Displaying items by tag: Government

Bishop Graham Tomlin wrote in the Sunday Times, ‘Prayer reminds me that my opponents are people too, that they deserve respect even if I think they are profoundly wrong. We need our politicians to pray because we need them to know that they are not God, that whatever power they have is borrowed. They need to treat each other well, debate wisely and carefully, and know they are accountable not just to us and our passing fads, but to something bigger, deeper and more final - a God whose Kingdom will last long after Brexit is a footnote in the books of history.’ We can pray for all struggling to break the Brexit deadlock to find time to attend Parliament church services this term. See

‘The changing nature of organised crime is undermining the UK’s economy, integrity, infrastructure and institutions,’ says the National Crime Agency. ‘Britain risks losing the fight against crime unless the police receive significant new resources to tackle chronic and corrosive threats from criminal groups.’ In a chilling assessment, it says the threat from organised crime groups is at unprecedented levels and kills more citizens every year than terrorism, war and natural disasters combined. This rare political intervention reopened the debate on police funding: without significant investment the UK’s forces will fall further behind the criminals exploiting encrypted communications technology and dark web anonymity. Last year Whitehall’s spending watchdog revealed that the jobs of 44,000 police officers and staff had been lost since 2010. In 2019 transnational criminal networks, the exploitation of technological improvements and ‘old-style violence’ is allowing serious crime gangs to dominate communities.

The Christians in Parliament team write, ‘Our programme of chapel services started with an Easter service looking at the Hope of the Resurrection, and will continue weekly for the rest of the term. Please pray that parliamentarians and staff will be strengthened and encouraged to fix their eyes on Jesus and live out their faith in Parliament. Please pray for new attendees to come, and for the speakers as they prepare. We are looking forward to the 2019 national Parliamentary prayer breakfast. The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, will be speaking on ‘building unity in a world of difference’. The breakfast will be chaired by Baroness Sherlock, and prayers will be said by members of both houses. Pray for increased numbers of MPs and peers attending, particularly those who have not been before, and for strengthened relationships between church leaders and MPs.

Blood transfusions in the 1970s and 80s infected 4,800 patients with hepatitis C or HIV. As a public inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal begins this week, the victims and families of the 2,000 who died want justice and the Government held to account. The stigma attached to HIV meant that victims received hate mail and death threats, and the scandal was hushed up. This inquiry will finally give people the opportunity to tell their stories as evidence is heard. One victim said, ‘They will be horrified to hear what happened’. The UK relied on blood products from America manufactured from blood from thousands of paid high-risk donors (prisoners and drug addicts). Campaigners say there is evidence that the health service knew the blood was contaminated but carried on giving it, and there have been allegations of a government cover-up.

The National Security Council discuss intelligence coordination and defence strategies. But information from one meeting was published in the Daily Telegraph. Defence secretary Gavin Williamson was suspected of, and sacked for, allegedly leaking discussions around giving Chinese telecoms firm Huawei contracts to build UK infrastructure to support future networks. These networks would allow people to control their home (lights, washing machines, etc), allow driverless cars to operate, control infrastructure, water and air-quality monitoring systems, traffic lights, and display live departures at bus stops and train stations. Other governments around the world, concerned over security, have blocked Huawei technology from their next-generation networks. British telecom giants BT and EE are removing equipment made by Huawei from core parts of their 3G and 4G operations, and plan to exclude it from bidding on future 5G contracts. Huawei said it would never hand information to the Chinese government, but there is scepticism over whether it would have a choice. Meanwhile Mr Williamson, one of the few ministers with good relations with the DUP, has been sacked despite his strong denial of any involvement in the leak. See

Buckingham Palace has announced that US president Donald Trump will make a three-day state visit to the UK from 3 to 5 June. Mrs May said that the visit was an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationships in trade, investment, security and defence, and discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead. But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said that on the very day Trump threatens to veto a UN resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of war, Mrs May is planning to honour him with a state visit. His last visit saw tens of thousands of protesters fill central London's streets to tell him what they thought of his visit. Instead of a red carpet, there was a sea of people, in two large marches led by Women's March London and the Stop Trump Coalition.

Government funding has not kept pace with the soaring demands of children with special educational needs (SEN). Councils, schools and colleges should work together to support SEN children, but the number of such children has risen by 33% since 2015, whereas central government funding for their support increased by only 7%. On 27 March 2019 councils were told, ‘Special educational needs support is an approach that all schools and colleges must adopt when it is clear that a child or young person needs additional support to learn and achieve.’ Local council elections are on 2 May. May God raise up men and women in the 248 local council elections who have a desire to meet the needs of the vulnerable in our schools and colleges and know how to apply for adequate funding. See

Theresa May has hosted an emergency summit, to tackle the epidemic of knife crime and youth violence. The Government plans to see teachers, nurses and police officers held to account if they fail to ‘spot warning signs’ of violent crime among young people. Over 100 experts will explore the scope and potential impact of new ideas, while kick-starting a further programme of action. Pray for Met police commissioner Cressida Dick, home secretary Sajid Javid, Patrick Green from the Ben Kinsella Trust, and Baroness Newlove, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, as they explore ways of supporting young people. Pray for good communication between the various strands of new systems to be implemented in the NHS, social services, probation services, police, and schools, so that warning signs are spotted when a young person is in danger.

The Government estimates that tens of thousands of people are slaves in the UK. Most are trafficked from Albania, Vietnam, Nigeria, Romania and Poland. There are also significant numbers of British national slaves. Forced labour is in agriculture, construction, hospitality, manufacturing, and car washes. Women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation or domestic slavery. Children are forced into cannabis production, petty theft and begging. In 2009 the Government set up a mechanism to which potential cases were referred to access relevant support. It wasn’t fit for purpose. Slavery victims were not supported, and traffickers got away with their crimes. A new Modern Slavery Act was introduced in 2015. Research has found that the number of potential victims of trafficking and modern slavery reported to the authorities has risen by over 80% in two years, and the number of modern slavery cases involving UK children is alarming. See

Romania has taken over the presidency of the EU for six months. Historically Romanians have been under foreign occupation for most of their existence, but have kept their linguistic identity and Christian faith in spite of rulers with different cultures and religions. Currently Romania is governed by the Social Democratic Party, which contains numerous corrupt leaders who have changed the laws so that they cannot be taken to court. On an economic level, they have imposed some populist measures that have put the country in a difficult situation. Because of this there have been numerous demonstrations by people desiring integrity and justice in their country. Companies are going bankrupt, resources are depleted, and over five million people have emigrated. Romania is being threatened by Russia because she is strategically situated with access to the Black Sea. Meanwhile, President Klaus Johannis is a Christian, and the impact of Christians in society is growing.