Dear John 

I’m truly sorry to be writing to you today about domestic legislation, when the most important matter at hand should be supporting the people of Ukraine.

We had hoped that these shocking events would cause the government to stop and think about pushing through its undemocratic legislative agenda.

We fully anticipated that they would pause for thought on both the Policing Bill and the Elections Bill, but sadly that has not been the case.

Best for Britain has paused or toned down much of the campaigning activity planned for the next couple of weeks, including meetings with parliamentarians, emails to activists and supporters like you, and crowdfunding appeals to make all this happen.

Late on Monday in the House of Commons, even Robert Jenrick spoke of his concerns about the Policing Bill in an impassioned intervention, which shows that everything we’ve done so far has really cut through, even to Conservative MPs and former ministers.

But then he said that he wouldn’t vote against it…So it looks like we still have some work to do!

Best for Britain has urged the government to improve safe passage routes for people to seek refuge in the United Kingdom. But it is perplexing that Ukranians will be arriving in a country with potentially stricter protest laws than where they have fled from. It’s a similarly embarrassing contradiction that those arriving from Hong Kong find themselves in the same position.

We would have thought that Home Secretary Priti Patel’s time was better spent on welcoming those in need, rather than making sure you can’t march in parliament square - but this is where we are.

So while we wish we could focus our efforts this week on issues like the failure to implement sanctions quick enough, or on the right people - we can’t afford to stop watching what they’re doing with the unholy trinity of Bills.

They’re not stopping, so neither shall we.

But to do all this campaigning costs real money. We had expected to run a crowdfunding campaign over the last week to make sure we have the funds to fight these Bills, but understandably we’ve decided against it.

We won’t be running any crowdfunders until the situation improves, but if you do want to become a regular supporter, or make a small one-off donation to this important work, you can do so here.

We aren’t going to let them get away with meddling in elections, or watering down the rights of British, just because people are looking in the other direction.

While we strongly show our solidarity and support for those in Ukraine over the next few weeks, we must also be sure to defend democracy at home - even if it feels insignificant in comparison.

Yours,

Cal Roscow
Director of Fundraising
Best for Britain

P.S.The threats our democracy faces are unrelenting, and so must we be. Will you support Best for Britain with a regular gift of £10 per month? While all eyes are rightly on Ukraine, and our thoughts are with those fighting for freedom and suffering war and loss, nevertheless our work continues.