Displaying items by tag: MPs

The parliamentary group on eating disorders has declared an emergency, citing 'woefully inadequate care' for those affected. Conditions like anorexia and bulimia have surged in recent years, with 12% of 17- to 19-year-olds and nearly 21% of young women now affected, according to a 2023 survey. The report highlights widespread barriers to treatment, underfunded services, and misconceptions about eating disorders, which affect people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. It calls for a national strategy to support patients and families, mandatory training for frontline workers, and significant investment in care. Testimonies from sufferers reveal how delays in diagnosis and treatment caused prolonged suffering. Campaigners warn some patients are discharged too early, while families feel abandoned by the system. The NHS has pledged funding and expanded services, yet MPs like Richard Quigley argue that the system is 'beyond broken’. Immediate reforms, including earlier interventions and increased resources, are critical to saving lives and easing pressure on families.

MPs have issued a stark warning that the Government must address a £4 billion funding shortfall in council budgets to prevent more local authorities from becoming bankrupt. In the past six years, eight councils have been unable to balance their budgets, compared to none in the previous 18 years. The cross-party levelling up committee highlighted the urgent need for action, with increased demands in social care, children's services, and homelessness exacerbating the crisis. The Local Government Association warns that one in five English councils are on the verge of bankruptcy, with many unable to fund essential services. Despite the Government's proposal to increase council funding by 6.5% for 2024-5, MPs argue this is insufficient to close the £4 billion gap. The Local Government Association acknowledges these challenges, foreseeing inevitable council tax hikes and service cuts. Despite the £600m support package for councils announced last week, MPs stress the need for more comprehensive financial solutions.

Care home visitor bans have been branded a human rights breach by some MPs, who are demanding a new law allowing visits and have given the government a two-week deadline to act and stop residents dying in isolation. A committee of MPs and peers has called on government ministers to legislate against blanket bans on care home visits in England, which they argue is a breach of the basic right to family life. We can pray for all residents to receive visits from a close relative or friend. This is what happens in Ontario, where they changed the law to allow access to care homes and mental health hospitals for a relative who is a designated caregiver and part of the home/hospital’s care team, provided they test negative before each visit. Harriet Harman heads up the team of MPs who have asked Matt Hancock to ‘consider our proposal as a matter of urgency and respond to us by 17 February’.

MPs debated the Gemma White report of bullying incidents in the Commons on 17 July. Coincidentally, a day after another inquiry found that staff were ‘bullied and harassed’ by ‘known offenders’ in the House of Lords. The commons decided to allow the parliamentary complaints scheme to investigate historical allegations of bullying and harassment incidents, which date from before June 2017. It comes after a report said that there was a ‘significant problem’ of MPs bullying and harassing staff, including some making unwanted sexual advances. Fewer than 30 MPs were in attendance at the debate, where the Commons Leader said MPs must ‘bring forward much needed change at the earliest possible opportunity’. Pray for the lewd, aggressive and intimidating behaviour by certain MPs and senior staff that has been tolerated and concealed for years to be finally revealed and offenders to be publicly condemned.

Stressed civil servants are encouraged to talk to counsellors about the pressures they are under. Some believe that quite a few MPs may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as they cope with coffins dumped at their constituency surgeries, smashed windows, death threats, round-the-clock negative social media, and endless cancelled plans, putting their relationships and health under huge strain. Brexit anxiety is having a detrimental effect on people's mental health. See and

‘We love our country, and believe Britain deserves so much better than our broken politics. Read our statement and join us: http://www.theindependent.group/statement. #ChangePolitics’ was the tweet announcing a break in political parties. Three Tory MPs abandoned their seats on one side of Whitehall to sit with eight former Labour MPs who had themselves left Jeremy Corbyn’s party. These 11 independents might be the outriders of a new party. With Labour leaning further left and Tories shifting to the far right, the new group declare themselves free of extremes. We can pray that as winds of change blow through our Government, God’s Spirit will fill every fracture being created with kingdom values. Pray for Parliament to have at its heart the purposes of God’s Kingdom.