Lyn Hopson

Loves (in no particular order!) good books, good wine and good friends. Retired school librarian. Passionate about books and reading.

[Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 @reformexposed]

Reform UK Councillors Gone: Updated

Tony Nelson, Huntingdonshire, has resigned.

➡️ Kicked Out
Brian Black
Oliver Bradshaw
Paul Thomas
Bob Ford
Bill Barratt
Ed Hill
James Regan
Mark Broadhurst
Paul Bean
Adam Smith
Daniel Taylor
John Allen
Nicole Brooke
Patrick Lambert
Maxine Fothergill
Ian Cooper
Edward Harris
Isabella Kemp
Aaron Roy
Jay Cooper
Caroline Gladwin

➡️ Defected
Amelia Randall
Nicola Brown
Christopher Marriott
John Roddy
Peter Colley
Dean Burns
Jack Goncalvez
Charles Whitford
Chris Large
Luke Cooper
Scott Cameron
Kieran Mishchuck
Kathryn Shaw
Joanne Blythe
Alistair Hendry
Graham Eardley
Andrew Barry
Todd Ferguson
Owain Clatworthy
Dawn Saunders
Cain Parkinson
Brandon Dodd
Roger Tarrant
Susanne Desmonde
Nick Farmer
Jo Monk
Ashley Monk
Matthew Jones
Jamie Hanlon
Jasmine Fox
Charlotte Kelly
Rhys Carr
Robbie Lammas
Taylor Smith
Steven Lewis
Dan Glover
Rob Aitkenhead
Rosemary Trollope-Bellew

➡️ Suspended
Lynn Dean
Paul Heyward
Robin Perry
Alan Dennison
Billy Burke
Rebecca Waters

➡️ Disqualified
Andy Osborn

➡️ Resigned
Mark Whittington
Jack McGlenen
Gaynor Jean-Louis
Wayne Titley
Donna Edmunds
Luke Shingler
Desmond Clarke
Andrew Kilburn
John Bailey
Sam Booth
David Maclean
Robert Bloom
Rowland O’Connor
Rob Parsonage
Christine Parsonage
Karen Knight
Anna Thomason-Kenyon
Richard Everett
Jack Bradley
Angie Nash
Richard Morgan
Daniel Thomas
David Cumming
Desmond Watt
David Taylor
Michael Ramage
Stuart Graham
Andrew Thorp
Shaun Knowles
Tony Hill
Todd Ferguson
Sarah Shields
Ewen Sinclair
Daniel Devaney
Stuart Prior
Barry Martin
Stephen Mousdell
Andrew Harrison
Kenny Hope
Mick Lee
Kate Rowland
Joseph Soper
Marc Stanley
Trevor Bridgwood
James Sidlow
Nathaniel Menday
Mark Tucker
Alex Clarke
Craig Wiles
Tony Nelson

➡️ Lost Seat
Mike Morris
Clarence Mitchell
Alan Cook
Mark Shooter
Kira Gabbert

—

Since Local elections:

Lost Seat
Mike Morris
Clarence Mitchell
Alan Cook
Mark Shooter
Kira Gabbert

Resigned
Daniel Devaney
Stuart Prior
Jay Cooper
Barry Martin
Stephen Mousdell
Andrew Harrison
Kenny Hope
Danielle Cavanagh
Mick Lee
Kate Rowland
Joseph Soper
Marc Stanley
Trevor Bridgwood
James Sidlow
Alex Clarke
Craig Wiles
Tony Nelson

Defected
Nick Farmer
Ashley Monk
Jo Monk
Matthew Jones
Jamie Hanlon
Jasmine Fox
Charlotte Kelly
Rhys Carr
Robbie Lammas
Taylor Smith
Steven Lewis
Dan Glover
Rob Aitkenhead

Suspended
Paul Heyward
Nathaniel Menday
Robin Perry
Alan Dennison
Billy Burke
Rebecca Waters

[Alethea Bernard @Tush27J]

Dear Daniel Greenberg - Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

It is nearly 2 months since an investigation was launched into the £5 million Nigel Farage gift. Had it been Keir Starmer or Zack Polanski the investigation would have been wrapped up.
Why so long?

[dave lawrence 🐟🐟🐠 @dave43law]

A young person earning £10ph......

£10 x 40hrs x 52 weeks = £20800pa pre tax

Farage earned more than that in an hour

BUT THEY are the ones earning too much

[Lawrence Wadey @LawrenceWadey]

Disgraceful.

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

20 year old student Edith Berryman at the #RejoinEU rally in parliament square calling for the UK to rejoin the European Union @MarchForRejoin

"10 years since the Brexit referendum. I am 20 years old. I have grown up living with the consequences of that decision. I have a simple question. Did Brexit deliver what we were promised? My argument is simple."

"Brexit has had a real measurable economic cost. Not just in political arguments, but in productivity, investment and living standards, not just one opinion or one forecast."

"This is the conclusion we keep seeing across UK institutions and independent research. The question is not what people believed in 2016. The question is what can we learn from the evidence shown in 2026?"

"And the evidence is clear. Firstly, in productivity, this again doesn't come from one political campaign or one think tank. This comes from the UK government, government's own Office for Budget Responsibility. Their estimate is that Brexit reduces long term, UK productivity by around 4% compared to staying in the EU."

"And more recent academic work shows that figure even higher to around 6 to 8%. To put it simply, a smaller economy than we otherwise would have had. Secondly, investment. Because countries don't just grow by accident, they grow because business."

"This creates, invests and builds for the future. Business investment in the UK fell sharply after the referendum and has remained weaker than expected ever since. Independent studies estimate it is around 10 to 15% lower than it would have been without Brexit."

"And that matters because investment means jobs, it means wages, it means opportunities for the next generation, the younger generation, my generation, alph."

"They estimate this loss in productivity translates into around 470 pounds per worker per year in lower wages over time, not just for today, but for years ahead. Thirdly, living standards."

"Because this is where the debate stops being about statistics and it becomes real people's everyday lives. Research from institutions like the London School of Economics has found that Brexit related trade barriers increased costs in everyday goods, including food, contributing to higher household bills."

"And some estimates suggest it could amount to around 250 pounds a year for the average household. And the Resolution foundation has found over, the long term, real wages are lower than they otherwise would have been expected to be. So when you put all three together, products, investment, living standards, you do not get one political slogan, you do not get one isolated focus."

"You get a consistent picture from official institutions and independent research. And the question then becomes, how did we get here from what we were promised? Because this isn't just about numbers on a spreadsheet."

"Behind every percentage point is a real life. It's about whether young people can afford a home, whether your business can grow, whether families feel like their wages are, going further. I think the biggest issue here is Trust."

"In 2016, people were asked to make one of the biggest decisions in modern British history. They were promised that leaving would mean more control, more money and a stronger future. People were told, on the side of a bus, that leaving the EU would free up 350 million pounds a week for the NHS."

"But now, 10 years on, we have to be honest about the gap between what was promised and what actually happened. Because democracy, it doesn't depend on everyone getting every decision right. Democracy depends on us being willing to look at the evidence afterwards and ask, did this work?"

"What can we learn and what should we do next? Ten years ago, Britain chose a new direction. Today, we have the chance to choose what comes next. Not based on nostalgia, not based on slogans, not based on fear."

"Based on reality. And, the future isn't built on ignoring the evidence, is built by facing it. So the question for 2026 is, now that we know the cost, what should we do next? Thank you very much."

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

A beautiful sea turtle

Captured by Philip Waller, these striking close-up portraits show a sea turtle surfacing for air at sunrise. Sea turtles can hold their breath for hours while resting, but must regularly return to the surface to breathe

[Thomas Standfield @TStandfield1789]

Why is the BBC platforming a Tory shadow defence secretary without mentioning that he was a defence minister in the Tory government that devastated Britain's armed forces?
@BBCBreakfast @BBCNews @BBCPolitics @hzeffman @jcartlidgemp @KemiBadenoch @Conservatives @BenObeseJecty

[Lord Pauly of Leytonstone 🇫🇷 @skiologist]

Chris Mason should be sacked for throwing the country into disarray, just as things were beginning to improve.

Let’s hound HIM out of office.

#SACKCHRISMASON

[Nick Reeves #RejoinEU #NAFO #FBPE @nickreeves9876]

Chris Mason also doesn't mention that 'British billionaire' Harborne lives in Thailand under a Thai name, and he doesn't bother to mention that Farage actually owned Reform UK at the time he received the gift.

Mason is a disgrace to journalism, and a handmaiden to fascism.

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

Richard Tice – multimillionaire property developer in a £2k suit with his little flag pin – is furious that Andy Burnham didn’t have a Union Jack as a backdrop while announcing the biggest council house building programme in decades.

Instead of welcoming homes for British families stuck on waiting lists for years, this Reform clown immediately starts ranting about Migrant Street next to Benefit Street next to Scrounger Street.

That’s the mask slipping in real time.

These people don’t give a single solitary fuck about ordinary working class families.

They care about performative patriotism and keeping the poor exactly where they are, desperate, divided, and grateful for scraps while the rich wave flags and sneer at social housing.

Reform UK is not anti establishment. Just a different flavour of entitled bastard who’d rather let families sofa-surf than build homes if it means some asylum seeker might get one too.

This is exactly what they stand for.

[Harry Eccles @Heccles94]

Which of these rights don’t you want Bobby?

Or perhaps more appropriately, which of these rights do you not want us to have?

[Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 @DeborahMeaden]

In case we have forgotten who is PM and what he is doing..

[Stella bella @PamelaWhyt19466]

#SackKuenssberg #SACKCHRISMASON

[Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 @reformexposed]

Just a reminder that Reform UK-led Derbyshire Council has officially scrapped its core net zero climate targets and dismantled its dedicated climate change committee.

I’m sure @CllrAlanG will explain all this tomorrow. Expect weasel words.

[Sam @SamCKx]

The more I dig, the more I realise that Nigel Farage is literally done for. It's over for him. The £5 million bung is big enough to take the entire Reform movement down and possibly land Nigel in jail.

1) The fact the donation was made BEFORE Nigel was MP is absolutely irrelevant. Parliamentary Code of Conduct requires all receipts for the full 12 months before election. Nigel receiving his bung just a few days before he announced his candidacy makes it so much worse, not better.

2) "Category 5: Gifts and benefits from sources outside the UK - THRESHOLD FOR REGISTRATION Section 39. Members must register, subject to the paragraphs below, any gifts or benefits with a value of over £300 which they receive from a source outside the UK."

Nigel argues this was 'purely personal' but the Code refers to partners or families when it comes to personal gifts... this takes us to the next issue...

3) Christopher Harborne has a long track record of making SUBSTANTIAL political contributions to Nigel's parties, first to The Brexit Party, and later to Reform. He is a POLITICAL DONOR - any "gift" he made to Farage CANNOT be argued as personal or without political context due to this track record.

4) Using his platform as an MP, Nigel went on to promote 2 companies in which Christopher Harborne holds $ billions in stock - Nigel NEVER publicly endorsed or mentioned these companies prior to the "gift". Nigel also began actively pushing for policy that would directly interest Christopher Harborne and his business affairs. These were not interests that any could argue could possibly be of interest to his constituents - deregulation of crypto, and lowering of taxes on crypto gains. Nigel spent a substantial amount of time and effort pushing these policies.

It is beyond a doubt that this is the biggest breach of Parliamentary Code of Conduct rules in relation to donations in parliamentary history.

But even more concerning for Nigel will be that if it can be proven he was secretly incentivised to use his public office to push for policies to support a wealthy donor, then he should very likely face a criminal probe for corruption and bribery. I suspect Harborne might also be exposed to this. The United Kingdom and Thailand have a bilateral extradition treaty. Maximum prison sentences of up to 10 years for the offence.

This is not going to go away.

[Parody Nigel Farage @Parody_PM]

I'm confident nobody will share this.

[Politics In The U.K. @politixintheuk]

It's all fun for these BBC rats. Meanwhile, millions of ordinary Brits are going to suffer because these rats helped create the chaos.

[Tolly 🐢💨 🇬🇧🇪🇺🇨🇦🇮🇪 @TollytB]

Anyone seen the Pure Cold Rage from Farage yet?
🐢💨

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

On the 10 year anniversary of Brexit, the legacy is a 6% cut to the UK economy.

Farage, Johnson, Rees Mogg and co lied about the benefits to further their own careers.

Those are the facts.