Andy McGregor

I am standing for election to Northumberland County & Ashington Town Council. Former Army officer, now an Optometrist. Lived here over 30yrs

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@IanLaveryMP As a constituent I’m calling on you to support amendment 19 to the #DataProtectionBill , to prevent small primary care providers such as Opticians from unnecessary requirement to appoint a DPO. A briefing can be found here: https://t.co/ss7Uusdvah

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@otokyo a screw?

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@StopfordBarry @anthonyboutall The Government should run the economy to serve the best interests of the whole country. NOT to please bond and equity markets in the interest of the wealthy 0.1%.
Look at https://t.co/szj1Zgm7O8
google Richard Murphy and open tour eyes.
The current economic model is a lie.

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.

Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise

https://t.co/AfwPdlw1S4

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@JohnSimpsonNews Is the Daily Mail buying the Telegraph?

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@highbrow_nobrow @nickreeves9876 I think it was the Russians who started the war!

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@HarryHarryshud @narindertweets @bbc5live Why not to LibDems ? tactical voting for whoever best to beat Reform UK

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@narindertweets @AnhAmelUnchain @bbc5live @ZackPolanski Sir Ed Davey is a thoroughly decent human and his LibDem party are an obvious alternative to both Labour Tory parties.

[. @jdpoc]

And another one gone.

Useless #Reform councillor Christine Parsonage QUITS.

Refuse to show up for a single meeting.

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

#nationalengineeringday

[Greg Stone 🔶 @gm_stone]

The Labour Government's Fair Funding Review will short change Newcastle, and Labour council leaders need to explain why and be held to account. Newcastle's dismal leadership is now now not so much a lame duck administration as a dead duck administration.

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@leeharris Angela Raynor may have time on her hands to chair? (only kidding)

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@realmrsthatcher Privatisation of utilities & sale of council houses didn’t really turn out like that thought. Concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1%!

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@OlenaRohoza yes!

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@gm_stone I quite agree about difference between membership and activists. what does FBPE stand for?
It would be nice to see a surge of supporters, members and hopefully activists wanting to stop the rise of Reform UK.

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@Channel4News @FactCheck These are trivial values. That said no country should be aiding Israel ‘s destruction in Gaza

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@GavinBarwell @gm_stone odious policy from an odious party

[Lib Dem Life (Simon McGrath) @libdemlife]

With Lib Dems about to start our Conference great to see that Ed Davey is the most popular Party Leader

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@CutMyTaxUK Her ideas seem sensible to me. The increasing wealth gap is causing many problems in UK.

[Andy McGregor @AMcGAshington]

@rcolvile It is irrational to see NI as separate from “tax”. A combined system could be more transparent and fairer will income from labour and investment and rent all treated the same.

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

Councils in England are going bankrupt, Nottingham was declared bankrupt in 2024.
When councils cannot fund local services, they start selling public assets, using the cash to fund day-to-day spending, which councils aren't usually allowed to do. Nottingham council is still in very serious financial trouble.
Now that Reform have been elected to run the council, they are aware that public services are collapsing due to lack of funding, this will see residents rightly angry about seeing their public services sold off as a 'temporary band aid'.
Reform councillors do not want any signs of dissent from within their ranks or indeed from their constituents, so what do they do?
They have banned councillors from talking to the local press, how's that for free speech?...
But something else is happening.
Reform explicitly backs deregulated free zones; Nottingham is now in a designated free zone called The East Midlands Investment Zone, which was formally announced in October 2024.
There are 3 tax sites within the zone, Infinity Park in Derby, Explore Park in Worksop, and Hartington Staveley in Chesterfield.
What's more the East Midlands Investment Zone has a £140m investment package over ten years. This is known as State aid, but because of Brexit, EU State aid rules were changed.
The UK is now allowing State aid (public money) to be used as profit motive for corporations setting up inside free zones, this was illegal in the EU as it would distort the Single Market, creating an unlevel playing field.
The expansionist ideology of free zones will see councils effectively becoming privatised as corporations like US Blackrock and Blackstone are now geared up for their 'infrastructure imperative'.
These incredibly powerful and malign corporations have been allocated 'governance powers' by Keir Starmer, this was announced by Lord Livermore, the financial secretary to the Treasury, in a webinar last October 2024 which was attended by 700 corporate lobbyists.
Livermore made clear that Number 10 sees this agenda as being driven by corporations, while the government is a secondary actor that “work[s] in partnership with business”. https://t.co/LZ8tTEY5tr
UK Councils are going to be privatised, and SEZs/Investment zones will inaugurate a scenario where corporations step in to 'rescue democracy' from its failings.
https://t.co/QXfqKxBaaW