Change for the better happens when people stand together and demand it. Scotland Demands Better is the march and rally for all of us.
On Saturday 25 October thousands will come together in Edinburgh to demand that politicians make the changes we need for a society where every household can thrive and prosper.
We’re holding a series of public meetings across the country, and we’ve just got dates for the first three – in Glasgow on 4 Sep, Edinburgh on 9 Sep, and Dundee on 11 Sep. We’ll be sharing further details on the Scotland Demands Better website in the coming days.
On the updated Scotland Demands Better website, you can also download our new toolkit, with lots of inspiration and ideas about how you can get involved and mobilise people in your communites. You can also order a Promo Pack, with posters, leaflets, badges, and stickers.
On Thursday 14 August at 1pm and then again at 7pm we’re hosting free online events where activists can join to talk about how the campaign is going so far, and how we can best organise transport to get people to Edinburgh on the day.
This August, theSpaceUK presents a provocative and powerful programme of political theatre that tackles urgent issues with creativity, wit and fire.
From global crises to local unrest, these bold productions interrogate the systems we live in and ask: how did we get here – and where do we go next?
Politics in America – Up Close and Personal
Gun control, community trauma, and the fragility of democracy come to the fore in Acts of Kindness, a compelling docudrama from University of Redlands. Inspired by real interviews in El Paso following a devastating mass shooting, it’s a raw and humane portrait of a divided America, where stories of resilience illuminate the possibility of healing.
Meanwhile, Atomic Cabaret, a nuclear-age musical from Lynda Williams (AKA The Physics Chanteuse), delivers a subversive and hilarious takedown of atomic politics, blending science, satire and showtunes in a benefit for Scottish CND. Expect sass, smarts – and maybe even a Nobel Prize shout-out.
Generational Voices and Local Resistance
Burnley is the backdrop for Buried, a visceral piece from FirstByte Theatre, where young people grapple with political apathy, collapsing futures, and the fight to be heard. Across generations, timelines fracture and converge as they ask: when did it all go wrong? Dissonance by Lund finds its conflict closer to home – a school music club forced to reckon with the politics of their performance. Through live music and sharp dialogue, it’s a fresh take on belief, conformity, and what happens when youth hits a moral fork in the road.
History, Legacy and Living With the Past
In Kaddish (How to be a Sanctuary), Sam Sherman conjures conversations with his WWII veteran grandfather – and a mischievous Yiddish creature – to reflect on resistance, family, and inherited courage. In UNCLE TOM’S WAR: Haiti and the Whipping Machine, David Lee Morgan turns revolutionary history into blistering spoken word, connecting past uprisings to the fight for freedom today. Expect rage, humour, and poetry with a political punch.
Modern Power and Political Parody
For those drawn to the theatrical absurdity of real-life government, The General Will is a tragicomic fever dream of political theatre. Think clowns in crisis, Gen-Z disillusionment, and a Prime Minister in freefall.
Equally sharp, Yellow reimagines Twelfth Night’s Malvolio as a disgraced spin doctor, exploring the murky ethics of ambition and spin. Written by a senior political insider, it’s a biting look at the compromise of ideals in today’s corridors of power.
Through a tapestry of voices – from Golda Meir to a Palestinian mother – Laub navigates the complexities of Zionism, liberalism and loss. Honest, human and unflinchingly personal, it’s a courageous call for understanding in a world too often defined by division.
Dystopias, Dilemmas and Difficult Questions
Set in a near future where climate catastrophe has redrawn the rules, The Trials(Bede’s Company) asks a chilling question: who deserves to survive? This abridged version of Dawn King’s play is performed with taut urgency by a cast that delivers both passion and precision.
In Loveless, Tapped Theatre dissects modern intimacy, misogyny and online culture in a surreal, episodic satire that is as disturbing as it is funny – a warped mirror to our digital lives and relationships.
Urgent, fearless and fiercely creative, political theatre at theSpaceUK is essential Fringe viewing.
Communities will unite on Saturday 19 July to take a stand against the Government’s inaction on plastic pollution
Protests and beach cleans will be taking place across the UK as part of a National Day of Action organised by Surfers Against Sewage
Campaigners and the community in Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh are rallying in a National Day of Action against plastic pollution this Saturday, 19 July.
The Surfers Against Sewage “The People vs Plastic” campaign will see protestors descend on the UK’s beaches, city streets and everywhere in between to send a clear message: the government must act decisively to tackle plastic pollution at its source, to position the UK as a global leader in the fight against single-use plastics.
Locations and timings of protests in Scotland are as follows:
· Craws Nest, Stonehaven Beach, Aberdeenshire 10:00
· Hawes Pier, South Queensferry, 13:00
The campaign aims to ramp up the pressure on Government ahead of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, reconvening in Geneva from 5-14 August.
Earlier talks collapsed in South Korea, last year, with countries failing to agree on reducing plastic production. Campaigners say that a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty is urgently needed to cut pollution at its source and protect blue spaces.
Ahead of the National Day of Action, communities from coast to city will host grassroots events, from “Trash Mobs” in local schools to community-led cleans, building momentum for the nationwide protest.
Data will be collected during the community cleans, which will help Surfers Against Sewage map the true scale of plastic pollution, and name the brands and retailers most to blame.
The public can get involved by heading to the Surfers Against Sewage website to find a local protest to join or show support during the Week of Action by getting involved with a local Plastic Free Community close to home.
Communities and schools are at the forefront of Surfers Against Sewage’s campaign against plastic, with over 400 active Plastic Free Communities and over 3,000 Plastic Free Schools leading the way in the fight against plastic in their local area. So far in 2025, over 88,000 people have taken part in over 3,600 local cleans, collecting over 40,000kg of rubbish, as part of the charity’s Million Mile Clean initiative.
Marion Montgomery, Surfers Against Sewage representative and Stonehaven Beach protest organiser said: “In Stonehaven, we’re organising ‘Save our Seas from Plastic’ protest along with a beach clean and sandcastle competition.
“We’re demanding real action against the producers of the huge amounts of plastic packaging which inevitably ends up polluting our ocean and coastlines. To avoid future carnage, we need tighter restrictions against ‘new’ things, like single use vapes, being put on sale to the public.”
Surfers Against Sewage is calling on the UK Government to deliver on the goals of the Global Plastics Treaty immediately through joined up and ambitious national plans to end plastic pollution, including:
· Setting legally-binding targets to cut plastic pollution
· Implementing an effective circular economy centred on reuse and refill, including the implementation of a comprehensive Deposit Return Scheme and introduction of binding reuse targets
· Holding polluters to account by enforcing current laws and delivering Extended Producer Responsibility schemes that make polluters pay.
Giles Bristow, Chief Executive at Surfers Against Sewage said:“Broken promises, stalled progress, surging pollution. We are drowning in the toxic tide of plastic that continues to rise.
“Enough is enough, so we are rising up too. As families pack their buckets and spades and the summer holidays begin, there’s no better time to shine a light on the plastics choking our shores. The UK remains one of the worst offenders for generating single-use waste that travels the globe, and our government is still dawdling on action.
“We’re sick to death of plastic-pushing corporations fuelling this crisis while spinning greenwashing lies and pointing the finger at consumers. They churn out mountains of non-recyclable packaging, sabotage vital policies behind closed doors, and consistently miss every voluntary target. The Labour government pledged us a zero-waste future, we’re all ears, but we won’t settle for anything less.
“That’s why, on Saturday 19 July we’re calling on Ocean Activists from Penzance to Porthcawl and everywhere in between to make their voices heard.
“Whether you’re clearing your favourite beach or marching through city streets, communities hold the power to drive change. With Global Plastics Treaty negotiations just around the corner, we must turn up the heat.
“Together, we can become a force impossible for leaders, and polluters, to ignore.”
Protest locations and National Week of Action information can be found on the Surfers Against Sewage website.
Following the protest, the charity is encouraging people to sign a petition to put pressure on the Government to tackle the problem. For more information, visit the campaign web page here.
As Edinburgh opens its doors to welcome visitors from around the world on the 1st day of its Festival, organisers of the racist GB National Strike have threatened more racist hatred when they return to Edinburgh on August 1st.
New details on the Government’s welfare reforms will be published today ahead of Second Reading of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on Tuesday.
Terms of reference for the first comprehensive review of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment in a decade to be published today.
Comes alongside draft regulations for the new Right to Try Guarantee – enshrining protections in law for disabled people and people with health conditions who want to try work.
Reforms to deliver greater certainty, independence, and dignity for disabled people, while ensuring the system is fair, sustainable, and fit for the future as part of the Plan for Change.
New details on the government’s welfare reforms will be published today (Monday 30 June 2025) ahead of Second Reading of the Universal Credit (UC) and PIP Bill on Tuesday.
The terms of reference for the first ever comprehensive review of the PIP assessment in over a decade will be published today. The review – led by Minister for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms – will ensure the system is fair, supportive and reflects the realities of modern life.
It will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and MPs with the core objective of delivering better experiences and better outcomes for disabled people and people with health conditions.
The review aims to respond to the changing picture of population health over the last decade including the rising prevalence of long-term health conditions and disability in the working-age population.
Monthly PIP awards have more than doubled since the pandemic, rising from 13,000 to 34,000 – a rate of around 1,000 new claims per day, or the population of Leicester every year. Much of this increase is driven by mental health conditions with awards for anxiety and depression having tripled from 2,500 per month in 2019 to 8,200 in 2023.
To better help those with mental ill health, the government has recruited more than 6,700 extra mental health workers since July while rolling out more access to occupational health services and developing digital resources, so employers better support their staff’s mental wellbeing.
Many people have also reported poor experiences with the assessment process. The current system often fails to reflect the real-world impact of disability on daily life and is no longer fit for purpose – making reform urgent and essential.
Alongside the review, draft regulations for the new Right to Try Guarantee will be laid in Parliament. This will, for the first time, enshrine in law the right for people receiving health and disability benefits to try work without fear of reassessment. This includes disabled people and people with health conditions – such as those recovering from illness – who want to return to work now their health has improved.
This responds directly to concerns raised by disabled people and people with health conditions – 37% of whom say they want to work but are held back by fear of losing their benefits according to a DWP survey.
Fixing the broken welfare system this government inherited is central to breaking down barriers to opportunity and driving up living standards – delivering on the government’s Plan for Change.
The government says reforms will ensure disabled people have the support they need to live independently, with dignity, and will unlock opportunities to get into work without facing the prospect of losing the help they need.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: “We must build a welfare system that provides security for those who cannot work and the right support for those who can. Too often, disabled people feel trapped – worried that if they try to work, they could lose the support they depend on.
“That is why we are taking action to remove those barriers, support disabled people to live with dignity and independence, and open routes into employment for those who want to pursue it.
“This is about delivering a fairer, more compassionate system as part of our Plan for Change which supports people to thrive, whatever their circumstances.”
The Government will also set out details today of the changes they intend to make to the Bill as part of the government’s welfare reforms.
The Government says it has has listened to MPs who support the principle of reform but are worried about the pace of change for those already supported by the social security system.
That’s why ministers have confirmed that as part of the Bill:
All existing PIP recipients will remain on the current system and the proposed changes to eligibility as part of the bill will only apply to new claims from November 2026.
200,000 individuals in the Severe Conditions Criteria group – individuals with the most severe, lifelong conditions who are unlikely to recover – will not be called for a UC reassessment.
All existing recipients of the UC health element and new customers with 12 months or less to live or who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria will see their standard allowance combined with their Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) rise at least in line with inflation every year from 2026/27 to 2029/30.
Nearly 4 million households will receive an income boost with the main rate of UC set to increase above inflation every year for the next four years – estimated to be worth £725 by 2029/30 for a single household aged 25 or over. This is around £250 higher than an inflation only increases.
The Bill will also rebalance UC rates by reducing the health element for new UC claims to the equivalent of £50 per week from April 2026, fixing a system which incentivises people to define themselves as incapable of work by paying health element recipients more than double the standard amount.
These reforms will be also underpinned by a significant investment in employment support. Funding will be brought forward to accelerate tailored employment, health and skills support to help disabled people and those with health conditions get into work as part of our Pathways to Work guarantee.
£300 million will be brought forward over the next three years, increasing total employment support by £2.2 billion over four years – upholding our commitment to spend £1 billion per year by the end of the decade.
This investment will accelerate the pace of new planned investment in employment support programmes, building on and learning from successes such as the Connect to Work programme, which already provides disabled people and people with health conditions with one-to-one support at the point when they feel ready to work.
And for people whose health challenges make it difficult to find or stay in work, our initiative in partnership with the NHS, WorkWell, will offer personalised support to help individuals manage their health while preparing for or returning to employment. This will build on progress already made to get 384,000 people into work since this government entered office and will come alongside fundamental reforms to patient support as part of the landmark 10 Year Health Plan.
Health professionals will be on hand to connect people with services like physiotherapy, mental health support, and more. They will also be supported by a dedicated employment adviser who understands their specific health needs and guide them every step of the way.
For too long, meaningful reform to our welfare system has been ducked and delayed – stunting productivity, slowing down growth and ultimately holding British people and our country back. The government is taking decisive action and the difficult decisions needed to restore trust and faith in the system, providing opportunities for those who can work, and security for those who cannot.
Further information
The UC and PIP Bill is scheduled for Second Reading in the House of Commons Parliament on Tuesday 1 July 2025.
The UC and PIP Bill legislates for:
A new additional eligibility requirement for the daily living component of PIP so that from November 2026 new claimants must score a minimum of 4 points must be scored on at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component.
Rebalancing of UC health and standard elementsincluding reducing the health top-up for new claims to £50 per week from April 2026.
Ensure that all existing recipients of the UC health element – and any new claimant meeting the Severe Conditions Criteria and/or that has their claims considered under the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) – will receive the higher UC health payment after April 2026.
Increasing the UC standard allowance above inflation for the next four years – worth an estimated £725 by 2029/30 for a single adult aged 25 or over.
Exemptions from reassessment for those with the most severe, lifelong conditions.
The Government has also confirmed that it will amend the Bill at Commons Committee stage to:
Provide protection for existing PIP claimants—ensuring they remain on the current system and are unaffected by new eligibility rules.
For all existing recipients of the UC health element – and any new claimant meeting the Severe Conditions Criteria and/or that has their claims considered under the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) – the LCWRA rate for this group will now be uprated each year this Parliament to ensure their combined rate of the Universal Credit standard allowance and LCWRA is protected in real terms.
The Bill currently includes a 13-week transitional period for the PIP changes, but this will be superseded by long-term protections for existing claimants.
The Terms of reference for the PIP review, draft regulations for the Right to Try Guarantee, the draft amendment to the Bill which will enact the change to PIP, and analysis of poverty impacts will be published later today.
Latest data published last week shows almost one-in-four adults in England have common mental health conditions – and that adults with problem debt and those out of work are far more likely to experience mental health conditions.
To better help those with mental ill health, the government is boosting access to support, with more than 6,700 extra mental health workers since July, marking a significant milestone towards its goal of 8,500 by the end of this Parliament.
It has also started rolling out more access to occupational health services and developing digital resources so employers can better support their staff’s mental wellbeing as part of its drive to get people back to health and back to work.
More than 100 charities unite to say Scottish MPs must stand against social security cuts
More than 100 charities and civil society organisations have urged Scottish MPs to stand against social security cuts, uniting to tell Scottish MPs that it’s not too late to change course on controversial cuts.
They have written a joint letter to Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and copied it to all of Scotland’s MPs at Westminster.
They warned that will mean destitution and misery for many sick and disabled people, as well as others in their households – including children and unpaid carers
Peter Kelly, chief executive of The Poverty Alliance said: “People are desperate for the UK Government to deliver a just and compassionate society – but these proposals will deliver the opposite.
“If enacted, these cuts will mean more disabled people living in poverty, relying on foodbanks, and pushed into destitution. That’s not the change people voted for at the last general election.”
In the letter they say: “This is a question of about the kind of society we want to be. Scotland is a country that believes in justice and compassion and people want our governments to make decisions which align with those values.
“We urge Ministers to drop these proposals. We urge Scottish MPs to vote against these cuts, sending a strong, positive message to disabled people and carers in Scotland that this Government will build a country free from poverty, not one that forces people into deeper poverty and destitution.”
MPs are expected to get their first chance to vote on the cuts in the Commons on 1 July. The Government is facing defeat after dozens of Labour MPs signalled their opposition.
Fiona Collie of Carers Scotland said: “We need a government that will reduce the poverty that unpaid carers face. If these cuts go ahead, even more of them will be pushed into crisis – leaving people struggling to afford food, heating, and other essentials.
“We estimate that around 150,000 unpaid carers across the UK stands to lose carers’ benefits as a direct result of these changes. That’s completely wrong – and any MP who votes to inflict that kind of deliberate harm on people in their constituency will have to justify themselves to electors.”
Tressa Burke of the Glasgow Disability Alliance said: “It is shameful to try to balance the nation’s books on the backs of disabled people. We have around 6,000 members who have already suffered the worst impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, and more than a decade of austerity and social security cuts.
“These plans will cause untold harm to many disabled people and push them into destitution. It will undermine their human rights and leave them facing even greater inequality and discrimination. If MPs in Scotland support these heartless cuts, it will be a bleak day indeed. They will absolutely not get people into work, and will act as a reason to fall out of work too, where PIP has been topping up low-paid work.’
In a survey last year, 71% of Glasgow Disability Alliance members said they didn’t have enough money to manage the cost of their needs, 68% couldn’t afford utilities, and 58% couldn’t manage the costs of food and essential groceries.
A substantial number of Labour backbenchers remain resolute and refuse to back the watered-down Bill.
RACHAEL Maskell MP said: “I have spent my life standing up for sick and disabled people, professionally and personally, and while progress is welcome, to introduce a system which leaves sick and disabled people in the future in poverty, those with fluctuating conditions, in uncertainty, including those with MS or a cancer relapse, no security, is unacceptable.
“Taking someone’s independence, does not make them better, more able to work or keep people in work. It creates poverty, dependency and places more pressure on social care and the NHS.
“Most chilling, according to Refuge, 29% of domestic violence survivors are disabled people and are far less likely to flee their home if they lose this crucial support.
“Work by the Women’s Budget Group demonstrates that this policy is highly gendered, impacting women significantly.
“Disabled people have not battled all their lives to then pull the ladder up behind them.
“I cannot support the ableist perception of sick and disabled people, where they have been given no agency in these proposals.
“Instead I draw on the substantial evidence, the voices of those impacted and my conscience which determines that I cannot cross by on the other side and have no choice but to vote against the UC & PIP Bill.”
More than 75,000 people have signed Richard Burgon MPs petition on Change:
Disability rights campaigners held a protest outside Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray’s constituency office in 31 Minto Street on Saturday. The event was organised to protest against proposed cuts to disability benefits.
Speakers attended from local community groups such as Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, ‘Crips Against Cuts’ Edinburgh, and local disability rights groups and charities.
Ian Murray was criticised for cutting benefits while receiving an income at taxpayer expense. One attendee broke down in tears describing the effect the proposed cuts to disability benefits would have on their life.
Speakers were followed by live music and an open discussion about how to stop the cuts.
One protester was dressed as the Grim Reaper to emphasise the life-threatening impact of proposed cuts.
The protest was organised by the Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty and the Austerity Resistance Forum.
A member of the forum commented: ”The Austerity Resistance Forum is a political group based in the local community, and on regular assemblies.
“We are sick of years of failed and disastrous austerity policies which are tearing up working class communities. A crumbling NHS, a sky-high cost of living, and social desperation are the direct result of endless government cuts”.
Speeches and statements
John McArdleCo-founder of the Scotland-based grassroots Black Triangle spoke at the demonstration: “The message we need to send to Labour MP’s is that if you vote for this bill we will see you off. You will lose your seat. We’ve done the research. We know that in most constituencies there are more disabled people than the parliamentary majority of those MP’s.
“They are treading on very, very thin political ice, and the only thing they understand is hard political power. Brothers and Sisters, we have that power!
“The message we send to Ian Murray today, and to every Scottish Labour MP who was elected in the new intake is that if you attack us, if you starve us, if you try and kill us – we will shut you down!”
Following the protest, he added: “We have read the ‘Riot Act’ to the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] now. We have done our homework and the whole community is on our side: if you vote for these cuts, if you continue your betrayal of us; if you remove our support and try to starve us, make us homeless and ultimately kill us, we and our allies will ensure that your constituency majorities will be wiped out and that the Labour Party ceases to be a political force here in Scotland, Wales or the United Kingdom generally.
“We will take you down with our ship. You know it.”
A speaker from a local disability charity also made a speech at the event:“I’ve worked with disabled people now for eighteen years, and this is the worst attack that we’ve seen ..even worse than the cuts under the coalition government … we’re going to see absolute destitution occurring.
“It’s already happening. In Scotland seventy five percent of food bank users are disabled people or their families. [Audience members shout “shame on scotland”] It is an absolute shame, but it’s also a shame on society, wider society, in the UK… I consider myself a disabled person now… I have stage four cancer.
But, I’m above the age where I’ll lose benefits. It really does mean a lot to disabled people that we have allies in the movement that are prepared to take action…You can tell the amount of support that the public has for this issue by the amount of cars that are honking their horns as they pass… We will win eventually. I’m absolutely certain of that. Thank you very much. [Cheering and clapping].”
A local resident with Parkinson’s disease also spoke, while physically shaking: “There are a lot of elements of Parkinson’s disease which are not included in the measurements for assessing disability.
“Like me, without medication I sleep about four hours a night and day after day, week after week, that’s really hard. They way they cut it, it’s just so arbitrary. If you can tell from my voice, I’m American. I’ve been here twenty years, my life is here.
“But I’ve been getting some close reports with what’s been going on with the Trump Administration, which is in power partly because the democrats did not support the people enough and gave rise to populism. [Applause and drums] I think that is going to happen here. I just want to thank every single one of you for showing up today [tears], for making this issue viable.
“Please continue to do so. Thank you.” [Applause and drums].
Climate justice campaigners from groups including Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh, Biofuelwatch, Fuel Poverty Action, Stop Burning Trees, Protest in Harmony and Parents for Future Scotland have staged a musical and dance demonstration in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh as part of a UK-wide mobilisation for Drax’s AGM which is taking place in London today.
Drax is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner.
The ‘Love Trees, Axe Drax’ protest featured speeches, dancing by the Scotland Tree Gees to ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees as well as singing led by Protest in Harmony, including Drax-themed lyrics to ‘Hit the Road Drax’ and ‘Money Money Money’ by Abba.
The Edinburgh demonstration is part of a wider online and in-person mobilisation for Drax’s AGM today, with other protests happening in York, Liverpool and outside the AGM in London to call for an end to Drax’s tree-burning subsidies.
In 2024, Drax received £869 million in green subsidies from UK energy bills, whilst making nearly £1.1 billion in profit and giving its CEO, Will Gardiner, a salary of nearly £3m.
In February this year, the Government announced plans to use UK energy bills to extend Drax’s renewable subsidies until 2031, contrary to the advice of the Climate Change Committee [4], and with no obligation for the company to capture any of the carbon dioxide it emits.
Sally Clark from Biofuelwatch said: ‘There is nothing green or sustainable about Drax’s tree burning, climate-wrecking emissions and harm to communities and wildlife. The Government needs to reconsider its catastrophic plans to grant huge new tree-burning subsidies for Drax.
‘If we are to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees and ensure a liveable future for all, we need to protect and restore the world’s forests, not allow big polluters like Drax to log and burn them.’
Cathy Allen from Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh said: ‘It is shocking that Drax is receiving billions in renewable subsidies from our energy bills to burn trees and pollute communities around the world.
“This is the opposite of green energy and the government’s plans to waste even more of our money on new subsidies for Drax will be a disaster for the planet if they go ahead.
‘If the Government is serious about climate leadership, it should invest in real solutions like warm homes and wind and solar power, not send our futures up in smoke with even more money for Drax’s climate-wrecking tree burning.’
Drax has repeatedly been accused of driving ‘environmental racism’ by communities in the Southern US living near Drax’s pellet mills, which emit harmful pollutants linked to asthma, cancer and pulmonary health issues.
Earlier this month, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality refused Drax’s permit application to expand air pollution at its wood pellet mill in Gloster, Mississippi due to public health concerns and following multiple fines for Drax over air pollution violations.
Merry Dickinson, Lead Campaigner for the Stop Burning Trees Coalition said: ‘Today, Drax is gathering with its shareholders to discuss the profits it’s made from ripping off bill payers, burning forests and polluting communities abroad.Drax’s profits are built off scamming bill payers, destroying vital forests and polluting Black and low income communities in the US.
‘It is a disgrace that the Government has just granted Drax more of our money to continue polluting our planet. We will not stand by and allow Drax’s destruction to go unchecked. The future is in real green energy and green jobs, not Drax’s dirty tree burning and pollution.’
Stuart Bretherton from Fuel Poverty Action said: ‘To stick further costs onto our energy bills, to continue subsidising record breaking profits from Drax’s destroying and burning of vital forests, is criminal.
“It’s not hard to find the solutions that could reduce bills and boost energy security without betraying our climate targets and harming communities here and abroad.
“This government should be looking at why the unit price of electricity is still tied to that of gas, forcing us to pay far more to heat our homes this way even though renewable electricity is much cheaper to produce.
“And why are we paying out huge sums of public money for wind and solar farms to switch off during the highest periods of production, when this excess clean energy could power our homes for next to nothing, literally for free?”
Last week, a new report by the Public Accounts Committee raised concerns that wood-burning companies like Drax are ‘marking their own homework’ when it comes to meeting sustainability standards.
BBC Panorama investigations have found that Drax is continuing to log primary forests in British Columbia in Canada and the company has failed more than once to report that it is sourcing wood to burn from previously untouched forests in Canada.
Disability Rights UK have launched a new page on the DR UK website containing information and resources regarding the recent green paper plan on benefit cuts and how people can get involved in responding.
The fallout from the recent announcements of benefit cuts and reforms has sent shockwaves through Disabled peoples organisations, disability charities and allies such as Amnesty, the Trussel Trust and many more, who all agree the cuts proposed will be catastrophic.
According to the Government, the benefits system is out of control, with far too many disabled people wrongly receiving benefits. This is not the true picture.
Social security spending overall is not increasing in any significant way.
Inclusion London have made clear that in 2023/4 the UK spent 4.88% of GDP on non-pensioner social security payments, which is lower than it was in 2009 (5.75%), the comparison year the Office for Budget Responsibility used in its 2024 Welfare Trends Report on incapacity benefits.
This is a long-term trend is steady back to the 1990s. Fraud rates for disability benefits are practically non-existent: (PIP) fraud stood at 0% in the financial year ending 2024.
It is a fact that half of all people in poverty are disabled people. Disabled people can’t afford food, energy, housing and transport, and are the biggest users of Food Banks.
The community also faces additional costs related to impairments and health conditions, amounting to up to £1k extra a month and yet the Government intends to take £5 billion pounds from Disabled peoples incomes with its benefit reforms.
With the spring statement offering even less hope, there no humanitarian or economic sense of pushing more disabled people into poverty: we need to act.
The OBR has not yet been able to forecast any employment gain from the cuts/changes to incapacity & disability benefits, so effectively MPs are being asked to support these cuts without any clear assessment of what it will achieve.
These cuts are purely about saving money, nothing else. DR UK and its allies will not stay silent as benefits are cut, public services are slashed, & our rights are eroded, join us in the fight.
The Our new web page contains what action you can take how you can get involved in campaigning against these thebenefit cuta proposals how you can respond , for example responding to the consultation write writing to your MP and protesting.
Learn more about what we campaign on, and how you can campaign with us by visiting the Take Action page
