Thread 19 Starmer - A Coalition of the Willing

[DuncinToffee]

.https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5276594-thread-18-starmer-all-sides-of-the-house-agree-apart-from-the-trump-bootlickers?page=40&reply=142583752

previous thread

God, I misread that as ‘comforted’ and thought we really had entered a complete and utter Tory nightmare (instead of just the partial one we appear to be in)

I don’t know how to feel about the government right now. I’m clinging on to the hope that there is, somewhere, a master plan for the ‘sunlit uplands’, but increasingly starting to doubt it.

Let's hope they put their money where their mouths are when it comes to a vote.

I remember when Remploy factories went, then Remploy itself as a job seeking service (privatised and sold off). At the time, the Government pledged to find jobs for the thousands that lost them. Two years on, that was not the case. Remploy was expensive, but it was a disabled-friendly workplace that gave people dignity, confidence and experience.

Most workplaces, public transport and shift patterns are not designed for people with mobility or sensory problems (I'm not even touching on things such as ME or autism). We need to change that if we want more of them in work.

I say this as someone who copes with her disability in a standard workplace with adaptations. Even with those adjustments it is draining and difficult. I don't get PIP or other benefits (which is fair enough), but I can imagine how much harder it is for someone who does qualify for those things.

Remploy is now Maximus in England and Wales. It's funded by the DWP. I signpost a lot of people to them.

I'm happy to hear the service is still there. I still think closing all the factories was a mistake.

sent via https://www.writetothem.com/ (so yiu can track the response)

Dear local Labour MP

I am writing to you to express my deep concern about the recent changes being made to the benefits system by the government you serve in.

I cannot stress how disappointed I am that a Labour government should chose to pursue the exact same route as their corrupt and venal predecessors.

I am not a committed Labour voter but felt in 2024 that the best chance for the UK to move away from the cruelty and ignorance of the Conservatives was to look to a Labour government.

However with the recent news of benefits reform accompanined by messaging that must only have been approved by the Conservatives and Reform in tandem I find myself disappointed beyond expression.

This is not what you were elected for, and it is not what I will support. There are other polical parties and candidates that are available, and there is now no reason why I should not consider them in future.

I am well aware of the pressures that face the countries finances. However rather that starting at the top and looking into the obscene wealth being accumulated by a few, it is shameful that your government chose to start at the bottom and attack the most vulnerable in society.

If the UK faces a financial shortfall, it is because untold billions have been extracted from the economy without the application of tax. Not because the blind need white sticks, and the ill require care and compassion.

I do not expect an answer. I would rather any such energy be directed at your colleagues and party to inform them of the depth of feeling their betrayal of the most vulnerable in society has caused.

If I had wanted a spiteful mean hypocritical representative, I would have voted differently

Yours sincerely,

Absolutely this. I have mine through what was initially a supported placement but the reasonable adaptations allow me to work.

What annoys me the most about the people that start threads about welfare payments in here is that I suspect that they are also the same group of people that don’t think employers should have to make reasonable adaptations and resent work colleagues that do. We can’t simultaneously have the lowest sick pay in the oecd, penalise people for needing time off sick, refuse to make reasonable adaptations and not pay people if they can’t work.

And as I suspect Reeves and Labour are about to find out. Lower welfare payments tend to lead to higher costs elsewhere.

Most workplaces, public transport

Anyone who has spent time in a rehab centre will know that a lot of wheelchair users can only use black cabs or minibuses able to secure a wheelchair.

There's always bus roulette, but the odds aren't really attractive.

Has there been any suggestion they will change the assessors ? Because ATOS and Capita really don't have a great track record.

If they were serious about saving money, they would charge Capita/ATOS £10,000 for every assessment that is overturned on appeal. That would make the system self funding in a weekend.

The "AI" sales droids would tell you it's the poster child for that. And in a stopped clock moment, they'd be right.

Unimaginable quantities of data with ephemeral patterns to be uncovered ? Could not be more suited.

If an "AI" model learns how descriptions are generally related to diagnoses then it can spot consistent and inconsistent patterns that would allow it to create a matrix to drive a process of review and refinement.

"AI" is obviously a load of big hairy bollocks as a substitute for intelligence. Anyone who thinks otherwise is clearly thick. However if you want sophisticated pattern matching at the speed of light, it's the perfect solution.

It now specifically supports people who are experiencing mental health difficulties affecting their wellbeing at work on a long term basis (up to 9 months). Out of hundreds of referrals I've encouraged people to make, the feedback from clients has been overwhelming positive.

The number of appeals will go up, that is for sure.

Oh. More money and a holiday and all my MH issues will be magically cured. Might have to start hiding a few threads.

The disability hate is fucking off the scale right now, and not just on MN.

Facebook is full of media articles about "handouts".

Do you mind if I copy, edit and use this @SerendipityJane ?

This is a great letter.

It is horrible.

I like 99% of the letter from Findlay but I don’t agree that Starmer’a tenure is disastrous so far.

I haven’t liked everything by any means and I am so astonished by this last turn, but like many on here said when they started gently with the WFA being stripped for everyone even those on less than £12k a year state pension income (WHY didn’t they go by council tax band to save costs of means testing), I wondered what we were being warmed up for. And I thought it was the Budget actually.

Labour MPs may well be able to put a stop to the harshest measures - I am all for a government that u-turns when it makes the wrong decision (see free school meals in Johnson u-turn) so let’s hope they do.

I largely approve of Starmer’s efforts in foreign policy at the moment. Like many pp have said, he’s getting the unpopular stuff out of the way early so everyone’s forgotten about it by the next election.

Like many pp have said, he’s getting the unpopular stuff out of the way early so everyone’s forgotten about it by the next election

Disabled people and their families and carers won't have forgotten. I will never forgive Labour for this. I knew cuts were coming, but the scale of this is massive and the stress it will put people under is cruel.

Even if labour u-turns, Starmer has shown me who he really is and how he views disabled people. I will not vote for a government headed by him again.

I agree. It has some excellent points and I like a bit of passion fr9m a politician, but it’s sensible to increase defence spending just now (and I’d describe myself as a pacifist) and there have been some really excellent changes in other areas. They’ve just got benefits wrong - which is big, I’m not minimising it, but it doesn’t make the whole thing a disaster.

It's why I posted it 😀

However, remember that circulated c'n'p complaints are much easier to dismiss as "activism".

Its the stress thing for me, i'm not disabled but these changes are going to put people, who already are in crisis, under even more strain, even if in the end, they don't impact the individual.

My DD who does work with people with complex needs, usually following a stroke, is so angry, as she said to me, its already fucking hard to get help for these people & to keep it.

People like Kendal and of course Starmer, are no better than Osbourne or IDS et al.... though they are better than most in the Tory party.

Its shit choice the electorate have.

Just wrote to my MP, Labour a very short email, i think the longer ones just get binned or as you say, if copied, dismissed.

Like many pp have said, he’s getting the unpopular stuff out of the way early so everyone’s forgotten about it by the next election

Disabled people and their families and carers won't have forgotten.

Yes, but I think the comment was aimed at people that matter.