Dear Ed Miliband, We’re Looking To You To Defend Us From Deplorable Welfare Cuts

This article titled Dear Ed Miliband, We’re Looking To You To Defend Us From Deplorable Welfare Cuts and written by E Davis was first published by the Welfare News Service on 23 March 2014 and has been reproduced here with permission.

Dear Mr Miliband,

I do not profess to know an awful lot about politics. In fact I did not even really care about it much, as I always felt secure. I always knew that as a severely disabled person I would be protected and looked after. However, since 2010 this has changed.

I remember well the pledge made by David Cameron that, “those who need help the most would get it.” That was a lie. The present government has attacked those who “need help the most” constantly and ferociously.

They have given us the Bedroom Tax, cut back on the amount of support given (by depriving local councils of funds). They have changed the qualifying criteria for Personal Independence Payment, stopped the Independent living fund, closed down Remploy factories, as well as changing the way people go for fitness assessments.

They have made severely disabled people wait, (in some cases up to two years) for their benefit decisions. This has often resulted in their death. The official figures put the number of people who have died whilst waiting for the Work Compatibility Assessment process (or after, having gone through it), at around 12,000. However, the unofficial figure is more likely to be 44, 000, and growing.

They have dismantled (and effectively privatised), the National Health Service, which has already made it more difficult for disabled people to gain access to the help we need.

Now, to add insult to injury, they want to set a benefit (welfare) cap!

You say that you are the party of the people. You claim to be the party that cares, and yet Ed Balls says that the Labour party will vote with the government in favour of a cap on the most vulnerable people in our society.

Many, many of us are feeling let down and betrayed and we are looking to you for support. We are looking for you to defend us against these deplorable welfare reforms, that have left so many of us in dire poverty, housebound, alone, and without support. So far we have seen and heard nothing.

Your friend Tony Benn once said, “if we can find money to kill people, we can find money to help them.” Your party, and that of the government, have so far only found money to kill and harm people. I hope you can all live with your consciences.

If things do not change, the situation for many will become dire and many more people will die as a consequence. I am often told I am a good judge of character. I am hoping I am right about you, and that you are of good conscience.

I hope too, that if you and your party get to be government next year, then you will stop the suffering and needless deaths of thousands of vulnerable people.

After all, as another great leader once said, “Society is measured by how it treats its weakest members”

Ms. E. Davis

Please Note: The views and opinions expressed in this letter are those of the writer/author only and are not necessarily shared by the Welfare News Service or Same Difference.

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