇

jessasato.substack.com/p/ai-nudific...

🚨 REMINDER: Only Labour will improve SEND support.

The Tories left behind a ‘lose, lose, lose’ system in their own words.

Reform UK will cut SEND support. They blame ‘naughty children’ & ‘bad parenting’.

Only Labour will build a system where every child can achieve & thrive.

Reform councils accused of being 'worst at fixing potholes' It comes as the Government launched its new traffic light system for tackling potholes, which shows a quarter of Local Highway Authorities led by Reform have been given a 'Red' rating

It will surprise precisely *no one* that Reform-led West Northants Council is amongst the worst in the country for potholes.

Despite a record £7.3 billion being given by this Labour Govt to local authorities for roads.

Infuriating. Just sort it out!

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

ICYMI – Labour are boosting animal welfare protections!

The changes proposed in the new Animal Welfare Strategy for England include:

🦊 Banning trail hunting;
🪤 ending the use of snare traps;
🐔 banning hen cages;
🐷 banning pig farrowing crates;
🐶 and ending puppy smuggling & farming.

New local powers to keep pavements clear for those who rely on them most Local councils will be given the power to crack down on problem pavement parking.

🅿️ Bristolians have long called for action on pavement parking. Until now, councils have not had the legal powers to effectively tackle this problem - the Labour Government is changing that 👇

www.gov.uk/government/n...

X is not safe for women - this is absolutely disgusting and will push women out of public life, so much of which is now online. That's not free speech, it's harassment (note - example below is thankfully age restricted, so only the prompts are visible and not the generated images).

Police warn victims are being duped into buying self-swab rape kits Thousands of women are being 'misled' by a firm selling self-swab rape kits as a 'deterrent' which could lead to attackers walking free, police have warned.

Great to see Enough’s harmed being called out more and more

Police warn victims are being duped into buying self-swab rape kits www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

A grand total of 10 Conservatives (one woman) and 0 Reform present for a statement on the VAWG strategy.

Clearly protecting women and girls isn’t that much of a priority for them.

"Kemi Badenoch has to use people like me to give her any kind of relevance," @jessphillipsmp.bsky.social tells @lewisgoodall.com, responding to Badenoch's criticism of her handling of violence against women & girls.

"She should probably apologise to the girls who might have been raped."

🚨 Tory austerity is over.

🌹 The Labour Government is boosting Bristol City Council's core spending power by £161.3 million 👇

UPDATE: Employment Rights Bill passed!

Labour delivering:

✅ Better Pay
✅ Better Conditions
✅ Better Jobs

Labour in action

Government announces extra funding for safe housing for domestic abuse survivors – UK politics live As part of the violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy councils will receive a further £19m Good morning. The news will be dominated by two foreign stories today: the ongoing response to the Hanukah killings at Bondi beach, which we are covering on a live blog here, and the latest talks in Berlin tonight on peace proposals for Ukraine. Keir Starmer is a key partner in this process, and he will be flying to Germany to attend. But first he will have to spend 90 minutes at the Commons liaison committee taking questions, not on foreign policy, but instead mostly on “the Plan for Change: one year on”. These hearings normally don’t reveal as much as a lengthy interrogation of the PM on policy probably should, but there is shortage of complaints about the government’s record over the past year and there are plenty of interesting questions that could be asked. Ministers said the funding would help local authorities offer victims access to a “fresh start” on top of £480m already pledged over the next three years for support including refuges and sanctuary schemes. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, is set to unveil sweeping reforms to the criminal justice system this week as part of government plans to halve Vawg, which it has declared a “national emergency”, within a decade. Continue reading...

Government announces extra funding for safe housing for domestic abuse survivors – UK politics live