As the Cass review is published, my thoughts are with the trans community.

Young trans people already face huge barriers to healthcare, including years-long waiting lists.

Their health and wellbeing should not be a front in a toxic culture war. While some recommendations may positively impact the care young trans people receive, I know that others will cause significant concern.

I'm also aware of concerns raised about aspects of the review's methodology and therefore the basis upon which recommendations have been made.

Today is the last day of LGBTQ+ History Month 2024.

Recent years have been difficult for our community. That’s why I wanted to post a short thread to remind us of some of our movement’s past victories in the UK.

Like we won then, we can win again. From the Middle Ages up until the 1960s, all sex between men was a crime. From 1958, the Homosexual Law Reform Society campaigned for decriminalisation.

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act legalised homosexual acts between men over 21, taking place in private.

Liz Truss’ new cabinet is filled with out-of-touch ultra-Thatcherites who have opposed women’s and LGBTQ rights, dismissed the climate emergency and insulted working class people.

Here’s a thread of some of the leading stars and their greatest hits 🧵👇🏽 Deputy PM & Health Secretary Therese Coffey:

- Hostile to abortion, voted against extending access to at-home abortion pills
- Voted against same sex marriage & against extending it to Northern Ireland
- Wrongly claimed UC claimants could make up £20 cut by working two hours

The first ballot in the #ToryLeadershipContest is taking place today, so here are some facts about the 8 MPs who could become Prime Minister in just a matter of weeks.🧵👇🏽 1) Rishi Sunak.

Worth £730 million. Held a green card (= a permanent US resident) while he was Chancellor. His wife used non-dom status to avoid tax.

Said he would run the economy like Thatcher.

Biggest drop in living standards since 1956 while he was Chancellor.

It’s easy to feel despair right now, but despair won’t save us - only hope and action can.

So here are some big wins in 2021 made possible through collective action, from local to global 👇🏽

(Add yours too!) 💥@StopCambo forced Siccar Point to pause Cambo drilling

💥@_TeachtheFuture and I brought the Climate Education Bill to Parliament, the first ever student-written Bill. It passed 1st reading

💥@PaidToPollute made govt admit its £bn tax breaks to the North Sea oil & gas industry

As Ministers spent Christmas Day in the comfort of their homes, they told 67 people trying to cross the Channel they’re not welcome.

The Borders Bill is the govt doubling down on political choices that have already cost lives. It will be a death sentence for future refugees. Talk of criminal gangs is a tactic to distract from the government’s hostile environment creating perfect conditions for traffickers: closing safe and legal routes, stripping people’s rights when they arrive, plus foreign policy decisions forcing many to move in the first place.

As I pointed out in my maiden speech, this is a government of ministers who boast about their Class A drug use at uni, while criminalising teenagers in my community dealing weed.

Now it is turbo-charging the war on drugs. This won’t work and will continue to wreck lives.

🧵 1/7 The war on drugs hasn’t stopped people taking drugs.

In the 50 years since the Misuse of Drugs Act, drug use has increased.

Less than 10,000 people took heroin before 1971, over 250,000 do now. Less than half a million used cannabis, over 2.5 million do today. 2/7

The Nationality and Borders Bill is back in Parliament next week.

It's the biggest threat to refugee rights we’ve seen in decades and breaches our obligations under international law.

Here’s what you need to know 👇🏽 1/9 The Bill was recently updated so that the government can strip someone of British citizenship without notice.

This law will of course be used against people of colour, no matter if they were born in this country. 2/9

On sexual harassment allegations made of Boris Johnson’s father, Nadine Dorries said “I don’t believe it happened. It never happened to me. Perhaps there is something wrong with me.”

Let’s unpack why this is so dangerous: 1. Women have a right to be believed.

When sexual harassment and abuse are sanctioned from the top, that silences all women and lets abusers get away with it.

(And misogyny exists on a spectrum, so our response to harassment also impacts victims of the most serious violence)

I have spoken to both the Health Secretary and Nottingham City Council Director of Public Health, about a case of the new COVID variant detected in Nottingham. (1/5)

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-594453… The household of the case and their contacts have been tested and are isolating.

There is not currently evidence of other cases, so UKHSA has assessed that wider community testing is not necessary, but this will be reviewed and there will be increased testing in schools. (2/5)

If you thought the Policing Bill was bad before, that was nothing compared to the latest version.

Priti Patel has quietly added further measures to effectively criminalise protest.

These laws belong in a dictatorship, not a democracy.

Some of the worst new powers 👇🏽 1/5 Police will be able to stop & search at protests to avoid a "public nuisance".

If you refuse, you face jail time.

Attaching yourself to anything, carrying "equipment" for this, even potentially holding hands will be illegal. 2/5

I'm appalled by the behaviour and comments of Conservative MPs in @Afzal4Gorton's #IslamophobiaAwarenessMonth debate today. 🧵

1) There was constant tone policing and eye-rolling of Muslim MPs' contributions. They objected to people raising instances of Islamophobia by Tories. They even said that "you're not doing your cause any favours". Tackling racism shouldn't be conditional on tone or reliant on favours.

2) They made appeals to "take the politics" out of the debate. When our PM compares Muslim women to letterboxes, it is political.

This is why women are asking “who will police the police?” and demanding real systemic and cultural change beyond “more bobbies on the beat”. (THREAD)

▪️There must be an immediate public inquiry into institutional police failings.

▪️Cressida Dick must resign. Sarah Everard:
Serious allegations against Wayne Couzens were swept under the carpet. His colleagues nicknamed was “the rapist”.

He kidnapped #SarahEverard by arresting her. When women gathered to mourn her, the force he belonged to arrested them.

2,294 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Nottingham in one week, up from 407 the week before.

This situation was avoidable - but the government continues to ignore warnings and put my constituents at risk.

Thread 👇🏽 We know that reopening universities before it was safe significantly contributed to the outbreak.

Student areas have been most affected, and 82% of new confirmed cases have been 18 to 22-year-olds.

Had the government listened to @UCU, we'd be in a much better position today.