Big Brother Watch
19th January 2022WE'RE WINNING!!
Dear friends,
WE'VE DONE IT!!
Today, Boris Johnson announced that mandatory Covid passes are to be scrapped from next Thursday in England.
This is a HUGE victory for every one of you who is so courageously and generously supporting our campaign. We have worked tirelessly to challenge Covid passes in parliament, through legal action, and on the media.
We never give up - and our actions are proving victorious.
What we're doing with your support
Here's a recap of just some of the actions we've taken, made possible by your support:
April 2020: Just weeks into the pandemic, we began monitoring and investigating Government plans for "immunity passports" and briefing MPs on the human rights risks.
March 2021: With our email template tools, we contributed to over 50,000 public responses being sent to the Government's Covid certification review and thousands of emails to MPs.
April 2021: We sent a 100+ page report on Covid certification, with expert legal advice, to the Government. We launched our Access Denied report setting out the case against a two-tier Britain under Covid certification, sending a copy to every single MP and achieving BBC News coverage.
April 2021: We brought 99 MPs and Peers from all parties together, as well as numerous rights groups, to sign our joint pledge against Covid passes, and launched stopvaccinepassports.co.uk, achieving widespread media coverage.
April 2021: We worked with a whistleblower and the Guardian to reveal Covid passes had been secretly planned since at least December 2020 - when Minister were claiming there were "no plans"
June 2021: We began legal action on the Covid pass trials.
July 2021: We scuppered plans for mandatory Covid Passes in England.
September 2021: We scuppered plans for mandatory *vaccine* passports in England - a second time!
September 2021: We projected our Stop Covid Passes message onto Parliament!
September 2021: We sent an ad van to drive around Parliament all day, reminding ministers of the lies they fed us about Covid passes - and sent the Health Secretary running..!
September 2021: We brought Labour MPs together at party conference to discuss the left case against Covid IDs
September 2021: We brought Conservative MPs together at party conference to discuss the conservative case against Covid IDs - and David Davis MP's speech against Covid IDs was taken down from our YouTube channel, so we took to the airwaves, including BBC Newsnight (and we won that fight too..)
November 2021: We fought Covid passes in Northern Ireland and put anti-Covid passport digital billboards across shopping centres
October 2021: We held a Stop Covid Passes protest outside the Senedd, briefed every Welsh Assembly member on the rights risks, fought tooth and nail against Welsh Covid pass plans (and should've won the vote)
December 2021: We joined with rights groups to organise a Stop Covid Passes demonstration outside Parliament
December 2021: We put up Stop Covid Pass billboards across the country
December 2021: We drove an ad van around Westminster reminding MPs that Covid Passes are a failure
December 2021: Following our lobbying of MPs there was the biggest backbench rebellion of Johnson's premiership with 126 MPs, 99 of whom are Conservative MPs, voting against Covid passports.
December 2021: We launched legal action against the Government
January 2022: WE'RE WINNING!
We also had countless meetings with parliamentarians, contributed to parliamentary business, fearlessly debated anyone and everyone on TV and radio including the Tony Blair Institute, and appeared in the media more times than you can count - among so much more!
The fight continues...
This really is a day to celebrate the reversal of this appalling scheme that has taken the world by its grip.
Your support has been phenomenal and it is no doubt down to our solidarity and mobilisation that we have changed the course of history today, together.
Without our strong opposition from very early on, this scheme would no doubt have been in place earlier and evolving into something much greater.
Checkpoint Cymru - legal latest
Today, we revealed that we've issued a legal claim against the Welsh Government. Our challenge has been reported across the airwaves including on Sky and ITV.
It follows weeks of correspondence between our lawyers and the Welsh government - who won't allow us to publish our claim - because it reveals how weak their evidence base is...
So we can't say much. But what we can say is that we’ve seen the reasons the Welsh Government have given to justify the Covid pass scheme, and it just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
So with your support, we're pursuing this legal challenge - for transparency, and to put an end to Covid passes as soon as possible.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance
What separates us from the authoritarian swings of the rest of Europe and the West - where vaccine passports and mandates are being used to deprive people of jobs, social inclusion and even their liberty - is you. You stepped up and supported us to make the fight back to Covid passports the biggest it could be - and it is paying off.
But with Covid passes still in use across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and NHS staff facing mass sackings within weeks, we need your support as much as ever. We know have a winning formula - and we need to keep the pressure up.
That's why I'm asking you to join us, today.
Supporting our work with a monthly donation is the easiest and most effective way to keep our vital work going and growing!
To celebrate today’s fantastic news, we're offering everyone who joins Big Brother Watch for £10/month our popular fighting for a free future t-shirt. This limited offer lasts until midnight on Sunday 23rd January 2022 - so join now!
I can't thank you enough for your incredible support. It's an honour to work for freedom on your behalf. We should all be so proud that with courage and determination, we've achieved this huge win for civil liberties in England today.
But defending liberty is work that's never done - and we're still challenging Covid passports in Wales, among so much more. So please join us, keep up your incredible support, and let's keep winning!
Thank you,
Silkie
Director of Big Brother Watch