Thursday 17 March 2011

ACT NOW will meet with Liam Byrne

The Rt Hon Liam Byrne, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
ACT NOW has been invited to attend a meeting with Liam Byrne and the shadow welfare team on Monday March 28th. Other campaign groups have also been invited to attend the meeting.

The meeting has been arranged by Jon Cruddas (ACT NOW’s Patron) and Jonathan Rutherford. The meeting will be carried out under Chatham House rules which we have been told will allow for an open discussion and will ensure trust.

Jonathan has asked us to e-mail 3/4 key points that we would like to discuss on the day. The meeting will last for an hour and a half. It is important that we make as big an impact as possible on the Labour Shadow Team in that short space of time.

For anyone who is not familiar with Chatham House rules here is an outline of what taking part in a discussion while this rule is in place means.

"When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed".

While this may appear to be restricting it is the way that Ministers and MPs are used to holding meetings. It is possible to report what has taken place at the meeting but not possible to say who said what. ACT NOW's Campaign Manager Carole has personally attended meetings that have taken place under the Chatham House rule on a number of occasions and felt that she was still able to give comprehensive feedback to her own group Autism-in-Mind after the meeting.

We believe it is important to have someone sitting round the meeting table who has a knowledge and understanding of autism who can express their concerns about the Welfare Reform Bill and how it is directly impacting on the lives of adults with autism.

It is vitally important that the Labour Party not only voice their opposition to the Welfare Reform Bill but also rethink their own policy regarding the WCA. It was after all the Labour Party who brought in this assessment.

4 comments:

Robert said...

Ask them why did they produce the worse WCA medical test in history, I've no time for labour anymore once you target the bottom of society and start talking about work shy cheats benefits scroungers I've no time at all for any of them. talking to this opposition minister is a waste of time, they will say anything as they have done to get back in, no thanks.

OneVoice said...

ACT NOW is committed in their attempts to effect change Robert. We fully understand that we will be talking to the opposition party. We would also meet with the coalition Government if they would agree to meet with us. I totally agree with you that once the vulnerable members of our society become your target then society is in a bad way. However to sit back and accept our lot is not an option for ACT NOW.

Robert said...

The big problem going back to 1997 Labour under Kinnock had decided welfare was a target, this gent felt to many people on disability could work should work, many had been placed onto benefits by Thatcher to keep the unemployment down, he spoke a lot about welfare, he was my MP.

The fact is disabled people are like it or not the Jews of Germany, we have been blamed for everything except being human.

So far I've been assaulted twice by idiots who wanted to know if I was disabled they tipped my wheelchair over, another women stated we should have been put down at birth.

That of course comes from the labour party push using the media like the Daily heil.

Kent Community Activist said...

Hope all goes well on Monday. Sure it will.

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