Today 38 Degrees members joined hundreds of people in a “March of the Beekeepers” at Parliament Square.

The demonstration was hosted by 38 Degrees along with Avaaz, Buglife, Environmental Justice Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Pesticide Action Network UK, RSPB, and the Soil Association.

Certain pesticides called neonicotinoids are being blamed by scientists across the world for the decline in bee numbers.  On Monday, Owen Paterson our environment minister will take part in a big european vote on whether to stop these pesticides being used.  Countries such as France and Italy have already taken steps to ban them, but our government is dragging its heels.

With hundreds of us descending on parliament we showed that not only is there a mountain of evidence against these pesticides but also a huge weight of public opinion in favour of stopping them.

The petitions from all the organisations were delivered to 10 Downing Street.  This included the 285,000 signatures on the 38 Degrees petition.  If you’ve not signed the petition yet, you can do so here.

Can you help spread the word and make sure that everyone is talking about the bees before he goes to vote? Owen will find it hard to vote against a ban if he knows that public opinion is completely against him.

Let’s share the petition on facebook, let’s email our friends and let’s tweet about the bees. Now with over 300,000 signatures, we can make sure the bees have an army of us looking out for them.

Great news! We’ve stopped the government’s plan to spy on everyone’s internet use. Late yesterday Nick Clegg announced he will not allow the “snoopers’ charter” to go ahead.

38 Degrees members moved quickly when we first heard of the plan to collect details of who we call, text, email and which websites we visit. We voted to work together to stop these intrusive and expensive plans.

Together, over the past 18 months:

- nearly 200,000 of us signed the petition to stop government snooping

- tens of thousands of us emailed our MPs

- from Dundee to Penzance, thousands of us met up locally to deliver our massive petition direct to MPs

- nearly 19,000 38 Degrees members raised their concerns directly to the parliamentary committee looking at the government’s plans

- and just last week thousands of us got back in touch with our MPs, calling on them to abandon the plans.

38 Degrees members were a key part of a team which also included great campaigning from Liberty, Privacy International and the Open Rights Group.  We also got support and advice from a number of supportive MPs – particularly Lib Dem Julian Huppert, and Conservative David Davis. David Davis MP even came into the 38 Degrees office to do a live web briefing with 38 Degrees members!

When we started this campaign, we knew it would be hard. The government seemed determined – we’d need a big campaign to turn it around. So collectively we rolled our sleeves up and just kept going. Today we can celebrate a great win for people power!

Campaigns like this don’t cost the earth to run, but they aren’t free. 38 Degrees is 100% independent – so we’ll never take money from big business or government. Instead 38 Degrees relies entirely on donations from members like you, giving one-off donations or small regular sums of £2 or £3 per week.

With your help now, we can take things to a new level. Can you chip in £2 or £3 a week, to help us raise the vital resources needed to dramatically increase our impact over the year ahead (or whatever you can afford).

Click here to give a small amount to 38 Degrees each week via our secure website.

Please do consider chipping in if you can – it really is the only way wins like this are possible. But first of all, please make sure you take a moment to celebrate what we can accomplish when we all act together.

A mountain of evidence turns up at the department for the environment to hand in our petition to save the bees.

The petition to save the bees has now reached over 1/4 million signatures! This morning, a 38 Degrees “Mountain of Evidence” went down to DEFRA (The department for environment, food and rural affairs) along with Vanessa from Buglife to hand in the petition.

Armed with hundreds of thousands of names and a mountain of peer reviewed science, we wanted to meet with Owen Paterson, the environment minister.  We wanted to show him that by refusing to support a ban on the pesticides that are being blamed for killing our bees, he’s not only going against public opinion, but science too.

Alas Owen didn’t come out to meet us, so the mountain of evidence was left asking why Owen was ignoring it.

Watch a video of the mountain delivering the petition here:

This Friday 38 Degrees are hosting a “March of the Beekeepers” along with Avaaz, Buglife, Environmental Justice Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Pesticide Action Network UK, RSPB & Soil Association.

Join us at 10:30am in Parliament Square.  RSVP to the facebook event here.

Dress as a beekeeper or even a bee! Bring bee pollinated fruit and veg and a smile! Let’s show our minister how deep public concern is over the fate of our bees.

You couldn’t make it up. Last week we found out Npower haven’t paid a single penny in corporation tax for the last 3 years. Now it’s revealed that Npower’s former chief, Volker Beckers has been given an ‘oversight’ role at HMRC.

It feels like we can’t go a week without new tax dodging revelations from some of the UKs biggest household names. To recruit a top boss from one of the culprits into a leadership position at the top of the government departments responsible for sorting out this debacle beggar’s belief.

Here’s the plan. Together with EDF*OFF and UK Uncut, we can kick up a stink at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions. It’s a great way to make sure we ramp up the pressure HMRC are feeling.

To get involved. Just enter your postcode below to tweet your MP:

Many of us are feeling the pain of government cuts. Mark Williams of anti-tax dodging campaigners UK Uncut explained why they are joining in.

“It is no surprise the government loses billions of pounds to corporate tax dodgers every year when they hire those same tax dodgers to oversee tax inspectors. HMRC should be throwing the book at people like Volker, not hiring them.”

On Friday over fifty 38 Degrees members from North Shropshire held a meeting with their MP, the environment minister Owen Paterson, about the pesticides being blamed for killing our bees.

The meeting was so popular that there was standing room only to hear Owen argue his corner on why he has so far refused to back a call to stop using these pesticides.

Scientists and governments across europe are blaming certain pesticides, called neonicotinoids, for the declining number of bees and next week there is a big european vote, on whether to stop using these pesticides.  So far over 200,000 38 Degrees members have signed the  petition demanding that he takes action to protect our bees, but Owen is digging his heels in and refusing to take action.

38 Degrees member Suzanne had arranged the meeting with Owen and handed over a copy of our petition so far, along with a statement she had written.  Questions for Owen then came in thick and fast from the audience.

Bee keepers, gardeners and concerned local voters pointed out reason upon reason why he should reconsider his position and support the vote to stop these pesticides.  We pointed out that even his fellow MPs in the Environment Audit Committee are saying he must end his department’s “extraordinary complacency”.

For an hour we talked through our concerns with the minister, and although he kept repeating that the bees are very important to him, he seemed to refuse to change his mind.

However, the fight to change the minister’s mind is not yet over.  Later this week we’re planning on handing in our petition to the Department for the environment along with a mock up ‘mountain of evidence’ and then we’ll be joining a host of other organisations for a ‘march of the bee-keepers’ on Friday before the vote.

If you’ve not already signed it, you can sign the petition to protect our bees here.

Here are some comments from 38 Degrees members who were at the meeting:

“During the meeting it became clear that he had set his mind on a policy and it was not open to discussion. At no point did he say that he would refer anything to his scientific advisors, however persuasive an argument was.”

38 Degrees member – Stephen

My thoughts following the meeting are that I am disappointed in Owen Paterson as a Minister. He seems to see his role as the mouthpiece for the Chief Scientist.  I would have thought that as an intelligent man voted into government that he would have the capacity to critically analyse not only what the Chief Scientist is telling him but the additional   information available from the European Commission, Universities and the Environmental Audit Committee  and using some common sense,  come to his own decision about the right path to be following at the moment.

38 Degrees member – Claire

‘NEVER LET A GOOD BIT OF EVIDENCE GET IN THE WAY OF POLICY…’

Members of 38 Degrees were treated to an hour of monotonous repetition of just 3 points from Mr. Paterson, regardless of well researched, detailed questioning from his constituents.  He was unwilling (unable?) to engage with any of the statements of evidence put forward and displayed a worrying confusion between ‘opinion’ and ‘evidence’.  Those present were in no way impressed with the Minister’s performance; quite the opposite.  He has subsequently been described by many as ‘arrogant’ and ‘aggressive’ in his manner. His refusal to listen and discuss perhaps explains his current isolated position in Europe and, increasingly, at home.

38 Degrees member – Barbara

Update: it’s bad news. It was a great effort, but the big climate vote in the European Parliament didn’t go our way. It was a close call – with 334 MEPs against the reform, and 315 in favour.

We didn’t make it easy for them. Together, 38 Degrees members sent over 51,000 emails pushing them to vote the right way. MEPs in Brussels certainly felt our pressure, and we persuaded four Conservatives MEPs to vote with us (Nirj Deva, Richard Ashworth, Malcolm Harbour and Robert Atkins).

It’s frustrating when we don’t win, especially when it’s on something as important as climate change. This time, it wasn’t enough. But now we have the technology and form to put pressure on MEPs in the future. People power is coming to Brussels and they’d better watch out!

Over the next few weeks there’ll be fresh opportunities to make a difference on climate change. Here in the UK, together we can continue our push for a clean energy target in the energy bill. Click here to get involved.

Npower are rattled. We knew that to get Npower to stop using accounting tricks and pay their fair share of tax, we needed to make a splash – and prove that the public opposition was HUGE.

Great news, over 80,000 of us have signed the petition already. And it’s working! 38 Degrees has been all over the media – in The Sun, Mirror and The Guardian.

Npower are running scared, they’ve even put out a  press statement in response to our campaign.

Independent tax expert, Richard Murphy has already responded here.  Here’s one of his main points:

“And in that case I think 38 Degrees are right to protest and to suggest that reform is needed to the UK tax system to end this possibility. What is more, I think NPower, by offering an excuse for non-tax payment that simply does not consistently stack shot themselves in the foot and showed they had something to hide here.”

You can sign the petition here.

Is Npower the new Starbucks? At the same time as hiking our energy bills, Npower are using accounting tricks to dodge paying their fair share of tax in the UK. Yesterday it was revealed that they haven’t paid a single penny in corporation tax for the last three years!

NPower’s accounting scam works like this: they are turning UK operating profits into accounting and tax losses by making large “interest payments” to other parts of their own business, based overseas. This is currently legal – and in the longer term, we need to push the government to close this blatant loophole. But right now we have a chance to force Npower to drop this scam – so please sign the petition now

But now this is out in the open, Npower are vulnerable. Just look what a PR disaster it was for Starbucks when their tax affairs were exposed last year. Tax dodging scandals can ruin a company’s reputation. And that can cost them their customers.

Npower rely on their customer loyalty. If they realise that their tax scams are damaging their reputation, they’ll have to back down. So let’s make them feel the strength of public opposition by building a HUGE petition warning them that their customers are ready to leave them. Please click here to sign.

A huge petition can help turn this tax dodge into a full-on PR crisis for Npower. It’ll help spread the word and raise awareness of what they’re up to. And it’ll encourage the media to keep reporting on this scam. That’s exactly what Npower’s PR team don’t want to happen!

After Starbucks’ tax scams came out, customers crossed the street to buy coffee from another cafe. Npower will already know that they’re at risk from customers switching gas and electricity providers. It’s not like it’s that difficult to switch – we proved that last year, when thousands of us switched together to get a better deal.

The news of yet another huge company like Npower dodging tax stinks, and not just because it comes at a time when our gas and electricity bills are going through the roof. By dodging tax, Npower are actively contributing to the UK’s deficit - and to the stinging impact of government cuts.

Let’s force Npower to stop using accounting tricks to dodge their fair share of tax . Sign the petition to Npower now.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 16/04, European MPs (MEPs) will make a decision that could be critical in the fight against climate change. They’ll be deciding on the future of an important tool, called the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), that the EU introduced to try and stop industry putting lots of carbon into the atmosphere.

The ETS is crucial to reducing carbon emissions across Europe. The ETS limits the emissions of carbon intensive industries through what’s known as ‘cap and trade’: high-polluting businesses in Europe trade the right to put carbon into the atmosphere. Cleaner businesses benefit because they don’t have to spend as much on carbon ‘allowances’ – so they make more profit.

As the cap shrinks, carbon emissions reduce – fighting climate change and encouraging green growth in the process. But the financial crash sent the price of carbon into a tailspin, and recently the ETS hasn’t been working properly.

Tomorrow, MEPs have a vital decision to make. They could make changes to ensure this system for tackling pollution doesn’t break down completely. Or they could do nothing, and we could lose an essential tool in the struggle to stop dangerous climate change.

We need to move fast. MEPs are being lobbied hard by carbon-hungry European companies who want to keep the price of polluting low. It takes 2 minutes to email your regional MEPs. Click here to send them an email now.

The crucial vote is next week, and it’s going to be close. It’s hard to know which way MEPs will vote. David Cameron wants them to support the move, but rogue Conservative MEPs are seeking to scupper the scheme by voting against it. They’re planning to go against government policy, and against the best interests of Britain and the planet.

MEPs often aren’t used to their voters taking an interest in what they do. So if lots of us get in touch and tell them to do the right thing, we stand a good chance of convincing them to vote the right way tomorrow.

It’s time we made ourselves heard in Brussels. If you’d like to email your MEPs, click here.