Don't like Farage but..

[TheBlueKoala]

I do agree with him that foreign nationals shouldn't be able to claim benefits and to scrap PIP for mild mental health issues. And that the money saved should go into mental health care so that everyone with mild mental health problems can access NHS care rapidly.

I'd edit that to be "benefits wouldn't be available to foreign nationals with less than 5 years NI paid." After that, I think people are as invested in the UK as any Brit.

If they could add automatic deportation of any foreign national convicted of a violent or sexual offence, or any offence carrying 2 year prison sentence or longer, that would be appeal to me.

The trouble is Reform's views on abortion, the future of the NHS etc. I can't vote for those.

Farage is popular with people who would send the Op home for being not from the UK. I have had a posted letter from reform this week and a leaflet. Both ripped up and straight in the bin

They also appeal to people who hate people like me - people on benefits (disabled).

The multi millionaire Farage doesn't care about anyone poor. People on benefits. Immigrants. People with mental health issues. According to the OP the savings would be invested in mental health care. The right wing parties want to slash benefits across the board - do people think they are going to invest in the NHS. Maybe go and read their manifesto. They want to get rid of it

14 years of massive cuts. I work in mental health. I have seen beds closed. So many people are sent out of area because no inpatient bed is available, which instantly robs them of any support network they may have. Acuity is through the roof; criteria for admission have tightened. People are left alone for so long, getting worse, that by the time they do get treatment they need more and for longer.

This is replicated elsewhere too. Short term cuts and quick 'fixes' have brought us to this. Now add the demographics and here we are.

Exactly!

Well, how is extra money going to help them get better? It won't, it will just encourage to get worse or stay the same to keep on getting the money.

Farage offering simplistic solutions for issues that don't exist? He's such a fucking wanker

Don't fall for it. He's a cunt who only wants to enrich himself and his mates at the expense of the rest of us. He's a former commodity broker. He is the embodiment of the system that has been screwing working people over for years.

He is not on your side.

Are you being deliberately obtuse or are you that stupid?

Also just to say. If people think getting Pip or lcwra for mild mental health issues is easy - they've not been through the process of trying to get them. I scored zero points on three different occasions when my mental health was much worse than mild

Also. There are plenty of people who come to the UK who make significant contributions work wise. So if they got made redundant they wouldn't be able to claim benefits? You can't do that. It's just setting up a two tier system for people who claim and people who can't

No but the point of PIP is to help with your disability, not to pay your normal bills.

The money should be used for therapy so that the person gets better.

What a load of BS 😂

So nothing to do with the collapsing NHS and aging population then? Oh and the problems caused by the pandemic.

For some it does both.

You do realise how expensive therapy is yes?

....and?

Governments do get in many other sources of taxation, VAT, NI, rates, CT, CGT... to name but a few.

Unemployment benefit in the UK are among the lowest in Europe, about £100 per week for a single person.

How much lower would you like it?

Most foreigners do not have access to public funds.

Two very large drains on pubic finances is pensions and in-work support.

Yes I know, he certainly would never get my vote, although what’s that saying about “even a broken clock…”

Of course the vast majority will be British as the vast majority of the population in Britain is British!

There is a cost of living crisis, the NHS is not coping and people are missing out on life saving treatment and well any treatment really. There is a madman in power in a country we depend on for pretty much everything. There are wars and humanitarian crises in too many places in the world. And the planet is becoming more and more hostile to human life and soon will reach a tipping point. ETC

Trust me. A few people arriving on a boat literally have no bearing on your life whatsoever but ALL of the above points (except for humanitarian crises) directly and negatively affect your life every single day.

If Nigel Farage comes to power this is what he will do: he will focus on things that are absolutely of no consequence to anyone while the country goes to the dogs.

This guy has literally said he wants to take away our human rights. If you don't want to go back to the times of absolute monarchs like Henry VIII then don't vote for him.

He's going to lower my energy bills though. Great!!! In fact every party who have leafleted me so far is going to do that.

Unfortunately for a civilised society and fortunately for Nigel Farage (and golly the initials are scary in themselves), most Brits cannot analyse data. They cannot compute that the percentage of asylum seekers in the UK is vanishingly small. They cannot see that most in receipt of benefits are white/indigenous Brits. They cannot see that a high percentage of the NHS workforce, comparatively, comprises immigrants. They cannot even see that the NHS is only free at the point of delivery and every taxpayer pays for it.

Sadly the British public also did not see that the statistics during Covid indicated that a teeny tiny percentage of people died from Covid and that many of those who died did not die from Covid but with Covid. Based on very poor scientific analysis we allowed money to be printed and people's lives to be blighted by the social impact.

The scientists voicing reason were silenced. Some of the CoL crisis arises from the disproportionate reaction during that period. It was bizarre; but no more bizarre than the heightened sense of fear on MNet where most MNetters allowed themselves to be taken in, hook, line and sinker. But for some it was good, 80% pay and not much to spend it on and they didn't have to go to work. I'm sure that has had an impact on why so many people are claiming. Indeed there are threads on here where MNetters bemoan having to work and who look back fondly on the time they were furloughed.

Why mild mental health conditions specifically & not mild physical disability or mild learning disability ?

But if that’s your stance, then why are you defending not giving the people that work support when/if they need it?

Exactly
Presumably because mental health conditions can be more easily dismissed as "putting it on" and "snowflakey" or whatever than a physical condition you can "see" more.

Because I suspect some people think people fake or exaggerate mental health issues to get benefits.

I'm not. People who need support should have it. People who could work but prefer support/benefits should not be able to rely on benefits.

All parties have supporters and donors who have concerns about many aspects of abortion. Some concern is mother’s health but a lot is that they believe abortion is murder. Some think that the stage of gestation is a critical point in the discussion. I don’t think this is a left right or party support issue. I am loathe to share my own views as I don’t want to be attacked and to be honest I am not sure what my views are and they change often. I support decriminalisation because the police went over the top and caused a lot of harm with their prosecutions but I’m not sure I support abortion at any stage. I wish we lived in a world where abortion just didn’t happen but we don’t, but I think it’s a complex, sad and depressing issue and really shouldn’t be regarded as a party political point but a deep societal issue which many aspects of are neither discussed nor dealt with.

My cousin arguably receives PIP for a 'mild' mental health condition. He was incredibly smart and academic, but as a late teen suffered incredibly bad depression. He had to leave uni during 2nd year as his parents found out he was planning to commit suicide. That was a decade ago. He has worked really really hard with medication and therapy to get better.

But the financial effects are permanent. He had potential to be a very high earner because of his academic talent. However now, he is 32 years old with no degree and little to no work experience to speak of, because he spent so long working hard to get better. A couple of years ago he felt well enough to work, but after a decade of severe mental health issues he can't suddenly jump into a full time role, plus who would hire him? A grown adult with no experience? He has started a little self employed work as a handyman as he's helped a relative renovate a house and has good skills. He is doing better so his PIP has gone down and as he continues to improve he will probably stop being eligible. But his finances for his whole life were impacted by that decade without work, not paying into a pension, saving for a home, working his way up the career ladder.

Point being, it's complicated. And can't be reduced to a soundbite of 'if you have mild mental health issues you shouldn't get PIP'. There are professionals who assess this stuff.