Wednesday 21 September 2011

URGENT Call for Action!

'Never fall ill, never grow old, never become disabled'   

for if you do, not even Labour will speak up for you.'

To all our supporters:

The Labour party conference starts in Liverpool on Saturday. Labour were the architects of Employment Support Allowance and the ‘not fit for purpose’ Work Capability Assessment which is so stressful and traumatic it was linked to the suicide of claimants whilst Labour were still in power. They are the party of opposition but they are not opposing the Welfare Reform Bill as they should be. Labour seem to have forgotten that the 10 million sick and disabled people plus carers, friends and family in the UK have significant voting power. 
It is time for us to remind Labour that they will not get our votes if they do not start to oppose the parts of the Welfare Reform Bill set to return sick people, disabled people and carers to a life of desperation, dependency, despair and charity.

We are asking you to help with a mass email to key members of the Labour party to remind them of our voting power. Please include the following details in your email and send it to Ed Miliband, Margaret Curran (shadow minister for disability) and Liam Byrne (shadow minister for DWP). If you have time please also email it to any Labour MP and particularly any members of the shadow cabinet. We have provided a list of email addresses below.

Please aim to send your email at 11am tomorrow (Thursday the 22nd September) If you can’t send the email at 11am, don’t worry, just please try to send it at any time between then and the end of Labour party conference on Wednesday 29th September.

The email subject  should read: Your Silence Is Deafening

We suggest embedding a link to this youtube video “The Sound of Silence” To embed the video into your email just copy and paste the link below.



Then please copy the following text into your email:

Dear (insert name here)

10 million disabled people in this country plus their carers, relatives and friends are watching what your party do in relation to disability issues and wondering why you seem disinterested in trying to get our votes by opposing the savage attacks against disabled people being made by the Coalition Government. During conference season we wish to remind you, the architects of Employment Support Allowance, to 'never fall ill, never grow old, never become disabled', for if you do not even Labour will speak up for you.
I support the ACT NOW (Autism Campaigners Together) campaign for autism advocates to be offered at the first point of contact by the DWP and also for compulsory autism training for ATOS healthcare professionals. Adults with autism are at a disadvantage right from the beginning of the assessment processes, which Labour introduced.

(If you would like to add a short, personal message explaining to Labour how you feel about their lack of support for sick, disabled people and carers then please include it after the suggested text. You might also like to include a photo of yourself, or perhaps a photo of what disability, sickness or caring means to you. Don’t worry if you don’t want to personalise the email, sending the suggested text is fine) 
Regards
(Insert your name)

Please send your email to:


Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 4778
ed.miliband.mp@parliament.uk
Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions
Liam Byrne
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 6953
Fax: 020 7219 1431
byrnel@parliament.uk

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 8102
Fax: 020 7219 6656
margaret.curran.mp@parliament.uk
Shadow Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Shadow Chief Secretary
Angela Eagle
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills
John Denham
Cabinet Office and Minister for the Olympics
Tessa Jowell
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Caroline Flint
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 4407
Fax: 020 7219 1277
caroline.flint.mp@parliament.uk
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport
Ivan Lewis
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 2609
lewisi@parliament.uk
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 
Hilary Benn
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 5770
hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Jim Murphy
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 4615
Fax: 020 7219 5657
jimmurphymp@parliament.uk

Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mary Creagh
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 6984/020 7219 8766
Fax: 020 7219 4257
creaghm@parliament.uk

Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Election Coordinator
Andy Burnham
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 8250
andy.burnham.mp@parliament.uk

Shadow Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice
Sadiq Khan
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 6967
Fax: 020 7219 6477
sadiqkhanmp@parliament.uk

Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Meg Hillier
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 5325
Fax: 020 7219 8768
meghilliermp@parliament.uk


Shadow Secretary of State for Health
John Healey

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 6359
Fax: 020 7219 2451
healeyj@parliament.uk

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Shaun Woodward

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 2680
woodwardsh@parliament.uk

Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
Ann McKechin
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 8239
Fax: 020 7219 1770
ann.mckechin.mp@parliament.uk
Constituency

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Maria Eagle
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 4019
Fax: 020 7219 1157
eaglem@parliament.uk

Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
Peter Hain
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 3925
Fax: 020 7219 3816
hainp@parliament.uk


Steven Timms MP
buckk@parliament.uk

2 comments:

tern said...

I actually got a signed letter attachment mailed back, from Ed Miliband, though I had not given a paper address: and Margaret Curran, who is not my MP, answered with the same text. They said they voted against the Welfare Reform Bill at third reading. Had you checked that out? It seems an important fact go acknowledge. Said also, they tabled these amendments on PIP:

· Scrap plans to abolish the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance for people in residential care homes who use this support to visit friends and family. This will affect around 80,000 people and could leave many with as little as £22 a week on which to live on.
· Retain automatic eligibility for disability benefits for people who have severe impairments
· Ensure that disabled people only have to wait 3 months before they can apply for the Personal Independence Payment, rather than the 6 months the Government proposes.
· Report and consult on the new assessment for PIP to ensure that the assessment is working properly and help is going to those disabled people that need it.
and amendments at committee stage:
· Extend the limit to at least two years
· Stop the Government from cutting the benefit for young disabled people
· Stop the cut from hitting immediately in April 2012

and tried to at report stage too but the government guillotined it.

Okay they defended ESA's introduction, but they gave ground on the WCA wexperience: "we recognise that there need to be changes to the Work Capability Assessment to make it fit for purpose, and support Professor Harrington’s review". Actually an admission that the WCA as first brought in, under Labour, was not fit for purpose.

It is right to prod them to make all this better known, as obviously you have not heard much from them publicly about it. But I have my doubts that it was right to accuse them of "deafening silence", if it was this easy to get a clearly anti-bill position from them and find out they voted against the bill and made several worthwhile tries to amend it.

Kyron Hodgetts said...

Hi Everyone this is a link that takes ed milliband to task at labour conference regarding benefits and the rhetorric they are using
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2011/09/ed-m-handbagged-by-sickness-disability.html

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