Think before you vote!

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Britain, a future fair for all.

 Think before you vote

Hello again folks over the last year or so disability benefits have yet again come under fire. The politicians are leaping about like flies on a dog’s back trying to out do each others policies relating to disability benefit reforms. I don’t know about you, but I have been loyal to one party for my whole adult life and firmly believed in their principles. I am not going to say which party, and expect you will not ask. Let’s take a look at what the main 2 contenders have said.

It appears that the both Labour and Conservative have the disabled population of the UK firmly in their sights. As a disabled person and voter I am uncomfortable with their plans to say the least.

Government figures suggest that there are around 1.6 million people claiming benefits in the UK at present. The present Government and any future Conservative Government want to reduce this figure and both of the main parties have their own methods of doing this. Our present Government are using ATOS Origin, the Conservatives have not said how they will do it but have hinted that one in five benefit claimants will be judged fit for work and transferred to jobseekers allowance, reducing their benefits by around £25.00 per week should they form the next Government. This represents a saving of around 36 mliilon pounds, It pails into insignificance when you consider they spent billions bailing the banks out, pitiful isnt it?

Just the other week I was in to see the smiling assassin, who quite candidly admitted that the official figure for those losing disability benefits after a visit to the cardboard cut out ATOS “Doctor” is currently at 85%. That is a huge number of people and if you include their immediate dependants you begin to see the impact the actions of ATOS and the “decision makers”  have on the lives of disabled people in the UK. When you think about it, 85% of disability benefit claimants are being branded as liars, that cant be a realistic statistic, can it?

Every day I receive messages from benefit claimants who have their lives thrown into disarray by ATOS and the “decision makers”, the impact is quite devastating when you consider the associated problems, for example the loss of housing benefits and the immediate arrears the retrospective cessation of benefit payments can cause, the mental stress, the undermining of the authority of your G.P. or specialist who are experts in your care, the stress caused if you then have to lie to claim another benefit like JSA which requires a fitness declaration to be signed. I could go on, but wont, save to say that I think it is now a time for change. Mr Brown’s new (recycled) slogan of a future fair for all clearly does not apply to the disabled voter, therefore, our votes should not apply to him and his like. We should organise ourselves into an association to fight this foul policy and end the insidious attacks on the (soft targets) weak and infirm by voting with our feet.

It is now time to stand up and be counted and I urge you to think carefully at the next Local and General election. Look carefully at the policies relating to disability benefits, question Local Councillors on their position regarding this policy and back that up with a letter to them reminding them of your conversation, continue this action by sending a copy to your local M.P.

Write to your M.P. every time you have an issue with your benefits or the DWP, lobby your M.P. for change, if we all do it they will have to react, especially if they realise that the disabled vote can end their careers and thus take away their cash cow.

I wonder how they would feel if the 1.6 million disabled claimants voted for another political party at the next election? I bet, given the poor turn out at the last couple of elections the disabled vote could tip the balance of power or at least force a hung Parliament. Bears thinking about, doesn’t it?

So dear readers, next time you vote, think carefully where you put your cross. You never know you could be putting a cross through your rights to claim incapacity or disability benefits. A future fair for all. Sounds idyllic doesn’t it? Let me assure you, the statement does not apply to disability benefit claimants and that is fundamentally wrong. Besides being an insult I believe it is an infringement of our human rights and should be challenged.

 I’ll be back.