I have officially resigned from the Green Party and will currently sit as an independent Cllr A statement to the people of Waterloo Today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to resign from the Green Party. As things stand, I will now sit as an Independent councillor for Waterloo. I'm 23. I grew up here, walked these streets as a little boy and couldn't be prouder to now represent the community I call home. I didn't get into politics for a career or a party badge. I got into it to help people and make my community better. At Green Party Conference, a motion was passed declaring Zionism a form of racism and committing the party to oppose it. I had serious concerns about what this could mean for Jewish members. Being Jewish does not make someone a Zionist. Jewish people hold many different views on Israel and Zionism. An amendment was put forward saying members should not be pressured or disciplined simply because they attend or are connected to Jewish institutions such as synagogues or community centres. It also sought to ensure Jewish members weren't punished for views that wouldn't see non-Jewish members punished. I voted for it. It was rejected. I then voted against the final motion. I saw Jewish members in tears afterwards. I won't forget that. I came back to Waterloo knowing I couldn't look residents in the face and defend something I believe is wrong. I will always stand up for Palestinian freedom and speak out against the actions of the Israeli Government. But I can do that while standing with our Jewish community against antisemitism. We must be able to do both. I fear the Green Party is heading to a very dark place. I cannot follow it there. If that means my political career ends at 23, so be it. I'm not leaving Waterloo. I'll still be here, taking up your casework, fighting your corner and doing everything I can for the community I love.

🚨 GORDON BROWN SOLD THE GOLD KLAXON 🚨 Andrew Griffith says in his Tory conference speech that John Healey can't be trusted because he worked for Gordon Brown, and Gordon Brown "sold the gold".

A huge Downing Street leak has revealed how much Andy Burnham has borrowed from Sir Keir Starmer's plans since entering Number 10. @SamCoatesSky discusses whether the leaked information reinforces the notion that Burnham is 'Starmer 2.0' ⬇️ Read more: trib.al/foaSovV

This is a very disappointing response that does little to help the millions of students already struggling with student loans! My view on the govt's reponse today to the Treasury Committee student loan report... --------------- This is a very disappointing response that does little to help the millions of students already struggling with student loans, after years of degradation of the terms they signed up to, by successive governments. Most urgently, it doesn’t address the coming immoral freeze of the Plan 2 repayment threshold, announced by Rachel Reeves, due to start next April. That will mean all those on Plan 2 loans will effectively pay more each year. I say it’s immoral because it is a negative retrospective change of terms to loan contracts students, often aged 18, signed up to. No commercial firm would ever be allowed to do that. The only slim hope is that as the freeze was announced in a Budget, it has to be undone in a Budget and therefore they are just waiting for the coming one to do that. At the same time, the Government has sadly rejected the Committee’s recommendation that the ‘fairness’ protections that holders of commercial loans get should apply to student loans too - perhaps as it knows some of the ways it behaves would fall foul of those conditions. Most frustrating is that back in 2015, I campaigned for this change, and even worked with current Cabinet Minister, Wes Streeting, then a backbencher, to put an amendment in Parliament (it failed). So, it is incredibly frustrating to see a government he is now a part of reject it. The Government has also rejected shifting the inflation link from RPI to CPI - continuing the unfair pattern that means when the Government raises our costs by inflation it’s often via the higher RPI, but on things where it pays out it’s often linked to the lower CPI measure. Of course, I welcome the small crumbs it has given that at least future students will be told in plain English, before they sign up, that the amount they repay can be altered after the event. But let’s be clear: better information for future students will not fix the existing Plan 2 student loan crisis. The repayment threshold needs to rise, interest needs to fall, maintenance support needs uprating, and the whole system requires a fundamental reset.

Planning delays have hit Britain’s prison-building programme, costing taxpayers billions of pounds and ultimately necessitating the early release of thousands of criminals in the year ahead. At a press conference at the end of July, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, urged voters to support the construction of prisons in their areas. 🔗: telegraph.co.uk/business/202…

FIFA president aims to sell the World Cup to Trump family associates sbnation.com/soccer/1123415/…

Cross party cooperation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🤝🇦🇷

Following the EU Referendum results: Nigel Farage says he can not promise the claim that $350m a week will go to the NHS will happen.

Ten years ago - referendum night, 4.40am: The BBC declares that against all odds, Leave has won. This is the scene from us at Vote Leave HQ.

Enfield Council has formally withdrawn from the government’s New Town programme, following the election of Cllr Alessandro Georgiou as Leader of the Council. The video explains more about the letter sent today to MHCLG. Link to more details can be found in the comments.

To anyone who is thinking of joining the Green Party, please read these first. policy.greenparty.org.uk/phi… policy.greenparty.org.uk/cor…