Category Archives: Cornwall

Communists on the campaign trail ’21

With last week’s ‘Super Thursday’ elections, Communists around the country have been pushing for votes. Being the largest election campaign for the Communist Party since the 1980’s the Communist Party is fighting to provide a genuine alternative to the mainstream political parties up and down Britain.

Missed Clare’s Law deadlines put women at risk

Nearly 25% of applications for background checks accepted last year by the police took longer than a month to reveal information about the criminal histories of suspected abusers. Under Clare’s Law, implemented in 2014, people have the “right to ask” police about any past domestic violence or offences that mean their partners could be a potential risk to them.

Nurses in England prepared to strike over ‘pitiful’ 1% pay rise

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced yesterday (4 March 2021) that it’s members would be preparing for potential strike action over the pay rise announced in the UK budget, which they describe as ‘pitiful’. The RCN announced it was preparing a £35 million strike fund in advance of potential industrial action in England. Healthcare pay is devolved, hence the inclusion of England only. Although, workers in Scotland and Wales are preparing similar actions related to equally dismal pay rises.

Premature school opening puts COVID recovery at risk

Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined the “roadmap” out of lockdown for England on Monday (22 February 2021), with an idea of when pubs, cinemas, sporting events and non essential shops would be opened. However many are concerned at the opening of schools as early as the 8th of March. Johnson put forward his 4 step plan for England to the House of Commons, with the first step being schools opening early next month.

High Court finds Matt Hancock acted unlawfully over COVID contracts

A High Court judge has ruled this week (19 February 2021) that Matt Hancock’s failure to publish details of contracts related to the COVID-19 pandemic response within 30 days was unlawful, breaching the “vital function” of transparency over how billions of taxpayers’ money was spent. The case was brought forward by the Good Law Project, an organisation that is in the process of many legal challenges against the government’s procurement of services during the pandemic, including PPE contracts.

What the free school meals scandal says about capitalism in Britain

The refusal to extend free school meals over Christmas has met a lot of backlash. The predicted cost of this scheme would only be around £20 million as only 15% of students were estimated to be receiving free school meals. This number accounts for about 1.3 million children but the actual figure is now estimated to have risen to around 2 million.

Wrong priorities in education

In the last few weeks the Tories, headed by Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education (pictured), have been busy putting out new information for schools to safeguard children. Unfortunately the threats they’re tackling are not the growing threat of coronavirus, but the threat to their minds from dangerous ideas like anti-capitalism

Labour narrowly overtake Tories in poll for the first time under Starmer

An opinion poll released last week put Labour ahead in the polls for the first time since June 2019. However, despite the utterly inadequate response of the government, which has seen Britain with the largest death toll in Europe [1], many voters have still continued to support them.