Dear John,

Last night we watched as Tory MPs

* Voted against an amendment to protect the NHS from trade deals by 357 to
266
* Voted against giving themselves a say over trade deals in future by 353
to 277

You gave this government the chance to think again. The House of Lords,
boosted by your campaigning, put forward amendments to protect our NHS.

And this government refused to listen.

IT’S AN ABSOLUTE SCANDAL THAT WHILE OUR HOSPITALS ARE WORKING HARD TO
PROTECT US ALL, THIS GOVERNMENT REFUSED TO PROTECT OUR NHS FROM TRADE
DEALS.

Share the news on twitter. [1]

Share the news on facebook. [2]

If you’re feeling angry, frustrated, disappointed – you’re not alone.
We’re feeling all of those emotions right now.

So what now?

WE’RE REFLECTING

WE’RE THINKING REALLY CAREFULLY AS A TEAM about what this defeat means
and how we can learn from it.

It’s really challenging to get a victory under this government. As it’s
so hard to win in parliament, how else can we win?

How can we win locally? How can we win the story in the media? How can we
force government u-turns? What issues can we take on where we could win –
for example, the need to insource free school meals so children don’t go
hungry? How can we get so big they can’t ignore us?

WE’RE PLOTTING

The lack of protection for the NHS in trade deals means WE NEED TO FIND
OTHER WAYS OF PROTECTING IT. We’re thinking about whether this means

* Fighting back contract by contract against companies like we’ve done
with Serco – trying to stop them getting their hands on our NHS

* Boosting local campaigns that are defending NHS services from private
companies
* Campaigning against new plans to carve up our NHS by dividing it up into
chunks with private companies making decisions (so-called ‘Integrated
Care Systems’)

Watch this space.

WE'RE GETTING TOGETHER

IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO SHARE SOLIDARITY AND PLAN TOGETHER RIGHT NOW.

We've worked closely with organisations throughout this fight - like Keep
Our NHS Public, the Trade Justice Movement and Global Justice Now.

Here are some events you might be interested in, where new hope could
spring from, from us and from others:

* Our weekly lunchtime campaign updates webinar! Tomorrow, Thursday 21st
January, 12.30-1pm. Sign up here. [3]

* Our friends at Just Treatment are launching a 'New Deal for the NHS'
next Monday 25th January. Michael Rosen is speaking! Sign up here. [4]
* Our friends at Health Campaigns Together are holding a conference on
'The Pandemic and Privatisation: how to fight back' on Thursday 25th
February, 6.30-8.30pm. Sign up here. [5]

WE’RE FEELING GRATEFUL TO YOU

YOU WERE NEEDED AND YOU SHOWED UP. Thank you for taking action and working
so hard. You emailed your MPs, came to training sessions, signed the
petition to the Lords, gave donations, helped spread the word, emailed your
MPs again, phoned your MPs, delivered Christmas cards to your MPs. You’ve
thrown everything at it.

THANK YOU. ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS HAVE MADE US SO MUCH STRONGER.

* Because of your passion for this campaign, our mailing list has more
than doubled in size and we're now a force to be reckoned with.
* Because of you, we’re naming and shaming the Tory MPs who voted not to
protect our NHS all over the media - see the coverage in the Independent
[6], the Mirror [7] and the National [8].

* Because of you, we’re bigger and stronger (for example, since this
campaign started we've grown by 6000 followers on Facebook, 10,000 on
Twitter and we're 5 times bigger on Instagram) and we're getting ready for
the next fight.

We believe in our NHS. We believe in public services. Like most decent
people do.

WE’RE GOING TO TAKE A BREATH, REFLECT AND COME BACK STRONGER.

WE NEED YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER. EVERY DAY PEOPLE UP AND DOWN THIS COUNTRY
ARE RELYING ON OUR NHS AND OUR PUBLIC SERVICES.

We’re not going to abandon them, even if this government is prepared to.

Thank you for believing in public services for PEOPLE not profit.

Cat, Pascale, Chris, Alice and Johnbosco – the We Own It team

We Own It
weownit.org.uk [9]

[10] [11] [12]

Copyright © 2019 We Own It, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is
The Old Music Hall, 106-108 Cowley Road
Oxford, OX4 1JE
United Kingdom


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