‘Party-gate’ circus a disgrace as millions facing poverty and erosion of rights

For many weeks ‘Party-gate’ has been at the top of the news agenda. Now that the Gray report has arrived, there can be no doubt over the Prime Minister’s character or the No 10 Downing Street culture over which he presided throughout the pandemic.

The behaviour of the Prime Minister and others at No 10 in holding parties during lockdown is disgraceful. It is clear that he partied while everyone else in the country obeyed the law and was forced to say goodbye to dying loved ones over FaceTime, if at all. The Prime Minister should resign. But he won’t.

Johnson took the Bullingdon Club with him into No 10 and so it remains, with one rule for them and another for the rest of us. Johnson and his cronies seem to revel in the entire media circus around ‘Party-gate’.

It is vital therefore that news and developments elsewhere are not overlooked. The new head of Ofgem this week said he will be writing to Rishi Sunak to inform him the energy price cap is expected to be £2,800 in October, up from £1,971. The cap was £1,277 in October 2021, so this is a staggering rise and one that millions of people will not be able to afford.

As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, the Tories are increasingly focused on draconian attacks on trade union activity and right to protest.

On 23 May the Government put down the Public Order Bill and with it another attack on our right to protest. This Bill has rightly been met with opposition from human rights campaigners and trade unionists concerned that the measures will be used against pickets in industrial disputes.

This week I co-signed a reasoned amendment tabled by Bell Ribeiro-Addy to throw out the Public Order Bill and protect our right to call for the change we need, with cross-party support from the Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru and SDLP and I voted against the Public Order Bill. Unfortunately, it passed its second reading. We have a Government that is desperate to crack down on anyone who raises their voice in opposition, and we cannot let them succeed.