But this goes much further than clothes, glasses and concert tickets – and MPs from all parties have been at it.

MPs routinely enjoy ‘hospitality’ at the expense of lobbyists, from sports tickets paid for by gambling companies all the way up to all-expenses-paid foreign trips funded by repressive regimes.

Under the current rules, this is legal as long as the ‘gifts’ are declared. But a declaration does not make the possibility of influence go away.

Lobbyists would not be spending a fortune on hospitality for MPs if they did not expect to see any benefit in return.

In many countries, such gifts are banned. The rules for UK civil servants also ban gifts and hospitality.

It’s time to force politicians to clean up their act and ban the ‘freebies’.

Highlighted comments

With their salaries they can afford to pay their own way. Also, it is a conflict of interest. It is outrageous.

Robin, West London

Accepting gifts in my occupation is a sackable offence. Those in a position of power should not be any different to the general public.

Alison, Falkirk

Health service professionals are only permitted to accept nominal gifts of up to around £25. Local government employees are the same. It’s to stop any question of corruption. Surely that matters even more with our legislators?

Naomi, Altrincham

It is not right that rich people can have their say in government by buying the MPs when we are not listened to.

Patricia, Devon

In any other walk of life these would be called bribes.

Alison, Essex

Nobody gives an MP a freebie without expecting a return.

Gaynor, Aberdeenshire

They’re there to serve the people, not help themselves!

Charlie, Dunbartonshire

The protest was all legal and agreed with the police, but organisers were arrested on their arrival. It is the latest in a series of state over-reaches trying to stop awkward questions about the UK’s new, unelected head of state.

Protesters were previously arrested holding up a sign saying “abolish monarchy” and for shouting out about the new king: “who elected him?” This is an attack on everyone’s democratic rights.

The cost of the coronation has swelled up to £250 million – money that could have been spent on tackling the cost of living crisis we all face.

There are many big questions over King Charles’ conduct going back years, from his ‘spider memos’ attempting to improperly influence government policy to £2.5 million he accepted in actual bags of cash from a Qatari politician.

The attempts to shut down debate about the issue are a disgrace when you consider that the majority of 18-24 year olds believe we should abolish the monarchy. To the new generation, all this fawning and deference looks absurd. In the whole population, Charles’ popularity rating is just 54%.

It’s time to move on from the feudal age and abolish the monarchy.

Highlighted comments

I didn’t have any strong feelings about the monarchy before, but if people are being arrested for peaceful protest against it, it needs to go – we are not living in the Middle Ages!

Ian, Suffolk

Why should one family have so much, simply because they’re born with luck, whilst the rest of us struggle to make ends meet one year to the next and have to look on longingly?

Jenny, Stafford

The monarchy is an expensive, unnecessary, and fundamentally unfair institution with no real purpose.

Julie, Hertfordshire

We are a democracy, outrageous behaviour arresting a protester!

Suki, Portsmouth

It is not right that we as the people do not have a say on who is our head of state and on the UK becoming a republic. The monarchy are unelected, outdated and we shouldn’t be stopped from protesting and making our feelings known on the issue. That is not democratic.

Amy, Thurrock

The royal family has been mired in scandal over the years, yet it is unaccountable and, apparently, above the law. I find this unacceptable and out of place in the 21st century.

Veronica, Bury

I think at a time of such hardship for so many people in the UK it’s absurd to have this undemocratic and outmoded institution still in existence. Abolish the monarchy!

Steven, Glasgow

Monarchy sits at the heart of and perpetuates our iniquitous class system. We’ll never be able to develop a fair society when power sits in the hands of people born into it – it’s an anachronism.

Karen, Suffolk

The previous government introduced a new law that requires everyone to show photo ID when voting in general elections.

But many of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society don’t have a passport or driving license, and the cost of getting one can be too much if you’re on a low income. 3.5 million people currently don’t have photo IDs.

There is a ‘voter ID’ card that people can get, but you’d need to hear about it and apply in time for the election, or risk being turned away at the polling station.

The thought that people can be locked out of voting is scary.

And this was implemented by a government who knows that the people most likely to be affected, are the ones who are least likely to vote for them.

The scheme was supposedly to reduce voter fraud. However, there is no proof that this is a big problem in the UK. In 2018, the official statistics watchdog even rebuked the claim that this type of electoral fraud is increasing.

The new government should repeal the voter ID law.

Voting is our right – not a privilege. All voter ID requirements at the polling booth must be scrapped immediately.

Highlighted comments

“No one should be denied a rightful vote simply because they lack a photographic ID card. Electoral transgression in this country has been negligible – apart from that committed by the Vote Leave Campaign for which they were found guilty. The same people who now are trying to limit the rightful votes of others they oppose.”

Leonora, Oxford

“Not everyone has photo ID – many do not drive or have a passport. Voting is a right and we need to encourage people to exercise that right, not put them off with unnecessary bureaucracy.”

Kath, Lancashire

“I’m signing because this is deliberately brought in to disenfranchise poor voters who can’t afford a passport or driving licence. It’s a disgrace.”

Jonathan, Liverpool

“This and other measures in the Queen’s Speech are straight up voter suppression attempts. Instead of trying to appeal to voters with policies, the Tories want to lock in their position by cheating. It’s copied from the worst bits of the US Republicans and it must not stand.”

Alison, Hull

“For a government who have rejected identity cards (didn’t Johnson say he would eat his?) to bring in voter identity cards is an attempt to disenfranchise the poor and marginalised and exclude potential Labour voters.”

Nadine, Hertfordshire

“This is likely to reduce turn out rather than increase it which is what is needed in a democracy. I have seen no evidence of voter fraud and therefore this change seems completely unnecessary.”

Helen, Norwich

“I’d prefer the government spent their time and energy on the problems which exist, rather than the ones in their imagination. Or is this an underhand way to disenfranchise people?”

Mary, Leicestershire

Now a Fox News-style channel has launched in the UK. GB News, which started broadcasting in June 2021, has £60 million of funding from offshore funders and shadowy Brexit backers.

Already, the channel’s bosses are steeped in controversy. GB News was chaired by the Spectator’s Andrew Neil, who declared that EU supporters are “banned” from watching it. Sun columnist Dan Wootton is a presenter, and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage hosts a prime time show four evenings per week.

News should be unbiased and impartial – that’s not just our opinion, it’s UK law. GB News and others plan to use a loophole in broadcasting rules that allows “strongly opinionated coverage so long as viewers are exposed to alternative views”.

We need to close this loophole before biased media takes Britain down the same road as the US.

Find out what you can do to boycott GB News.

Highlighted comments

If news and journalism isn’t impartial then it’s propaganda, pure and simple. Allowing right wing propaganda channels will lead to our democracy being compromised, as happened in the US when the Capitol was attacked.

Frances, South London

We have our version of Trump and do not under any circumstances need the equivalent of Fox News to go with him.

Sarah, Bath

Fox News UK is a frightening prospect. In this world there is truth and there are lies told for power and profit. Truth is the basis of democracy. Lies destroy democracy.

Sandra, Hampshire

UK news must be unbiased and impartial. This law protects us from the disaster that has befallen the US – but Andrew Neil is explicit that GB News will be partisan.

David, Devon

We already have a government that lies automatically. We do not need a broadcaster to promote the views and lies of the Brexit backers and their moneyed chums, in their own interests – never ours.

Wendy, Northumberland

Pesticides that kill bees are once again being allowed to be used in England – even though they are supposed to be banned.

The neonicotinoids are banned by the European Union because of the “serious danger they pose to bees” – which are so vital to our ecosystem.

A third of the UK’s bee population has disappeared in just a decade, yet bees pollinate three quarters of our crops.

When reversing the ban, the British government said farmers can use the deadly pesticides if it is deemed ‘necessary’.

But there is no situation where putting Britain’s diminishing bee population at risk can be seen as necessary. We all depend on bees – we need to protect them.

The ban on bee-killing must be brought back immediately and the government has to find a different way to protect farmers’ crops that doesn’t put our vital pollinators at risk.

This disaster-in-waiting for bee populations must be stopped.

Highlighted comments

No bees = no pollination = no food. It’s not difficult.

Sian, Norfolk

I don’t understand why the rules should now suddenly change because we’ve left Europe! Protect our crops and our bees!

Erin, Cornwall

Another broken promise from this government with no scruples or integrity. Knew this would happen after Brexit. They cannot be trusted.

Elaine, Yorkshire

I care deeply about this issue and feel betrayed by the government due to these pesticides being reintroduced.

Alison, Bristol

As a horticulturalist I know the damage that is being done to our ecosystem by these chemicals.

Lionel, Cardiff

We’ve had years of data showing the danger to bees from these pesticides and we know bees are vital for our continued survival.

Sean, Bristol

Our whole ecosystem will collapse if the bees disappear. Please re-ban this dangerous pesticide.

Jane, Perth

Banned in the EU for good reason: neonicotinoids will be a disaster for the UK’s already struggling bee population.

Martin, Sussex

Without bees 🐝 we would not survive. They must be protected. I feel angry that the Government has broken yet another promise to the nation.

Susan, Yorkshire