Last month Eric Pickles, the local government minister, said in a local paper that the government wouldn’t privatise the fire service or allow private firms to run it.

Great news, right?

Well, yes and no – it’s absolutely a step in the right direction. It proves that our 110,000 strong petition is working. But there still hasn’t been any formal confirmation from the government. They haven’t publicly announced that the fire service is safe from privatisation. And until they do, we can’t count on a quote from Eric Pickles in a local paper.

So we need to keep up the pressure. Eric Pickles has gone pretty quiet since his comments last month. He may be feeling the heat from members of his party who support privatisation. Or he might think that 38 Degrees members have moved on to another campaign. We need to show him that protecting the fire service is still a priority.

Can you write to Eric Pickles ask him to confirm that the government is no longer trying to push through new laws allowing fire and rescue authorities in England to contract out their full range of services to a suitable provider?

Our fire service protects and save thousands of lives each year. If authorities are allowed to start putting profit before safety we could all suffer.

We know that when enough of us join together we can stop government privatisation plans. We proved it when the government backed down over the sell-off of our forests and we can do it again with our fire service.

Write to Eric Pickles now asking that the government formally confirm they won’t privatise the fire service.

Last week, the NHS started to change. The laws which the government pushed through last year came into force. The changes would probably be even more alarming if it wasn’t for all the campaigning we’ve done together. But it’s all still pretty worrying.

With the changes now in force, we need to decide what we want to do next. What’s the priority? How can we best work together to defend the idea of a decent public health service we can rely on to look after us when we need it?

You can help us decide where the NHS campaign goes next. Please take two minutes to vote in a poll.

When the government finally got its changes through last year, 38 Degrees members were disappointed. But we voted to keep the campaign going. And since then, by working together, we’ve made a huge difference:

• Thousands of 38 Degrees members across the country have asked their local GPs to put patients first and keep the NHS public. We’ve already signed up groups of local GPs in the Midlands, south-west and London.
• We moved fast when we heard that the government was looking at a new tax dodge for the private health industry. Thousands of us wrote in to complain. The plan was dropped within hours!
• There’s been big problems with privatised GP out-of-hours care in places like Cornwall. So hundreds of thousands of us demanded an investigation into what happened there. An inquiry has now been launched by the influential Public Accounts Committee of MPs.
• Just last month, the government announced new rules which could force GPs to hand almost all health contracts to private companies. Over 350,000 of us signed the petition and wrote to our MPs. This helped force the government to withdraw the rules – a big win, though there’s still more to do.

It works because we all work together. So please help decide what we do next by taking the poll.

Should we be focusing on protecting the NHS from budget cuts? Stopping further privatisation? Supporting local campaigns like those against hospital closures? Or making sure that when managers fail to protect patient care, like in Mid Staffs, they’re held properly responsible?

We can do a lot, but we can’t do everything. So please vote!

Breaking news! This morning, the Environmental Audit Committee released its own report on the effect of pesticides on bees, criticising DEFRA’s tests and urging them to ban the use of these pesticides. It’s up to these committees to investigate and consider government policies. The fact that they are questioning DEFRA’s work and decisions shows that the science just doesn’t add up.

Last month, environment minister Owen Paterson refused to vote in favour of a ban of harmful pesticides that are killing our bees.

Owen Paterson and DEFRA claim this is because they needed their own field tests on the effects of these pesticides to be completed. Their tests are now completed – and DEFRA say their results don’t support a ban. But they’re almost entirely alone in thinking this.

Luckily there’s a chance for Paterson to fix this. At the end of the month there is going to be an appeal vote in the European Commission. If the UK stops abstaining and votes to support the ban there should be enough of a majority for it to pass. Scientists and organisations across Europe are urging Owen and DEFRA to look at the mountains of evidence stacking up and vote in favour of the European Commission ban.

We need to keep the pressure on Owen Paterson. He might be happy to ignore mounting scientific evidence across Europe and the advice of the UK’s own Environmental Audit Committee, but public opinion is against him. If we hand in a massive petition urging him to support the ban he won’t be able to ignore that!

Sign the petition now telling Owen Paterson to change his mind and vote to support the ban.

The energy bill campaign is in full swing. So far, almost 23,000 38 Degrees members have written to their MP to ask them to sign up to a cleaner energy future.  Tim Yeo MP has submitted amendments to the energy bill currently going through parliament which would ensure a firm decarbonisation target becomes UK law. George Osborne and the government oppose it – but experts from across civil society agree that this target is vital.

Some MPs have written thoughtful, reasonsed responses to their constituents – but some MPs have been using the same well-worn arguments to explain away their refusal to support Tim Yeo’s vital amendments. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have compiled two brilliant guides to countering some of these common replies.

Excerpts are below. Thanks Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth!

Responding to Conservative MPs – Friends of the Earth

“First, let me assure you that the government is committed to setting a decarbonisation target.”

How we wish that were true.  In reality, nothing in the Energy Bill or the government’s amendments commits them to setting a decarbonisation target either now or in the future.

“The government recently laid amendment to the energy Bill to enable a legally binding decarbonisation target for the electricity sector to be set in 2016.”

This is very sneaky wording. The government recently laid amendments are in reality a step backwards. Here is why:

No commitment:

• They outlaw any target for the power sector being set before 2016, but do not commit the government to setting a target after.  It just says a carbon target for the power sector can be set in 2016 at the earliest but does not have to be set in that year  - or have to be set at all.

No decarbonisation:

• Even if a target was set, it would not have to be a target to clean up the power sector. According to the government’s proposals, a target can be set at any level of ‘carbon intensity’ (meaning how many climate changing carbon emissions can be created for each unit of electricity produced ) and the target doesn’t have to be met by 2030, or any other date.

This means that the Government could set a target so high that allowed them to build 40 new gas power stations as George Osborne is pushing for in his reckless campaign for a new dash for gas. The proposals are so weak they could technically even set a target for electricity to be  more polluting than it is today. When former Government Energy Minister John Hayes was asked by MPs in January if there could be any limit on what the target could be added to the amendments, he gave a flat out no.

“Powers to set a decarbonisation target range for 2030 will be brought forward in secondary legislation.”

This is wrong. The power being included in the energy Bill is to set a ‘target range’ for any year from 2030, not for 2030. Strangely, it also outlaws any target being met any year before 2030 . It also does not have to be a set at a level  that would significantly reduce the carbon in our electricity as explained above .

“It has been decided to set the target in 2016, once the committee on climate change has provided advice; in line with the fifth carbon budget which covers the corresponding period.”

The government’s independent advisers on climate change the committee on climate change have already told the government that they think a decarbonisation target of 50 g of carbon per kilowatt hour of electricity should be set in the Energy Bill now. They have recommended this as part of their duty to advise on what the most cost-effective way to meet our legally binding commitments to cut 80% of our carbon emissions by 2050.

They most recently wrote to the Government asking them to re-consider and set a decarbonisation target now on the 27th February.

If the government doesn’t change its mind this would be the first time that they have ignored significant advice from the committee since it was established by the 2008 climate change act.

“The government has no doubt that the UK will retain its status as a great place to do low carbon business. The energy Bill will attract £110 billion of investment to bring about a once in a generation transformation of the U.K.’s electricity mix, moving from a predominantly fossil fuel to a diverse low carbon generation mix.”

This is not what Green Businesses are saying. A letter published in the Times on the 11 March from six major energy companies says “Postponing the 2030 target decision until 2016 creates entirely avoidable political risk. This will slow growth in the low carbon sector, handicap the UK supply chain, reduce UK R&D and produce fewer new jobs…. We are aware of UK-based supply chain partners with investment plans on hold, or at risk, until greater confidence is achieved.”

Responding to Liberal Democrat MPs – Greenpeace

“I am pleased with the Energy Bill as it currently stands, as it will make the UK less reliant on fossil fuels and will encourage a massive investment in renewables and other forms of low-carbon energy.”

Whilst the Energy Bill does indeed represent an opportunity to cut our reliance on fossil fuels and drive investment in renewables, clean energy investors and businesses say the Bill needs improvement before that’s certain to happen. It needs a 2030 clean energy target.

Just this week, Ernst & Young warned: “The main source of disappointment for investors was confirmation that a decarbonisation target will not be set until 2016. This delay cast doubts over the UK’s commitment to cut carbon emissions 50% by 2027 and left investors with a sense of uncertainty.”

Worse, some of the biggest manufacturing companies in the world – including big wind energy companies like Siemens – also warned on the front page of The Times recently that they could cancel billions of pounds worth of new wind turbine factories and green jobs in the UK unless the Energy Bill includes a clear goal to decarbonise electricity by 2030. They wrote, “A binding 2030 target for power sector decarbonisation would help to reduce the political risk currently associated with long-term UK industrial investment.”

“As a Liberal Democrat, I have always understood the potential benefits of having a decarbonisation target within the Energy Bill itself, as I recognise that the transition to a low-carbon economy is one of the most significant challenges facing the UK in the coming decades. Nevertheless, when governing as part of a coalition, it is often the case that certain compromises have to be made.”

Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey, in a speech to his own party said, “The Liberal Democrats are not for turning….. investors crave certainty. Stability. The confidence that Governments will stick to their word… That’s why there’s a strong case for a carbon limit for Britain’s energy grid for 2030. Energy is always a long term investment. So if we are to create greater investor confidence in Britain’s low carbon energy future, a long-term target is best.”

Yet turning is precisely what he seems to be doing. Lib Dem members voted to make it Lib Dem party policy.

It is true Conservatives in government are opposed to the target. But MPs from across the party political divide – led by the Conservative Tim Yeo – are putting partisan point scoring aside and backing a package of amendments that would see a target set now. If Lib Dems choose to back Tim Yeo’s green jobs amendments now, they can make their own party policy into law. It’s time for Lib Dems to stick to their green promises.

“In order to guarantee that all of the other positive aspects of the Energy Bill could become law alongside the financial support for low carbon generation, it was necessary to forego the possibility of setting a decarbonisation target now. Significantly however, the Bill provides powers for a 2030 decarbonisation target to be set in 2016.”

The Bill currently says the government ‘may’ set a target in 2016. They don’t have to. Saying that a decarbonisation target may or may not be set some time after the next general election just isn’t good enough. Failing to prioritise decarbonisation with this Bill risks jeopardising green growth, and putting up both energy bills and carbon emissions. That’s because it could fire the starting gun on more imported and expensive gas, instead of more home grown renewables.

“The power to set a target for 2030 in 2016 means that the target can be decided alongside the 5th Carbon Budget, at a time when the Government will be considering how to set the UK on course to sustainably meet its 2050 target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Committee on Climate Change – who advise the government on what’s required to hit their legally binding carbon targets – have said there is no scenario in which we can stay within carbon budgets without decarbonisation of electricity by 2030, so this is simply a bad excuse. Additionally – as Ed Davey himself has acknowledged – companies considering their energy investments now need to know now what will be the direction of UK energy policy for years to come. They should not have to face years of more uncertainty.

“The Coalition Government remains wholeheartedly committed to being the greenest government ever.”

It is impossible for this to be the greenest government ever if it deliberately rejects both the advice of its own advisers on climate change and the warnings of the clean energy companies who want to create green jobs in this country.

It surely isn’t unreasonable to ask a Lib Dem to vote for a popular Lib Dem policy – one that has the backing of scores of businesses, churches, civil society groups and energy experts?

Below is a blog written by Mike, a 38 Degrees member in Bristol. Mike and other local 38 Degrees members, with support from local GPs, have recently convinced the Bristol CCG to adopt some important amendments into their constitution that will protect local NHS services from dangerous privatisation.

Back in November 2012, some fifty local 38 Degrees members met the Board of Bristol, North
Somerset and South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (BNSSG). We were there to hand in a petition of over 5000 names urging the trust to do all they can to protect local NHS services by incorporating the suggested 38 Degrees amendments.

Four members of our group had a further meeting with Bristol CCG, to force home our arguments regarding the constitutional amendments, and we felt that we were listened to. Yet, when we saw the first draft of the constitution we discovered that no amendments had been made to the NHS CCG Board model constitution. We know that the CCG was under pressure to proceed with authorisation and felt that it had consulted sufficiently. However, the CCG’s goodwill and apparent wish to acknowledge our petition had not been translated into the written word.

So, in early January we commenced a second level campaign which involved emailing every GP practice in Bristol. This was supported by a number of practices who’d already been contacted by group members and a few GPs who are themselves members of 38 Degrees. A number of GP practices felt, like us, that there’d been insufficient consultation about the constitution. This campaign action had its desired effect, prompting a flurry of correspondence between the CCG and GP practices.

Then, mid-February, with authorisation in its final stages, we received a letter from the CCG providing us with a revised version of the constitution. It included, in full, the very important amendments detailed in Schedule E – success!

A number of the other amendments had not been included though and after further clarification, we received an email from the CCG assuring us that: “we are working on our mission and values again to update them. We will be consulting on them in the Spring”. Our group has decided to attend every CCG meeting from now on to hold them to this.

We’ve come far since our first 38 Degrees get-together in October last year, getting doctors on side and persuading Bristol CCG to accept some important amendments to their commissioning policy. We’ve written to local MPs and councillors, and established links with national groups to rally support against NHS privatisation. We feel that we are halfway there and our impression is that the CCG is listening. We know that many local GPs, like thousands of other health professionals and clinicians, support the 38 Degree campaign. Regarding the amendments that have not yet been included in the revised constitution, we have been promised a response at the CCG’s next meeting in April. Let’s see what happens.

If you’d like to get involved in the campaign in the Bristol area, please get in touch – protectournhs@gmail.com . Find us on Twitter, @NHSour, and visit our website, www.protectournhs.wordpress.com.

On Monday night 38 Degrees members in Eastleigh met up again in the Pavilion on the Park.  This was a first catch up after the recent by-election which saw 38 Degrees members pushing the candidates to get important issues on the table, paying for mobile billboards to remind people to vote, and even hosting a packed hustings event to quiz the candidates.

Throughout the by-election campaign there was a real hunger to keep in touch and leave an ongoing legacy in the area. Local members were keen to keep the pressure up on Mike Thornton the newly elected MP for Eastleigh.  At the hustings Mike Thornton and the other candidates all promised to come back after a year of being the MP to face the public and see how their first year went.

During the get together we discussed everything from fluoride in the water, through to immigration, NHS cuts, the local council and local green spaces.  The group decided to meet again on 22nd April to decide on next steps and local campaigns to run.

Watch this space to see how things develop, or if you live in Eastleigh perhaps join the google group.

Great news – 38 Degrees have helped notch a win over Donald Trump! Today, the Scottish government announced that it has approved an 11-turbine windfarm off the coast of Aberdeenshire. And this success is partly down to us.

Trump’s campaign against the windfarm hit new lows – furious that it would spoil the view from his controversial Aberdeenshire golf course, he splashed two full-page adverts in Scottish newspapers calling for people to email Alex Salmond with their opposition.

But we turned his idea on its head. Over 8,000 38 Degrees members did write to Alex Salmond – but in support of renewable energy and Scotland’s green future.

And with today’s announcement, all the organisations and individuals who came together to support a green future for Scotland can go home happy.

But the campaign against Trump’s involvement in Aberdeenshire isn’t over yet – over 17,000 of us have already signed a petition started by a local resident calling for an inquiry into the handling of his golf complex. The bigger it gets, the more the Scottish government will feel the pressure. You can add your name here.

We’ve proved once that people power works against ‘big name’ interests – now let’s do it again.

Ken, Caroline, David, Linda, Anu and Ian in the waiting area at the Dept for Health

Yesterday 38 Degrees members and staff went to Westminster to meet with the health minister Norman Lamb MP to talk about our campaign against dodgy, pro-privatisation NHS regulations.  Over 350,000 members have now signed the petition against plans to force local doctors to open up almost all NHS services to private companies.  This petition and member-funded legal advice, helped push Norman Lamb to scrap the first version of these dodgy, pro-privatisation NHS regulations.

Linda delivering the petition to Health Minister Norman Lamb

38 Degrees member Linda who had previously written to members handed in the petition to Norman Lamb.

Norman and several staff from the Department of Health sat down with 38 Degrees to talk about the new regulations. We went in armed with the results of the survey taken by tens of thousands of 38 Degrees members which told us what you thought we should say.

Below is a video with feedback from the members present on how the meeting went as well as their thoughts on the campaign in general. This is very much our first impressions – as always the devil is in the detail. Norman Lamb offered some general assurances which in principle sounded promising, but we will need to follow up to get more details in writing before we decide what our next steps should be.

So, watch this space, as further feedback from the meeting and an email about the next steps in the campaign to save the NHS will be coming soon.

38 Degrees members had a big meeting today with Lib Dem Health Minister Norman Lamb. It was a chance for us to say what we think of his response to our campaign against dodgy, pro-privatisation NHS regulations.

38 Degrees brings together over 1 million of us – too many to fit in one meeting room! So only a few members were able to attend, but we were proud to get our members in the room to set out our case. To make sure we could give a fair representation of all our members’ views 38 Degrees sent out a short poll asking our members what to say. This meant 38 Degrees members’ views were truly represented to the Health Minister.

In the past few weeks, we’ve proved again that people-powered campaigning can work. Through a 350,000 signature petition, thousands of messages to MPs, and member-funded legal advice we helped push Norman Lamb to scrap the first version of these dodgy, pro-privatisation NHS regulations.

But that’s where things started getting more complicated. Norman Lamb rushed to publish a new version of the regulations. The new version does look a little bit better – but they are still nowhere near perfect.

So 38 Degrees member donations paid for two extra bits of legal advice. One, from an NHS law specialist, explains how Norman Lamb’s new version still doesn’t fully keep earlier promises not to impose privatisation. The other, from a competition law specialist, is a bit more positive but also says it may well have been impossible for these promises to ever be fully met.

That meant we had important choices to make about how we responded in the meeting with Norman Lamb. For example whether to prioritise pointing out ways in which the new version of the regulations could be improved? Or choosing to campaign for the regulations to be scrapped altogether?

It’s not usual for 38 Degrees to go into Westminster for a meeting with a Minister. Our power doesn’t come from being chummy with politicians. But on this occasion, we had a chance to put our views directly to the Minister just as he is deciding what to do next.

Norman Lamb will have to listen to us if he knows we speak on behalf of thousands and thousands of 38 Degrees members. And because we went in with the views all our members expressed in our poll our words carried this weight. Please continue to take the poll so that together we can take the NHS campaign forward.