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8 Jun, 6 tweets, 3 min read
Tory rebels are not the only ones calling for a vote on plans to cut Britain’s international aid budget.

More than 10,000 people have signed our petition to allow MPs to vote on this move 👇
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
A total of 30 Tory MPs, led by Andrew Mitchell MP, have supported an amendment to reverse the cuts.

During one of our live discussions, Mr Mitchell said the government believed reducing #ForeignAid would “go down well” with voters in the ‘Red Wall’ seats
The scale of the cuts was exclusively revealed by @PeterKGeoghegan earlier this year.

Spending in some of the poorest countries would be cut by as much as 88%
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
In March, former Tory minister Chris Patten said that Boris Johnson was refusing to give MPs a say on the cuts because the government would lose a vote on the matter
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
We then revealed that the cuts could see an 80% reduction in anti-corruption work.

The government was accused of ‘turning its back on the world’
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
Thousands of academics then signed an open letter calling on the UK government to reverse the decision
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

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openDemocracy Profile picture
8 Jun
WE WON! 🙌

This is a significant legal victory against the UK government.

The judgement forces transparency on a secretive unit accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information requests from journalists, campaigners and others.

~thread
After a three-year battle, the judge found that the documents the Cabinet Office presented in court about the controversial Clearing House unit were ‘misleading’.

He added that there is a “profound lack of transparency about the operation”, which might “extend to ministers”
We previously revealed that the Clearing House has blocked the release of politically sensitive information, in one instance comparing the handling of an FOI request to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war
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8 Jun
🚨 BREAKING: The #NHSDataGrab has been paused!

Thank you to @Foxglovelegal, to our coalition partners (@TheDA_UK, @DavidDavisMP, @justtreatment and @allthecitizens) and to the over 18,000 people who signed our petition. 🙏

But this is a pause, not a stop.

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However, the Government's plan to take the data of every GP patient in England remains the same.

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We still have questions:

🔹 How will patients be notified, including people who aren't online?

🔹 On what terms will corporations be allowed to access people's health data?

But the first battle is won. 💪

If you signed our petition, we will update you via email ✉️
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4 Jun
🔴 We are joining forces with @Foxglovelegal to issue an urgent legal challenge over the government's plans to seize our GP data on 1 July.

We need your help to stop them: opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/peti…

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openDemocracy Profile picture
3 Jun
🔴 Boris Johnson faces being defeated by a Conservative Party rebellion with 30 Tory MPs, including former PM Theresa May, having signed an amendment to reverse savage cuts to Britain’s international aid budget.

~thread
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
The number of rebels doubled overnight, with May joining one-time ministers Stephen Crabb and Johnny Mercer in adding her name to a rebel Tory amendment aiming to restore British foreign aid spending to 0.7% of national income
“The rebels are pretty confident they have the votes.”

A source told us that the government could be set to reverse the foreign cuts rather than risk the prospect of a Commons defeat on Monday
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3 Jun
Every day, women are given false and misleading information about their health and rights.

How do misinformation peddlers get away with it? And what can be done to stop them?

The @5050oD team are on their tail 🔍

#TrackingTheBacklash
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openDemocracy Profile picture
2 Jun
Today is #InternationalSexWorkersDay. ☂️

The pandemic brutally demonstrated what happens to marginalised and excluded people when things start to go wrong. A @BeyondSlavery's publication seeks to help sex workers get their government's attention
bit.ly/3vOLpew
Sex workers have suffered heavily under the pandemic because most are excluded from both private and public support.

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#InternationalSexWorkersDay
opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-traf…
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opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-traf…
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