This will involve more freedom for private train operators to cut services, raise fares and cram more people on to overcrowded trains. Massive cost-cutting will see the loss of thousands of jobs across the network. Hundreds of ticket offices are lined up for closure, leaving many stations deserted at all hours. And new regional ‘alliances’ will see Network Rail broken up and managed by private train operators. This heralds a return to the bad old days of Railtrack where safety-critical maintenance and renewal work was placed in commercial hands with tragic results.

The TUC and rail unions will shortly be launching a joint campaign to bring rail workers, passengers, community groups and campaigners together to fight these proposals and promote an alternative future for rail that puts passengers, communities and services first.

But this week, we’ve a good chance to get the issues further up Parliament’s agenda, ahead of the campaign launch.

97 MPs have put their names to Early Day Motion 2299, which calls on the government to protect jobs and services, putting the interests of passengers first. It would be great if we could get this number above 100.

Please contact your MP and ask them to sign EDM 2299 now.

Type in your postcode above and we’ll help you find your MP and check whether they’ve signed, or if not see if you can persuade them to.

Early Day Motions are statements submitted by MPs for debate in the Commons. While very few actually get debated in the end, they’re useful for raising awareness of new issues in Parliament. As such, we’d like you to call on your own MP to get behind EDM 2299 and help us prepare to build an effective campaign against rail cuts.

Take action:

Write to your local paper to help hold your MP to account.

Choose your region now to pick a newspaper and get started:

• Eastern England
• London
• Midlands
• North East
• North West
• South East
• South West

We’re sorry to have to tell you, if you didn’t already know, that the government’s controversial Health and Social Care Bill has cleared both Houses of Parliament and is now likely to pass into law early next week.

MPs have this evening voted to agree the Lords’ amendments to the Bill, turning down a Commons proposal from Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham to delay the final vote until the government published the Transitional Risk Register, outlining the dangers they expected to the NHS through these reforms.

Whilst the government will heave a collective sigh of relief having struggled over the last 18 months to get this legislation through, the negative impacts of these measures will be felt by NHS patients and health practitioners for years to come.

Some MPs who voted for the Bill will today be pointing to the limited amendments they managed to get the Health Secretary to agree to, but they’ve done nothing to change the fundamentals of the Bill, and the outcomes will be much the same with or without their changes.

This is a major blow, but for us and the other groups and organisations campaigning against the Bill, the fight for our NHS is far from over.

It’s important that we don’t let up on our opposition to what the government are doing with our Health Service. The changes, whilst highly damaging to the principles of the service, only affect England, and are reversible. We can and will restore and retain our NHS.

We need to be working now to gather information on the impact these changes are having. We need to gather the evidence to show what the cuts and reforms have done to NHS waiting lists, the quality of service non-private patients receive, and the standards for workers. And we want to gather information about the private companies who are looking to profit from our NHS.

There will be a political price for many to pay for forcing this bad Bill through Parliament, against the wishes of the majority of the public and the overwhelming majority of health professionals, and without a mandate in the parties’ manifestos or the coalition agreement.

We’re working on plans to help research, collate, log and share this vital information at the moment, to keep the issue very much in the spotlight, and will be back soon to ask for your help with this.

In the meantime though, one practical thing you could do today is to please check the voting lists to see how your own MP stood on the final debate.

If your MP voted for the Bill, please write a letter to your local paper, to help get their actions on record in their constituency. You can use our online tool to help find the larger publications in your region, and send them a message.

Choose your region from the box above and find local papers to write to.

Lord Owen’s amendment to delay the final vote until the Government published the Transitional Risk Register was defeated, meaning Peers agreed to vote the Bill through without even seeing the evidence of the damage the reforms could cause our NHS – evidence that a tribunal ruled was important enough to the debate to demand its publication.

Overall, the Bill has now cleared the Lords without any significant amendments being passed.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the Bill is going back to the Commons, for a vote on the consideration of the Lords’ amendments. Attempts will be made to further strengthen the Lords amendments but those in favour of doing this are in the minority, and if they fail to get them carried, the Parliamentary process will be over and the Bill will go for Royal Assent and become law.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has secured a last ditch debate in the Commons tomorrow, in effect proposing the same question to MPs that Lord Owen put to Peers. As the government has still not released the Risk Register, the House of Commons should agree to defer the final vote until it has been published and scrutinised.

It’s a long shot, as the Government has a clearer majority in the Commons than in the Lords, so it would need a significant rebellion.

If you’re able, please take a moment to act right now. Use our site to check your MP’s voting record on the Commons third reading. If they are a supporter of the Bill, send them an email to ask them not to pass the Bill without first seeing the Risk Register.

We need to put our MPs on warning that their actions tomorrow (Tuesday) are being closely watched by many people in their constituency. If they let through a Bill that damages our National Health Service, they must expect to be held to account at the ballot box.

Even if we cannot change enough of their minds, we need to let them know that the widespread public anger over the way this Bill has been forced through is not definitely going away, and that we will continue the fight to retain and return our NHS, with them if they will support us, or without them.

Take action: Lobby your MP now

Sign the petition from online campaign group 38 Degrees

Have you signed 38 Degrees’ mega-petition on the Health and Social Care Bill yet? It’s now reached more than 550,000 signatures, a huge demonstration of the widespread public concern over the Government’s controversial plans for our NHS.

Monday 19th is decision day for the NHS in the House of Lords. Peers will vote on amendments and then a final vote on whether to approve the Bill and pave the way for it to become law.

At the eleventh hour though, Lord Owen has introduced an amendment that could delay the process of the Bill.

The government have refused to share their internal Risk Register for the changes with parliamentarians or the public. In essence, they won’t tell us what they fear could really happen once their reforms become law.

Campaigners have tried, but the Government have refused to comply with an order from the Information Commissioner to release the Register. They recently lost their appeal against the order, but still have not published the document.

Lord Owen believes that Peers should not sign off on the Bill without sight of this Risk Register – a document that the tribunal who refused the government appeal said was of real importance. His amendment seeks to delay a final vote until it has been published and properly scrutinised.

To help him make his case, Lord Owen will be carrying 38 Degrees’ petition into the chamber of the House of Lords in person on Monday. Every name on that list come Monday morning will be one more reason for Peers to take his concerns seriously and vote to defer approval on the Bill.

We’re backing Lord Owen’s amendment, and want to help give him as much help as as he needs.

Please sign 38 Degrees’ petition now if you haven’t done so already

And please lobby a member of the House of Lords to back Lord Owen’s amendment on Monday

Parliamentary chances to change, kill or delay the government’s controversial plans for the NHS were further dashed today when a House of Commons Opposition Day vote called by Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham fell well short.

An allied amendment by Lib Dem rebel MP Andrew George also failed to gain support, meaning the next best chance now rests with the Lords on Monday 19 March.

Lobby a Peer online now

The Health and Social Care Bill has been changed since it entered Parliament in January 2011, but it is still a huge threat to our NHS. Recent minor amendments in the Lords have done nothing to remove the fundamental dangers of fragmentation, competition, instability and inequity.

As voices of opposition have grown and grown, the government has merely ignored them.

• The clamour from virtually every organisation representing the clinicians and professionals who make our NHS work and are being asked to implement these reforms has become inescapable, but has only led to those organisations being shut out of discussions.
   
• More than 170,000 people have signed the official e-petition calling for the Bill to be withdrawn – making it by far the best-supported petition on the Downing street site. Yet the government still refused to allocate Commons time as promised, leaving it to Andy Burnham to use today’s Opposition Day to give the Commons a debate.
   
• The government still refuses to release the risk register for the Bill, despite being told to do so by the Information Commissioner and losing an appeal against this decision.
   
• And now Liberal Democrat spring conference have refused to back the leadership’s call to approve the Bill, yet party leader Nick Clegg is pressing on with support.
   

Third reading in the House of Lords is now likely to be the last chance that our politicians get to have a say in a meaningful debate on the Health and Social Care Bill –Monday 19th March is decision day for our NHS.

Please use our “Adopt a Peer” tool to send an email or letter to a member of the House of Lords, asking them at this late stage to use their votes to protect our NHS, either by voting against the entire Bill or against the most harmful parts.

Lobby a Peer online now

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has tabled an Opposition Day debate on the Bill next Tuesday (13 March), which will be a chance for all MPs to vote on the Bill as a whole, rather than just accepting Lords amendments.

He has taken this step because the government have to date refused a Commons debate on Dr Kailash Chand’s e-petition, despite it getting well past the 100,000 signatures that are needed to trigger a debate.

The Government has also still not published the risk register for the Bill – despite losing their appeal today against the Information Commissioner’s ruling that they should make the document public.

Ahead of the debate in the Commons, we need to be working with our MPs.

We’ve built a quick tool to help you lobby your MP here. Please tell them how strongly you feel about these drastic and dangerous changes to the NHS, and ask them to represent you as a constituent by voting against the Bill.

But we also need to keep sight of the final vote in the Lords.

All major amendments to date have been defeated, but the margin of the vote has fallen a bit over time. If we are able to convince 30 more Liberal Democrat or cross-bench Peers to change their vote, it could swing the numbers in favour of amendments it will be difficult for the Government to accept, or even against the Bill as a whole.

You can use our “Adopt a Peer” tool to identify and write to a member of the House of Lords. They don’t have constituency duties like MPs, but are less used to direct lobbying than MPs, so could be more influenced by personal testimony or commentary from other experience and perspectives.

So that’s two milestones in the next ten days – 13 March in the Commons and 19 March in the Lords. Let’s get busy and try to change as many minds as possible before those votes.

At the Rally To Save Our NHS this week, there was no shortage of people to repeat Nye Bevan’s famous quote that “the NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.”

The NHS needs your faith over the next ten days.

Lobby your MP now

Adopt a Peer now

Earl Howe (the Government’s health spokesperson in the Lords) introduced a new government change to buy off some wavering Peers. Under his proposal, any increase of 5% or more in private income would have to be approved by a foundation trust’s council of governors.

Earl Howe claimed this would be a proportionate safeguard. While any extra safeguards are welcome, it’s difficult to see how this will stop trusts that feel they need to privatise or go bust in the face of funding cuts. And ultimately the upper limit on how much income trusts can make from private patients will be 49% – a huge increase.

But back to the numbers. A majority of 58 means that if 30 crossbench and Liberal peers had switched votes, the amendment would have passed. That’s a high target to reach, but it’s down from the majority of 68 that voted down Lord Owen’s amendment in October.

The government are now pushing for the third reading and final vote in the Lords on 19 March. This gives us only ten days to try to convince 30 peers that the provisions of the Health and Social Care Bill are too drastic and too dangerous for the Government’s sticking plaster fixes.

Please take a minute to watch this video of Lord Owen’s speech to the Rally to Save Our NHS. He gives a powerful account of why he has been working so hard in the Lords to oppose the Bill.

Here’s a list of Peers who voted for and against the amendment. If you adopted a Peer who voted for it, please thank them, and let them know how important it now is that the Bill is rejected outright at third reading.

If your peer voted with the government, especially if they are a Liberal or Crossbencher, please tell them your concern that the minor tweaks the government have introduced have only served to make the Bill more complicated, and don’t go far enough to provide meaningful safeguards for the NHS.

And if you’re able to, please have a go at ‘adopting’ one or more other Liberal or Crossbenchers, and writing them a letter or email. Let’s see how many of our 30 targets we’re able to convince in the next 10 days to listen to Lord Owen and his colleagues opposing this dangerous Bill.

Use our Adopt a Peer tool to lobby a Peer now

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced in a speech in The Hague last night that:

“On the eve of International Women’s Day, I’d like to express the UK’s support for the principles in the Council of Europe’s Convention on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. A landmark agreement aimed at lifting the standards of protection for women across Europe. We are getting ourselves in a position to sign later this year”

The lack of a UK signature on this document to date has been proving embarrassing, especially given the UK’s current Chair of the Council of Europe, and the government’s stated intent to use that position to make the case internationally for human rights.

We’re seeking clarification on exactly when and how they’re planning to sign (and exactly how “getting ourselves in a position to sign” means more than just sitting down and pulling a pen out), so will be keeping a close eye on this until we see the colour of their ink on the Convention – but this looks like a very positive development.

So, a happy International Women’s Day to you all, and our thanks to everyone who’s helped us petition the government so far over this Convention, including the campaign groups End Violence Against Women, Forward, Asylum Aid, We Will Speak Out, and Rights of Women.

We’re very glad that this announcement means the UK should soon no longer be standing in the way of internationally agreed measures that could be very useful to people working on problems of violence against women and domestic violence in many other countries.

Scarlet Harris has a longer post on this at Touchstone Blog that you might like to read, where she also discusses the government’s backing for the Convention in the context of cuts for services working on violence against women in the UK.

You can see video of all the speakers online on Youtube.

And please keep on making a noise online. The government are trying to push the Bill through the Lords by 19 March, and on to the Commons and Royal Assent. We have only days now to make our voices heard.

All the actions we take will make it harder for the government to ignore the voices of health professionals and NHS supporter groups that are so united in opposition. Here are some suggestions you might like to try:

Change your MP's mind MPs have a crucial chance to vote against the Bill at an Opposition Day debate scheduled for Tuesday 13 March. Check your MP's voting record here and send them a message, asking them to represent your views as a constituent.
Adopt a Peer Use our campaign tool to match yourself up with a member of the House of Lords and ask them to vote against the Bill at the final Lords stage on 19 March.
Sign your name Add your name to the big online petition to drop the Bill, started by Dr Kailash Chand. Dr Chand will be speaking at the Rally. The government are refusing to debate the issue raised by the petition, but getting the count even higher before the deadline may help change their minds.
Get the Facts Check out False Economy's helpful leaflet "5 facts you need to know about the NHS Bill" and share it with your friends online.
It's good to talk Start a discussion on any bulletin boards or online communities that you use. Tell other members why you're so worried for the future of our NHS and ask them what they think.
Have your say Visit your favourite newspaper or online media sites and leave a comment on the latest news stories about the NHS. Let's give supportive comments to writers who're talking about the level of opposition to the Bill, and put right those who're sweeping the issues under the carpet.
Write to the Editor Help raise the pressure in your constituency by writing a letter to your local paper. We've rounded up the larger local and regional newspapers and can help you write a letter to them about your concerns for your local NHS, or your MP's voting record.
Video nasties Watch UNISON's "New NHS" video on YouTube and share it with your friends. It's a humourous take on a very scary issue.
It's a stick up 38 Degrees members raised funds for a massive billboard campaign asking the government to listen to health professionals and the public. They've produced posters and leaflets too, to send to supporters who can display them in a window at home. Getting this message out to every street in the country would be a massive boost to the campaign, so sign up online and they'll post you one.

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