Email #30

Dear Harriet

I go back to work this evening. I say back to work but thats a misnomer actually because I work all year round.  What I mean is I go back to my footie club this evening.  I have missed it during the "off season" period; I miss the camaraderie between us all and I miss the highs and lows of The Beautiful Game.

I keep odd hours, working evenings and weekends with the occasional day time paperwork or ordering session thrown in.  It adds to the unpredictability that I enjoy so much but its also demanding on my family.  My Dad has to help out with lifts, and my sister helps out with the babysitting.  We are the epitome of the matriarchal extended family, where the care is female centric and female led.  I used to feel sorry for my Dad being outnumbered by so many strong female characters, but he has been blessed with 4 grandsons so he is less outnumbered as they grow up, becoming alies as well as grandchildren.  This is especially evident in the bond he has with my eldest.

Family is therefore important to me, and family values resonate strongly for me.  Its one reason I write to you with so much passion.  Each day I highlight a different topic, sometimes the same topics come up but each time I come at it from a different angle, each time highlighting it from a differing perspective.  But each topic I address affects my family deeply, and therefore affects every family no matter their make up across the country.  It is important to remember though that I am lucky to have such strong familial support.  Not everyone has the support that I do.

Up and down the country tonight, as I prepare to go to work, there are other Mums and Dads doing the same thing, preparing themselves and their families for their shift.  Some have no family support, some have limited family support, some have no support from anyone.  Each of us is struggling to make ends meet, robbing Peter to pay Paul, many of us reliant upon welfare.

Some of us would be less reliant were we paid a living wage.

Many businesses disagree and prefer a system where they pay peanuts for their monkeys, while the tax payer supports both the businessman with his subsidies and the employee with their tax credits.
This is not what I would call a fair and just society, its certainly not what I would call a fair distribution of wealth, but it is definitely what I would call the owner of the means of production exploiting the workforce.

You dont have to be a socialist to consider this wrong.  You only have to be a human with compassion.

Companies need to pay a living wage so that welfare can concentrate on the most vulnerable without having to protect the white collar middle management bringing home just enough to feed their family, always one pay cheque or one redundancy away from poverty.  This isnt just the means of achieving a fairer society.  This is common sense.

If companies pay a living wage, less people would need the support of the welfare system, which would result in savings for Her Majesties Treasury, without the forced cuts to be announced come Budget Day.

Next week, as Mr Osbourne announces his cuts, Labour MUST speak up and speak out against the cuts, but it must also demand that the incumbent government force employers to pay a minimum wage that reflects the cost of living, and is therefore a living wage.

This is what we need.  Listen to us.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian

Email #29

Dear Harriet

This afternoon my dad came round to help me put up my fencing. While we were doing this I was greeted by my new European neighbours.

[insert anti immigration diatribe here].

Except I wont, because this is not how I feel.  Immigration is the right wing red herring.  If ever there was a right wing bandwagon, this is it.  And on everyone jumps, every time it rides past.

Anti immigration rhetoric is almost at the point of being a cultural phenomenon.  National pride is seeped in a tradition of Britishness that is swiftly becoming anti foreigner.  Except what everyone forgets, or is completely ignorant to, is the fact that as a nation we are all foreigners.  Not one of us, however British we feel, can trace their own heritage back to being purely of this land.  Simply because each invading nation from the year dot wiped out the previous.  

And yet that doesnt stop those who fall into the trap of blaming immigrants for the problems of this nation.  Even without immigrants we would still have homelessness, an economy that is struggling in a climate of fiscal uncertainty, a drastically underfunded NHS, a ruthless government with dictatorial undertones.

Immigration is not to blame for a global economic crisis.  And those who point the finger tend to forget that immigration is simply a bandwagon to be wheeled out whenever it suits the ruling class (who like to conveniently forget their own cultural roots), namely when they want the majority of the electorate to focus on it rather than the other important issues of the day.

And so many people are grossly misinformed on the issue.

But then thanks to the incumbent government many people are grossly misinformed on every issue, and that includes MPs who ought to know better.

I would like to invite you therefore to take a little test, just for fun, no need for answers on a postcard!

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/quiz/2014/oct/29/quiz-how-well-do-you-know-the-uk

See how well you know the UK

And when you know how to sort myth from fact, start informing people of the facts behind the myths and lies that this incumbent government hides behind.  After all as Frances Bacon once said:

"Knowledge is Power."

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant

Email #28

Dear Harriet

I didnt email yesterday. By the time I got home from visiting my uncle I was shattered. Its normally a drive I can do with ease, but Im so tired lately.

Tired physically and tired emotionally.

Fighting all the time is draining.  Im tired of having to fight.

But fighting has become a way of life for me.  There is always a reason to be fighting, a fire that needs putting out somewhere, a battle to be had.  This isnt the life I chose- no one chooses their personal struggles, whatever the conservative rhetoric may tell you.  Each is given his own cross to bear by a greater power:  it is what it is.

I dont choose to fight: I must.  Because if I dont fight who will? who will stand up for me and my children? who will stand up for the disabled? the homeless? the veterans? the sick? the poor? the hungry?

It isnt just a case of Chrisitan values; it is social conscience/

I dont just ask you to stand up for me and my kin: I ask you to stand up for the whole of society but especially the most vulnerable of society.

This is moral.

This is right.

This is socialism.

And we need it.

The Labour party must return to socialism if it truely wants a fair society.  Because all the time it does not, no one speaks up for the vulnerable, and injustice continues.

Speak up, and help stop the injustice.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner

Email #27

Dear Harriet

This morning I had to pay for my youngest sons registration for the coming football season.  Next week I need to pay his monthly fees for his academy sessions and his gymnastics.  I also need to put some money aside for his summer holiday academy sessions.  I love that my children are so into their chosen sports, especially since this has lead to me getting more and more involved.  I now manage his under 7s team as well as working for my club in my sports therapist role, and from time to time I also work for my county FA.  In September I will be starting an afterschool club at my sons primary school.  We are truly a football family and its one of the many reasons I enjoy my job-because it means even when I am working I get to spend time with my children.

But sport all adds up.  And added to the annual school uniform shopping trip, some time away in the Peak district, new sports kits and back to school equipment, the next couple of months are going to hit my bank account hard.  And all of this is on top of what they need on a day to day basis. Basically: children are expensive.

The classic argument from the right is that I shouldnt have children if I cannot afford them.  Well thats all very good before the event but not very good after.  Neither of my children were planned, the pill doesnt seem to do to well with me.  As a Catholic I dont accept termination as an option but I certainly dont based on the fact that I may not be able to afford them because "afford" is a very relative term.

Yes, I am reliant on state support.  No I dont lose any sleep over this or feel any guilt (I have enough to lose sleep over and feel guilty about-and even Catholics only go in for so much guilt!)

Because I give back in so many ways.  I give back fiscally by contributing to the economy, and by paying taxes (both on my income-which right wingers like to forget it taxed at source and my carers allowance I pay tax on and on my purchases), I give back to my community by volunteering and helping out at my sons schools, I give back professionally by volunteering my skills at sporting events and I give back by raising my children.

Children are our future.  In an ageing population, where £57.2 billion of the welfare spending bill goes on pensioners versus the £16.4 billion spent on families and children I think raising children is a fair long term investment.

But even with state support, I struggle.  And so do many other parents in our country.  Tonight, as I type, hundreds of parents will be coming home from their second job and still having to work out how many meals they can make out of the contents of their freezer or cupboards if they forgo a meal for themselves.

Many children go without extra curricular activities because their parents are just unable to make the payments and not every academy (like my sons) is registered with ofsted as childcare.

Many children go without an annual school new school uniform, with parents having second hand items from schools. hand-me-downs from other siblings or relatives or from nearly new sales.

Many children are not able to have a trip to another part of the country to add to their learning and understanding of their cultural heritage.

Many children, simply go without even the basics.

That is why I am opposed to welfare cuts in general but certainly from the £16.4 billion spent on families and children.  Children should not be seen as a drain on our economy, but as a long term investment in our future.  The children today are the adults of tomorrow, and the decisions we adults make today affect them more than us.

Labour pledged to eradicate childhood poverty by 2020 when it introduced Tax Credits.  Now it sits idly by as 3.5 million children - that's 1 in 4- children sit in poverty, and David Cameron plans to make welfare spending cuts that will plunge an additional 250, 000 people into poverty.  To put that into a visual perspective, remember all those protesters in London last weekend? Now imagine they were all children.  Thats how many children we are talking.  Enough to fill Parliament Square, and then some.  This disgusts me as a socialist but as a compassionate human.  To think that so many children will go without is a painful image for me and for many people.

Labour MUST remember its pledge and protect its legacy but above all it MUST speak up and speak out for each of those children.  The 3.75 million children who would be suffering if this comes to fruition.

Do NOT sit idly by.

Stand up to this bulling, oppressive regime.

For the sake of each of those 3.75 MILLION children.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum

Email #26

Dear Harriet

Today has been one of those days where my medication has affected me greatly.  It can take some getting used to taking anti depressants and they can have an impact on you as you get used to them.  I find they knock me out quite quickly but the depth of sleep is so significantly different to the light and broken and at times no existent sleep that I am used to naturally, is having an impact on me.  I wake up feeling as though I am heavily sedated despite the low dosage, not "refreshed" like most people do from a decent nights sleep.

I often find in the afternoon that I feel quite tired too.  For the last couple of days the groggy feeling has lasted all day.  Today it was so bad I couldnt do the work I had piled up on my desk- I will now have to make time over the weekend for that.  At some point around lunch time I fell asleep, and only woke when my sister rang me to find out where I was around 2.30.  Had she not done that I might have still been asleep when the children needed collecting from school.   As it was, despite the coffee from the community-lead project across from the school, I was still pretty zombiefied when I did collect them.

This, for me, is part of the reality of living with a mental health condition.  This is part of the reason I am self employed.  No employer would put up with me oversleeping and not getting to work on time, no employer would put up with me taking 2 weeks off every time I had a change in medication, no employer would put up with me cognitively impaired while my body adjusted to medication or a fluctuation in my sleep pattern.  For others, even self employment isnt an option.

And no, I am sorry to tell you, a 6 session course of voluntary NHS CBT did not cure me last year so it is highly doubtful a 6 session course of involuntary Job Centre Plus CBT would cure me.

Today, members of the Mental Health Resistence Network, supported by members of DPAC, staged a protest at Streatham Job Centre Plus.  The mainstream media for the most part ignored this protest, so I doubt you will have heard of it- its not as exciting as wheelchair users "storming parliament" or a terrorist attack in Grenoble.  But if you have a look at The Guardian online there is a piece about it on there.

The DWP have been vocal in their demonisation of the poor and those reliant on state welfare.  They are adamant there is no link between sanctions and food bank usage (despite usage being at an all time high and plenty of academic research that says there most certainly IS a link) and Ian Duncan Smith is certain there is no record of any deaths caused by sanctions (despite David Cameron saying the figures will be published "shortly")  so the Right Wing Mainstream Media have been equally vocal about their plans to install counselors trained in CBT to force people with mental health issues to receive treatment that is regarded by most experts as being at best, only any use for "some" patients so long as there is no history of trauma or diagnosis of learning difficulties and at worst a short term solution that is by no means a cure.  Many psychologists have actually said CBT can be very UN-helpful for a lot of people- and this was certainly my experience.

Mental health service users already report increased fear, anxiety and anguish due to welfare reforms and sanctions and this has lead to an increase in suicide rates.  Experts are in agreement that CBT does not work for everyone, and is completely ineffectual if patients are forced into it by means of coercion, either directly with sanctions or indirectly with the perception that sanctions may be applied if a client is seen to be non-compliant.

Treatment that is given because a client has been coerced into receiving it is not only ineffectual, it is immoral and unethical.  It also furthers the stigma that unemployment is due to the person who is unemployed and is a temporary state that can be cured by simple "reprogramming".  Unemployed people are not broken machines who you can call an engineer out to repair: mental health is far more complex.  The idea that unemployment is a psychological disorder is at best incorrect and at worst a dangerous myth to be perpetuating.

The British Association of Cog native Behaviour Practitioners released a statement on this matter saying:

"the position of BABCP’s Board of Trustees is that BABCP is against any offer of any treatment (including CBT) based on coercion or associated with unfair or disproportionate inducements. This applies to whether CBT interventions are offered as part of therapy, research, or in any other context (for example, corporate training/development). Coercion is defined by BABCP as the threat of punishment, and unfair and disproportionate inducements are defined by us as rewards for participation which are such that an individual is pressurised by the extent or form of the inducement to accept an offer which they would otherwise refuse."

Now is the time for Labour to speak up against this and speak out in support of those who might fall victim to yet another cruel game of this incumbent government that sees those who are reliant on state welfare as an underclass to be purged.

Say NO to forced treatment.

Speak up in parliament against this.  Show those the electorate that you are the party in opposition, OPPOSING such dangerous games that at best are nothing more than a waste of tax payers money. Show the electorate that the 2020 election is not something you will start to be thinking about in 2019.

Every day, ordinary people are fighting back, not just for six months before every election.  Join with them.

Fight back against the attempts of social cleansing and purges of the underclass.

Represent us.  After all, that is what you are paid to do.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user

Full statement here:
http://www.babcp.com/About/Press/Coercive-Therapy-Proposals-for-Jobcentres-Statement-From-BABCP-Board.asp

Email #25

Dear Harriet

Today was my youngest son's sports day.  It was an enjoyable afternoon with many activities showcasing the children's achievements throughout the academic year in PE.  Lots of children were awarded medals and cups for sporting achievements and sporting attitude throughout the year.  All the parents were proud of the children, whether given an award or not.

I enjoy spending time celebrating the success of my children and their peers but it is bittersweet for me because I worry about their futures as much as I cherish the present.

I, like many parents, want my children to keep achieving and to meet and then exceed expectations.  I want them to realise their potential and then break through to go beyond and achieve their dreams. But I worry that if the present course that this incumbent government continues, they will slip through the cracks: the cracks in education and the cracks in society.

My children, though they have their own issues, are wonderfully bright, humourous, gifted and caring individuals,  They have potential.  My eldest is gifted academically and my youngest is a talented sportsman.  They both could achieve so much more than I have.  They have it in talent to rise out of the poverty that traps me.  But here is the crunch: because of my poverty, if this incumbent government gets its way, they might end up trapped too.  Simply because they lack the privelidge of birth.  This isnt "socialist envy" this isnt "jealousy".  This is realism.  

Labour says it wants a fairer society for all.  Be the change that you want to see.  Start driving through the barriers of race and class. Create the fairer society that is beyond class division.  Strive for the success of all on merit, regardless of birth.

This starts with standing up to the incumbent government at every opportunity against every action they seek to take that only divides society further.

Fight the power, change the system.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier 

Email #24

Dear Harriet

Its been a long day, but a victorious day for me, because that court case I mentioned was coming up?That was today.  I achieved a moral victory.  I fought the system and I won.  I am quite proud of myself for that.  I wasnt going to be bullied into paying for items that were the LA responsibility as part of the landlord and tenant act.

And while I was fighting the system, you are probably more than well aware, some of my fellow activists were fighting the system right on your doorstep because the incumbent government is trying to bully LA's into financial responsibility for disabled people.

I am of course talking about the Independent Living Fund.  A fund that was set up by central government so that people could live independently but supported.  A fund that is extremely vital for so many disabled people.  A fund that one day, my own son might need access to, simply because he was born with a disability that affects his day to day living and his ability to process the normal things people who are not living with a disability take for granted.

This fund is VITAL to so many.  And it needs people to fight for it.

And those people need backing from Labour.  Labour MPs MUST fight back against this government that seems so fixated on targetting the most vulnerable of our society.  This should outrage EVERY MP within the Labour party.  

Recently the MP Ms Patel caused outrage for stating in parliament that there was no link between sanctions and foodbank usage.  Audible gasps were heard from the Labour benches.  But this is not enough,  It is not enough to be quietly outraged, it is not enough to gasp as the audacity of such a claim.  Outrage should be expressed with words not gasps; Labour MPs need to start asking pressing questions and demanding expedient answers.  It is not enough that Mr Cameron has stated that the death figures will be published "shortly" in contrast to Ian Duncan Smith's statement that they should never be released, Labour MPs MUST start demanding these figures be released IMMEDIATELY.

The silence is no longer acceptable.  Labour MUST start standing up for the vulnerable and those who are not able to fight the system and achieve any kind of victory.

Demand more as the party in opposition.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator 

Email #23

Dear Harriet

I am not a perfect mother.  I fail sometimes, because I am human.  I try my best to be both parents to my children but there are days when I slip up.  Today has turned into one of those days.  Im tired, I am stressed and my body is getting used to the new chemical balance in my brain from my medication which makes my own issues hard to control.

I have had a row with my son on the way home from school. Over sports day.

Because he physically cannot do what he has been asked by the house captain to do, the house captain has complained to the teacher "Sir, Edwards said he wanted to do it!" and his teacher has told him that he must or face detention, conveniently forgetting that he is a child with a SEN profile and an IEP that indicates a DLA claim.

Sounds like he goes to private school doesnt it? No.  He goes to a Catholic school- where you would expect more compassion but some days receive very little.

I have tried in vain to explain to my son how to handle this situation, but he refuses to listen.  Not out of spite, but because this is all wrapped up in denial, self worth, self esteem and self identity.  Because he doesnt want to view himself as disabled.  He would rather not attend school on sports day and face 5 hours of detentions-one for every lesson missed- that admit to a disability.

Why? Because society looks down on the disabled.  Whats worse, is that they look down with condemnation and disgust.  In most cases they look down in disbelief.

"I dont have a wheelchair do I?" Yelled my son.  No he does not.  But he is still just as disabled as the next person whether they are in a wheelchair or not.

Since when did the term "disabled" become synonymous with "wheelchair user"? Since when did the term disabled become an insult?

But it has and it hurts me as much as it sickens me.
He shouldnt feel this way.
And we shouldnt be arguing about him feeling this way.

I am taking my anger at society out at him because he is the one verbalising this.  Im trying really hard not to, but I slip because I dont want him to feel like this and I am yelling at him as much as he is yelling at me when I tell him "but you are disabled" when I am trying to give him the reasoning he must explain to his teacher.

Im trying to teach my son independence, to stand up for himself as much as I support him.  I will be emailing the school but he has to be able to articulate the problems.  He doesnt want to because he knows he will face condemnation.  He faces this every day.  And I am sick of it.  Im sick of witnessing what it does to him.  He suffers enough inner turmoil.

When is Labour going to stand up to the bullying from the right?  You say you want a fairer society for all, and yet when push comes to shove, or rather when foul insults come to shoving people out of mobility scooters, were is the condemnation of this from Labour?

Labour must listen and Labour must oppose the very rhetoric that drives this.  And that starts with opposing the cuts to welfare.  Stand up for every member of society if you truely want a fairer society for all.  Do not go silent.  Fight with us.  Fight back.  Or not only are you sentencing us to five more years of cuts, you are sentencing many to death.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent

Email #22

Dear Harriet

Today I am angry.  Angry because someone had the cheek to tell my mother that she was lazy for not supporting me so that I didnt need carers allowance.

This is the sort of attitude Labour needs to be addressing- because this is the attitude of a Labour supporter who has bought into right wing rhetortic,

I did EVERYTHING i thought i was supposed to do. I went to uni even though I was a single mum. when I couldnt get a job because of sixth form and open uni at the same time took up too many hours I started a business. I tried to go into teacher training but the workload so much i had a breakdown. i retrained, I volunteered to get the experience i needed for a career and started working my way up the ladder rather than complain how do i get 5 years experience without any experience.

I havent had a single bit of help from my son's dad because he walked out and never looked back even thou he lives (as it turns out) round the corner from my parents now. I moved back home to my parents sofa with a small baby so as not to be a huge drain in a bed and breakfast claiming housing benefit.

The incumbent government has not only stabbed me in the back-just like my uni- they twisted the knife in taking away the funding for his art therapy and making sure that because of bedroom tax I sleep on the sofa. And now it wants my carers allowance too.

Ive got worse with my own aspergers, dyspraxia, dyslexia, and bipolar (ive had three significant "breaks" and one bout of psychosis and a seizure and yet i darent claim because if i have to go through 1 10th of what mum went through just to KEEP DLA I will end up either on a psyche ward or a in morgue.

My parents do EVERYTHING they can for me and my kids, my sisters and my nephews and neice, and they are the main reason I am not yet using a food bank.  They are not supposed to be financially responsible for me at 31 years old or my children.  I try to be as a self employed person but I can only work certain hours- I HAVE to take care of my son and I do not deserve to be punished for that and he DOES NOT deserve to grow up feeling like a burden because of it.  That is why there is carers allowance in the first place.

And to then hear that Labour would have been worse for welfare cuts, from a Labour MP?
That makes me want to cut my membership card in half and send it back to you.

But I have hope; hope that this is the tide turning, that Jeremy Corbyn will become the Labour Party leader and that the small light at the end of our 5 year long darkened tunnel will grow to illuminate the way out for us all.

Labour need to be that light. Labour needs to start addressing the right wing rhetoric and stop with the crypto fascist agenda.  BE the opposition.  Speak up against the cuts, dont tell us that your way would have been worse.  THAT right there is the main reason you are still in opposition.  DO something about it, for all our sakes!

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant

Email #21

Dear Harriet

I am still sore from yesterday but this is only the beginning of our fight.  We must carry on and we must be heard.  We cannot be silent any more.  We need the support of Labour.  It is NOT enough that Andy Burnham has said he opposes George Osbournes planned cuts to the Welfare Budget next month.  We need constant support from Labour ministers, in our individual constiuencies and in government.  Oppose the cuts yes but speak UP! Speak OUT

We need more MPs to join us in our fight.  We need your presence on our marches and our demonstrations.  73% did NOT vote for this.  99% of the country will suffer because of it.

Speak UP and speak OUT against EACH of the cuts the incumbent government plans.  Speak up in defense of our brave firefighters, who risk their lives to save others.

I add my voice to the unions and I invite NOW every MP aged between 55 and 60 to volunteer to take part in a fire training simulation of a burning building and see how well you do.  It is UNACCEPTABLE to expect fire personnel to work until they are 60 and then sack them when they fail their fitness test and then to add insult to injury by stopping their pensions for a MINIMUM of 7 years.  THIS IS AN OUTRAGE.  Labour is in opposition and should be outraged too.  SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT FOR OUR FIRE BRIGADES!

Speak UP and Speak OUT about cuts to the health service
Speak UP and Speak OUT about the cuts to education
Speak UP and Speak OUT about the cuts to university maintenance grants
Speak UP and Speak OUT about the cuts to CAMHS
Speak UP and Speak OUT about the cuts to mental health
Speak UP and Speak OUT about the cuts to the police
Speak UP and Speak OUT about cuts to our military personnel

DO NOT let the incumbent government go unchallenged

DEMAND that Cameron stay true to his anti corruption stance by DEMANDING the corporations who owe BILLIONS in tax PAY UP
Speak UP and Speak OUT in OPPOSITION to the selling of RBS

Speak UP and Speak OUT for the 99%
BE a party in opposition by opposing these planned cuts by challenging each and every one of them

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter

Notes from the Underclass....

Yesterday was a day I will never forget; a day that I will proudly tell my children and their children about.  Yesterday was the start.  The start of something big, of something that will change society for the better.

250k people, from all walks of life, able bodied and disabled, made their way, some setting off the day before, others as early as 1am to travel from all the corners of the UK to gather outside the Bank of England to start their march against the oppressive government seated in Westminster.  Young and old, liberal, socialist, democratic, student, worker, unemployed; mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, comrades and colleagues.  We were one.  One body, one voice: STOP THE CUTS.  We were loud and we were proud.

It was a colourful, vibrant and glorious display of unity and diversity.  Left Unity.  We are the 99%. Largely self identifying as the working class proletariat, we are considered by the government to be the Underclass.

Starting our march at 1pm in the muggy humid throng, proudly displaying our banners, many diverse causes from unions to not-for-profit organisations, the common people and the celebrities alike, even the odd MP, we blew our whistles, we booed at Downing Street, we chanted our protest, and we made ourselves heard.  The best response our leaders could come up with?

"leave running the country to the grownups"

As the hands on the face of St James' Tower ticked over to 4.30 the last of the marchers arrived in Parliament Square in time to hear Jeremy Corbyn.  15 years ago I heard Tony Benn address a group of eager young students at Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre just down the road.  That was the day that cemented me as a socialist.  Yesterday I became a prolitariate fighting back, proud to be lead by the Peoples Assembly and honoured to hear Jeremy Corbyn speak in person.

I have hope; hope that this is the tide turning, that he will become the Labour Party leader and that the small light at the end of our 5 year long darkened tunnel will grow to illuminate the way out for us all.

This is only the beginning.  We must all fight as one: unity and diversity.

We, the Underclass must rise up at every opportunity.  We take comfort in the fact that we are not alone. We must loosen the chains of oppression.  We must take the fight to their doorstep wherever and whenever we can.  We must speak up and speak out, for ourselves, for each other, for our kin and our enemy, for our children and their children; for our future and theirs.

We must not go silently.  We must be heard.

For as Burke said:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing."

Email #20

Dear Harriet

Did you hear us? We were LOUD and we were PROUD!

Fight the power
Change the system
What we need is
SOCIALISM

That is my message, on behalf of everyone marching today from the Bank of England to Parliament Square, to you.  Because we NEED you to help us change the system.  You are the party in opposition, and in opposition to a party that has NO mandate for power.  Only 37% of the country voted for this party.  63% did NOT.  Unite with us.  Be TRUELY in opposition to this party.

FIGHT BACK

Stand up and stand out and DEMAND they stop the war against the poor.  Austerity does NOT work.

LISTEN to us.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester

Email #19

Dear Harriet

Today I sent an email generated by the housing charity Shelter to George Osbourne regarding the emergancy budget and the conservative pledge to build more affordable homes.  This shouldnt just mean homes that are cheap to buy but social housing.  With their planned extention to the Right to Buy Scheme, the incumbent government are failing to see that this will ADD to the housing crisis not eleviate it if no social housing schemes are planned to make up for the sales.

Labour MUST add to  the calls for more affordable homes and Labour MUST insist on social housing schemes being built.  Labour MUST also help protect the Focus E15 who are working tirelessly calling for social housing not social cleansing.

Here is my email to George Osbourne

Dear Mr Osborne,

My name is                   , and I want to see an end to the housing crisis.

In the upcoming Budget and Spending Review, I want you to promise you’ll protect the Affordable Homes Programme until at least 2020.
Housing was a big issue for so many voters at the recent election. The dream of a secure, affordable home is out of reach for too many people.

There just aren’t enough affordable places to live any more in . For decades, governments have failed to build the homes we need. In fact, we are now building just half as many as we need every year.
All parties responded to voters’ anxiety. David Cameron stood on the steps of Downing St and pledged that the next four years would partly be about ‘the homes I want to build’. He told a young person in the TV debates that he wants to build homes ordinary people can afford. And the Conservatives promised to deliver 275,000 additional affordable homes by 2020.

I was glad to see these promises. Now, I want to see them happen.

The Budget and Spending Review is the first test of how seriously the Government takes the shortage of affordable homes, and a huge opportunity to tackle it.
The Affordable Homes Programme provides vital funding for new affordable homes. It’s about creating homes to rent for working people who can’t afford the private rented sector’s sky-high costs. We also need homes to ‘part-buy, part-rent’ for those who can’t afford full ownership, but want to own a small stake in the place they live.

I know that budgets are tight. But if the Government is to keep its word to voters, it must protect or increase this programme. In particular, it must continue to fund affordable homes to rent. We can’t build the affordable homes we need without the right investment.

For a more comprehensive look at how to fix the housing crisis, see Shelter and KPMG’s joint programme at www.thehomesweneed.org.uk.

PLEASE support those in need of social housing

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant

Email #18

Dear Harriet

We have just got back from our GP. I am back on anti depressants because my mood has taken a sky dive over the last few weeks-from my emails you can probably see why. My son also had an appointment so that he can be referred to establish the cause of the seizure he had a few weeks ago.

Luckily it isnt too bad trying to get an appointment to see the particular GP we needed to see, and I only needed to wait just over a week.  However in the past I have had to wait nearly a month to see a specific GP and the national average is around 2 weeks to see a GP.

Quite honestly it shouldnt be so difficult to get to see a GP and this is bad enough, but we dont even know how long we could be waiting for him to see a consultant.  The latest figures show that the average patient waits around 18 weeks to be seen by a hospital physician.  This is the worst set of figures for seven years.

Of course the incumbent government has a plan: its going to stop publishing these statistics.

It is unacceptable to society that a government should behave in this way but this is par for the course with this government as they have made it quite clear that they have no intention of providing the true figures of deaths caused by the DWP despite a court ruling that they must.  It seems the incumbent government believes they are above the law; above reproach of any kind.

And yet it feels able to make cuts of £12 billion stating that the current welfare cost is "unsustainable".  Surely what is unsustainable is their economic plans if they feel it is acceptable to sell RBS as a loss and then claim their is not enough money to fund the welfare state.  Perhaps they need it explained to them that this is actually what national insurance is for: to insure each citizen for any potential welfare they may require.

Recently they have suggested that welfare should be paid in the form of a loan to be paid back.  Labour MUST appose any suggestion of this.  This is NOT how insurance works.  If you insure a car and pay your premium and then have an accident, you get compensation for the accident.  You are not then required to pay this back to your insurance company.  This is exactly what welfare is.  People pay their national insurance and then should they require welfare they get a sum of welfare.  Even if someone has never worked, they have relatives who have worked and everyone pays tax on benefits.  So everyone is paying into the system somewhere.

Labour needs to remember that the welfare state and NHS are their legacy and that they were set up for "cradle to grave" and "at the point of need".  Labour MUST stand up for these vital systems that so many people need.  There are few people who are never going to require any form of welfare, whether it be child benefit or state pension therefore it is needed by everyone, not just the unemployed.

Protect it.  Protect your legacy for every citizen.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user.

Email #17

Dear Harriet

One of the places we visited yesterday was the Royal National Lifeboat Institute Lifeboat station.  It is situated within easy launch onto the fastest tidal river in the UK.  This river is well known in the area to be quite dangerous when the tide is coming in and the river is flowing out which causes strong undercurrents.  Many times the coastguard has called upon the volunteers at the lifeboat station to rescue people and dogs that have fallen in the river.

It has also called upon these volunteers to be on standby when a troubled and vulnerable person has climbed over the bridge with the intention of jumping into the river.

Sadly this is the only solution for many people who are facing hardship or who have been subjected to the inhumane treatment of ATOS.

I find this appalling.

Often these people have been failed by other services, simply because of the cuts to those services.

With increased threats to cut welfare and mental health services, this can only mean an increase in the number of people who feel they have no other course of action.

Labour MUST speak up against these cuts because otherwise the consequences for vulnerable people are going to be drastic if not fatal.

We need an end to austerity; we need an end to these cuts.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter

Email #16

Dear Harriet

Im emailing quite late today because I have been busy out with my youngest son's school on a trip and then taking him to football.  Its been a long tiring day for both of us and so I am going to keep it short.  Being tired is a constant state for me but I keep going because thats what you do when you are a parent.  You keep going and you keep fighting.

Fighting is becoming a way of life for me.  But I am determined to keep going, determined to keep fighting.  Not just for me and my kids, but for wider society.  Fighting against oppression, and fighting for a fairer society.  This is what Labour says it wants.  A fairer society for all.  But this can only be achieved if Labour becomes an anti austerity party.

Labour MUST speak up against the cuts that are made in the name of austerity.  Key economists have already say austerity does not work.  All that is happening is people are being forced into poverty.  Labour ironically set out to abolish child poverty in the UK by 2020 and yet with each passing year more and more children are in poverty.  It is time for this to end.

Stand up for these children.  Speak up in parliament against austerity.  Urge MPs to vote against more cuts.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner

Email #15

Dear Harriet

Today I received a response from your office.  I am grateful for this as it is good to know that my emails are being read and that my voice is being heard-that was the point of this afterall!

I do think that my campaign has been misunderstood- it was not about the leadership election per se.

Today 35 MPs stood up for grassroots members and nominated Jeremy Corbyn.  You have no idea how grateful we are for this; for many this was Labour's "Last Chance Saloon".

This is only one battle in a very long fight.  Five years lay ahead for us and many of us dont know what it will bring.  Our only hope is an end to austerity and an end to welfare reform.  Making sure we have a leader on our side is only part of that.

For now, in this interim period before we have our leader, we have you: our interim leader.  So my email campaign must continue because you are our voice in parliament.  My story is not one isolated story: my story is being played out up and down the country in millions of homes.  Our lives are affected by Conservative policy every day.  No just on days when nominations are being cast or when elections are being held. 

We need you to listen to us, not just about the leadership campaign but all the time you are our voice in parliament.

So for now, I am going to keep up my campaign, because Labour MUST support us in parliament and speak up and speak out against austerity and welfare reforms, against the proposed changes to the Human Rights legislation and against the harmful legislations Cameron intends to pass during his "100 days".

Consituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist

My response to the Office of Harriet Harman

Dear Mariam

Thank you for taking the time out to reply to my emails; it is good to know someone is actually listening.

However I do feel that the point of my campaign has been slightly misunderstood.  The intention of my campaign is to make grassroots feeling heard by using my voice, to tell my story, because it is illusrative of millions of stories up and down the country- not the leadership election per se, that is only one battleground for us as grassroots members.

Millions of people like me are suffering under Conservative policies, mostly due to austerity and their welfare reforms.  Until we have a new leader, we only have our interim leader to stand up for us in parliament.  Therefore my voice needs to continue to be heard; I need to continue telling my story. 

Thank you for your time

So where do we go from here? A reflection on the response from the Office of Harriet Harman

Harriet's spokesperson seems to have missed the point of my campaign.

It isnt about the leadership contest.  It is about bringing the party back to its roots and while that has to mean having Jeremy Corbyn in the mix, this is not the be all and end all of our fight.

This campaign isnt just about making sure a leader is nominated to speak for us, its about the interim.

Who is there to speak up and speak out for us in this interim period? That is the interim leader.

Therefore this campaign cannot and will not end here.

We cannot sit back and assume that this one battle has won us the fight.  It hasnt.  Cameron set out to achieve a lot of things during his first 100 days in power with a majority government.  Each of those things is something Labour MUST fight against because they are actions that will have adverse effects on Labour supporters and the public as a whole.

We NEED socialism, and our party MUST listen to us, not just in terms of having a leader who supports us and the vulnerable people who are hit hardest by Conservative policies.

So I will continue to speak up.  I will continue my fight.  I will continue this campaign.

RESPONSE FROM THE OFFICE OF HARRIET HARMAN

Dear Ms                ,

Many thanks for your recent emails to Harriet Harman about the Labour Party leadership contest. She is also very sorry to hear of the difficulties you and your family have been experiencing.

The leadership contest will be run under the new rules we agreed last year: a broad and open contest with one person, one vote, regardless of whether they are an MP, a Shadow Cabinet member, a trade unionist or a registered supporter – everyone’s vote is equal. As interim leader, Harriet Harman's  role will be to make sure the process is clear and the rules are followed. She will be remaining absolutely neutral throughout the process but she has made it clear that she wants to insert it into the minds of candidates, but above all into the minds of MPs who will choose the field of candidates and of members and supporters who will choose the leader from that field that we must have the public in the forefront of our minds.

Harriet also established the “learning the lessons” taskforce to look at the General Election result and what comes next. The taskforce will be chaired by Margaret Beckett MP and will have two key tasks. The first will be to analyse the data and statistics, and the second will be to listen to candidates who won and lost, the party, but above all the public. You can send in written evidence to the taskforce by emailing lessonstaskforce@labour.org.uk.

Thanks again for taking the time to get in touch with Harriet Harman.

With best wishes,

Mariam Boakye-Dankwa

Correspondence Manager

Office of Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman QC MP (Interim Leader of the Labour Party)

Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham

Email #14

Dear Harriet,

I am extremely tired today from the 70 mile round trip to check my elderly uncle was ok.  You see he has heart failure and needs a new hip. Ok if we are honest he probably needs two new hips.  He was supposed to call me on Thursday and he didnt.  Hes suffered two heart attacks brought on by taccicardia so me and my sister wanted to check he was ok.

When we got to his flat which is on a hill in the area of the North Downs, we saw that he is still waiting for proper access to his home.  You see, it has two steps which take him the 24 inches from his front door to ground level, and these are not easily negotiable for a mobile person, never mind a disabled person who uses two crutches to get about, even indoors.  He has added another step constructed of two slabs, but these could easily slip causing him a nasty accident.  I dont like these steps.  Apparently he cant have a ramp because someone else might trip...... unfortunately his LA dont seem to realise that there isnt just a possibility of litigation from the public but from my uncle too.

The flat is freezing, even in June.  Not just because it clearly has no insulation and was poorly built (these flats were hastily and cheaply built for the NHS for student nurses for the local hospital) but because my uncle cannot afford to heat it.

He is 67 and suffers from heart failure: he should not be sitting in the cold.  Me and my sister and our kids sat there shivering, but my uncle says he is used to it and doesnt feel it so much. Not in June anyway.  Only in winter, and mostly when it snows.  When it does threaten to snow, I always ring him and demand that at the first flurry he come and stay with me.  Partly because he doesnt have the money for heating but mostly because of the steps.  If he tries to get out in bad weather he risks a nasty accident.  And he knows this.  So if the weather is bad, he doesnt go out.

I live 35 miles away, so its not easy for me to call on him if the roads are treacherous.  And the roads between me and him can get quite bad during the winter if the weather is nasty.  When I lived in the next village I remember one occasion not being able to get my children to school because the roads were so bad that cars were smashing into each other in my road.  It just wasnt worth the risk.  Luckily my uncle has a friend who is able to call on him.  She and her husband run a local restaurant so at least they can bring him hot food if its really bad.

Not every elderly or disabled person is this lucky.  Too many of our elderly and disabled citizens are facing fuel poverty.  Not just in the winter, but in the summer.  Because the weather seems to have forgotten the saying "flaming June" and even so gas is needed to heat water.  And its not just the elderly and disabled who are facing fuel poverty, ordinary people are too- it just has a far more profound impact on the elderly and disabled.  Around 20,000 people die from fuel poverty each year. This year this figure is set to raise to 40,000-the highest figure in 15 years.

This is completely unacceptable.  And no, putting on an extra jumper wont stop this.  This is the effect of austerity.

This is why we need Labour to speak up and speak out for those facing fuel poverty and speak up and speak out against austerity.  This is ultimately why we need Jeremy Corbyn.  We need the remaining MPs who have yet to nominate someone for the Labour leadership to nominate Jeremy Corbyn.  And if he doesnt have 35 nominations, the party MUST listen to the overwhelming support he has from "grassroots" members.

You said you were opening up the vote to members because you recognised the need to listen. PLEASE listen to this if nothing else; the support he has amongst the Labour members far exceeds that of any other candidate.  This is who we want.  This is who should be elected.  This is who WOULD be elected in 2020.  Listen to us.  Listen to Scotland.  No, In fact LEARN from Scotland. SNP did not get all those seats because Scotland's voters are nationalist.  They got all those seats because Scotlands voters are socialists.   The areas that Labour took seats were areas where people have always voted Labour because they are the areas hit hardest by austerity and the areas that have suffered because of the way the Conservatives treated our industries and their workers.  All of this should tell you that in the face of growing fascism, Labour MUST be a voice of socialism.

Find a way for him to be on the ballot.  It isnt about having a debate, it is about having a voice of socialism, a voice who is joined with ours and speaks for us.

Yesterday the Labour MP Sarah Champion told me MPs are paid to listen.  I wish every MP saw it as she does.  She has listened to us, and she has nominated Jeremy Corbyn because she can see that is the will of the party members.

Please, urge the remaining MPs to listen to us too.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece.

Email #13

Dear Harriet

When I lived in the next village, and before my parents moved away from it, I lived two roads from my parents.  There was actually a connecting path, as my eldest knew all too well because when he was younger, if he didnt like what I told him, he would actually go out the front door and run full on sprint down to his grandparents just to complain about me.  One of my main driving factors for getting fit was so that I could keep up the pursuit on these occasions! In the end we worked out it was far simpler to ring my parents, and they would be waiting at the garden gate when my son arrived.

Living so close to my parents had other benefits (no just for my son to have somewhere to go when he was melting down) but when my mum applied for a motability car she needed me to be her nominated driver, and living so close meant this was possible as it fit the criteria for living within a certain mile radius.  This is one of the ways motabilty is able to ensure the cars are being used for the disabled person and not misused by a nominated driver.

So of course when my parents were forced to move to a nearby town because of the bedroom tax, and I was moved to the village where I am now because of the harassment, the distance between my parents and I increased.  Not only could my son no longer run down to his grandparents during a meltdown, I was now outside of the allowed mileage for motability's rules and so my mum lost her car and her means of transportation.

There were other implications too.  My son has always had issues with bathing.  He will swim no problems because a swimming pool is open.  But try and get him into a bath and he will fight you. And I mean an actual physical fight where you will be punched and kicked and he will run away from you.  Its easy to be able to overcome a toddler who doesnt like baths, but when you are trying to get a 5ft 5 teenager into a bath when you are only 5ft 4 yourself, its not going to happen.  Especially when the whole reason for the fight is because its instinctual.  Most people are familiar with the "fight or flight" response that comes from the oldest (in terms of evolution) part of the brain.  If you fear that your life is in danger you will respond from this part of the brain with either a fight or a flight response.  And he responds with fight.  Because he genuinely believes his life is in danger.  His fear is real: he believes he is going to drown.

The only option for him to clean himself then is for him to have a shower.  Where we lived before this wasnt an issue because we had a mixer bar shower.  Now we only have a bath and a shower isnt a legal necessity so our landlord will not install one.

I have tried to explain this to the occupational therapist who came out to assess my son for a grant to adapt the house, because he is disabled and we should be able to apply for the grant.  However they and the people at the Young Persons Planning Forum do not accept that his behaviour is borne of fear.  They believe it is simply him refusing to bathe as a behavioural issue and all I need to do is encourage through positive re-enforcement.  Their failure to understand that his anxiety is real and psychological not behavioural is currently the biggest hurdle I face, the biggest source of my own anxiety and my most challenging logistical issue.

Because my only option is to take him to my parents so he can have a shower there.  And they no longer live two streets away, they live 6 miles away.  That might not seem a lot, but most people if they need a shower can go up to their bathroom, not travel a 12 mile round trip for the sake of basic hygiene.  This seems appalling in a first world country.  Basic cleanliness is a human right that many take for granted because they dont have to have this battle which bottom line comes down to an issue of finance and funding.

If I could afford the £200 for a mixer bar shower from screwfix I would order one.  If I could afford then the builder and plumber fees to install it I would book them in.  Hell, if I could afford for a "man about the house" type tradesman who would do it cheap but not necessarily to the standard that my landlord required I would even do that.  But the bottom line is I cannot afford to do this and thats why the grant system is there,  Except my son fails the criteria because he is physically able to get into a bath without anyone caring about the psychological problems that prevent him from doing this if I fill it with water.

I am sure I am not the only person who faces such challenges of meeting criteria for grants or financial support to meet basic needs.  Ultimately when government departments such as occupational therapy which come under social services have their funding cut back to the bone, the repercussions are that they tighten the criteria so much that people are unable to get the facilities or services or support they require because the money isnt there.

And thats whats happened with the Independent Living Fund.  Set up ironically so that disabled people would be able to live "independently" but with support to do so, the funding has been cut so that those people are now unable to live "independently".  This is not right,

This is exactly the sort of issue that Labour need to be addressing on behalf of its members and constituents and the public in general,

Labour seems to be shocked and surprised by the "straw poll" results of "grassroots" members who are coming out in support of Jeremy Corbyn.  But this is why: because we NEED socialism.  We need a voice of support, we need someone who is willing to stand by us and who is willing to address these challenging issues.  Not a voice that is going to agree with the cuts and "reforms" that are causing the funding crisis that each of these services faces.

Labour needs to listen to this, and needs to listen to us.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant.

Email #12

Dear Harriet

Where do I start today? It has been one of those days where I have been through the mill.  Meetings for my son can be challenging.  Ive become so used to fighting for my son and his needs that most days it doesnt feel like a fight, it just feels "bog standard".  Fighting is a way of life.

It shouldnt have to be a fight though should it? I fight to access services or a fight to access support. Constantly explaining to people what my sons needs are and asking for support that he isnt getting. And I shouldnt have to be asking why support is being taken away.

The support he had been receiving through Art therapy was wonderful and very important to him. My son doesnt like to admit he needs support- he has his pride.  But he had a great rapport with his therapist-something that isnt easy for him.

And then when the meeting was over it was time to tackle the forms.  You would think explaining about my son would be easy.  But when the forms ask for "sometimes, often or never" its not so easy. Aspie kids dont fit into neat little boxes and most of the answers would require a box next to them to explain how he is different depending on the day of the week, the mood he is in, how tired he is, whether he has had an easy day or a hard day....there are often so many variables that it is hard to explain.

And that is what makes the provision of services so difficult.  So when the funding is taken away it makes it even more difficult for professionals-the therapists and the people who work for CAMHS to do their jobs.

That is how children slip through the net.  That is how children end up in police custody simply because there are not enough people or beds in facilities that cater for under 18s in crisis.

This needs to change.  The incumbent government is failing my child and every other child in the country that needs access to or support from CAMHS and the other support services that help stop children ending up in crisis.

Labour MUST speak up and speak out for these children and their families.

Labour MUST listen to their families tell their stories and speak up and speak out for them,
Because who else will speak up in parliament for them?
Who else can stand up for these people when the incumbent government says it want to make more cuts to these services?

Listen to your members who are saying enough: no more cuts.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate.

Email #11

Dear Harriet

I've told you a bit about my eldest son now, so you know that he has problems with rage meltdowns. Today he was prevoked on the way home from school and ended up retaliating.  As much as I try to explain that this is not how he should react he cannot help but act out on his frustrations when he feels intimidated or frightened and this is what happened today.

This isnt the first time he has been targeted for abuse because he is different or because others get "kicks" out of seeing how he will react to their provokation.  Im sad to say it probably wont be the last.  And he isnt the only person to experience this or worse on a daily basis.

Hate crimes against the disabled are on the increase.  Frances Ryan, writing for the Guardian summed it up best:

In a culture that dehumanises disabled people by portraying them as benefit fraudsters, liars and leeches, it’s little wonder they are targets of abuse" (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/10/lee-irving-murder-disability-hate-crime-increase)

The rise is a stagering 213% since 2007.

And it is, as Frances Ryan says, no small wonder that this is the increase when the incumbent Government have set out to demonise this vulnerable group of society.  The media has become a tool of the state with their culture of "poverty porn programming" that sends the message to the rest of society that the majority of claimants are simply fat lazy scroungers who are faking their illnesses.  And if you have an invisible disability like  ASD then it is even more likely you are faking.

From this comes the suggestion that depression is a made up illness, or to paraphrase Katie Hopkins (the less said about her the better) the "Holy Grail" for the benefit claimant.  Mental health issues are complex and should not be viewed with scorn.

But so many do.  And thats why you end up in a society where someone working for a rail company thinks nothing of stating over a tanoy that someone who felt suicide was their only option had decided they "couldnt be bothered to live" anymore.

This disgusts me.  That my children, who I raise to be kind, considerate, compassionate and polite, are growing up in a society who thinks it is acceptable to attack the disabled, to sit in judgement over claimants and to have such little regard for its fellow man that it lacks compassion when someone can no longer cope with the challenges they face.

This should disgust anyone but it should certainly disgust anyone who is in any way a part of the Labour party.  The bottom line is that whether your beliefs are in the center ground or more over to the left, the one thing that should unite people in the Labour party is compassion for other people.

Labour needs to show compassion.  Labour needs to speak up and speak out for people who are attacked or abused in any way for being different.  But above all Labour needs to speak up and speak out against the media culture that encourages this.  And Labour MUST stop repeating the same rhetoric against vulnerable people.

This is overwhelmingly the feeling amongst the "grassroots" members of the Labour party and Labour supporters.  This is why Labour needs to return to the socialism that it was founded upon, that shows compassion not judgement.  This is what the members want.

You promised to listen so please listen,

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable

Email #10

Dear Harriet

I was lucky today.  I had nectar points that I was able to redeem which meant I was able to get some food from Sainbury's.  But not everyone is this lucky.  Many families are having to rely on foodbanks and many parents tonight will have to chose whether or not to eat so that they can get another meal out of the food they have for their children.  And this isnt just families on welfare, this is families who work too.

No parent should have to go without simply so their children do not.  And they certainly shouldnt have to in the worlds sixth most afluent country.

According to The Trussel Trust 1,084,604 people received three days or more food from a food bank in 2014.  This was a rise of 19% from the previous year.  This includes people who are having to use food banks more than once.  This should be unacceptable to Labour because this means that food banks are not a source for emergancies. they are becoming a way of life.

Poverty, hardship and destitution are becoming the main theme for the people of Britain.  People are not simply falling on hard times, they are falling into the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor.  And I do not mean those who work and those who do not.  I do not mean the gap between middle class middle England and the working class or benefit claimant "underclass", I mean the gap between the top 1% wealthy class and the rest of the country.  For many, they are one pay cheque, one threat of redundancy, one week without any hours on their zero hour contract, away from requiring the support of a foodbank.

Sainsbury's recently announced it is to cut 800 jobs, Rolls-Royce announced it is to cut 1300 jobs, Boots has announced it is to cut 700 jobs and yesterday HSBC announced, in the wake of their record fine for corrupt practices, that it will axe 50000 jobs over the next two years.  Each of these loses is representative of an individual or family who may end up at a food bank as a direct result of the loss of personal income.

This is not something that should be taken lightly.  This is something that should be the cause of alarm.  Because this is the direct result of austerity.  This isnt people who cannot budget effectively, this is people who are suddenly facing no money to budget with.  And with the rising cost of living, people are not in a position to save any money they may have for the possibility that their next pay cheque may not come.

Labour MUST speak up about this.  Labour MUST become more focused on speaking up and speaking out for these people.  Those who are working and those who are on welfare for whatever reason.  Labour needs to stop echoing the voice of the Conservative party.  Labour MUST become the party that is anti austerity.

Listen to your members.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points.

Email #9

Dear Harriet

Today is not a good day.  My mood is low and I'm lacking motivation so I have spent the afternoon doing some art therapy.  Art therapy is really good for people who have anxiety or ASD which is why my son had been responding so positively to it.  However recent cuts to schools AEN budgets mean that my son no longer has access to this.  

Thats the sign of our times though isnt it?  Cuts to welfare and the NHS, cuts to front line services such as the fire brigade services, the threat of privitisation of schools, of the NHS, of front line services, all in the name of austerity.

It needs to stop.

And this is why we need Jeremy Corbyn.

Yesterday's mirror poll had him as the clear front runner of the candidates.  That should be sending a stark message to Labour MPs:  He is the man that the party members want for the job.

Never mind the press.  The ordinary supporters, the "on the ground" "grassroots" members of the public, your voters are sending you a clear message.

There is no good promising to listen to the party members and opening up the leadership vote to us if we do not have strong candidates who represent what we want in a leader.

Yvette Cooper recently travelled to Scotland for a post election post mortem on "what went wrong".  Its simple really.  Scotland like the rest of the UK want and end to austerity and an end to Trident.  Never mind the politics of separation- the moment you use the word "separatist" you immediately put an end to any debate with Scotland.  But if you drill down to the basic core of what they want, most Scots will tell you simple: end austerity and scrap Trident.

SNP sent a clear message that they also wanted these things and therefore gave the Scottish electorate a viable option.  If Labour want to be a viable option in 2020 and not having yet another "what went wrong?" post mortem then they need to be clear about these two things.  Send the same message:  commit to ending auserity and commit to nuclear disarmament.

Because the vast majority of the English and Welsh electorate want this too.  And this is exactly what Jeremy Corbyn represents.

Leave the mainstream media to do their thing- they are never going to support anything other than capitalist right wing propaganda.  But dont use their headlines to guage the feelings of the electorate.
Ask the members. Give them a proper debate.  Ensure that Jeremy Corbyn is on the ballot paper.

If you dont, you may find that in 2020 the electorate no longer see Labour as a viable option.

Constituent, Labour Party Member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter.

Email #8

Dear Harriet

I thought today I would tell you about my parents.  Through all the other issues I've told you about I have had the support of my wonderful parents.  They continue to support me and my sisters even though we are all grown up women with children of our own and they actively support each one of their 5 grandchildren too.  But they arent without their own problems.

My Mum is disabled, and my Dad has PTSD from his two tours of Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" and they both are on the ASD spectrum too.  Two years ago they were forced to downsize from our old home, a home that every one of their family lived in at various points with the exception of their youngest grandchild, and that my youngest child was born in.  I say forced, because they were downsizing due to the "bedroom tax".   Adaptions had already been made to the property and my Dad was at the time self employed as a landscaper; a business he had grown over 30 years.  My parents did not want to move.

Unfortunately however they had no choice.  But with scarce properties available that are adapted for the disabled, they were moved into a ground floor flat that was unsuitable for my mum.  It took 18 months for the local authority start the process of adapting their home so that my mum was able to use the bathroom and the kitchen.  When the adaptions were finished they faced the next challenge: Mum was to face ATOS.  The fear my mum experienced during the time she waited for ATOS to assess her ESA claim was inhumane.  No one should have to live with that kind of fear.  Certainly not when they have already been before a tribunal to prove their disability.  That tribunal took place more than 10 years ago and since then my Mums conditions have got worse.  My Mum will never be fit for work, which pains her, because just before her conditions disabled her she had been at college and was looking into going to University herself to study Midwifery.

Work Capability Assessments are inhumane.  People who are disabled do not WANT to be disabled. Many people who are disabled want to be able to work.  Some can but some cannot.  The welfare system was set up to protect those people.  The incumbent government says that the reason these assessments have been brought in is due to fraudulent claims however lets look at the facts for a moment:

£164 billion is the total amount spent on benefits (and lets not beat about the bush here, the vast majority of that bill is pensions, then the next biggest chunk goes on in work benefits ie tax credits).

Of that £164 billion, £3.4 billion was overpaid (but please remember also £1.5 billion was UNDER paid) and that equates to 2.1% in overpayments (remembering 0.9% was underpaid)

From that £2.2 billion (so 1.3%) was overpaid because of error.  No figure exists (in the public domain) of how much was DWP error rather than claimant error because that figure accounts for both DWP and claimant errors.  When errors are made that money is paid back.

That leaves £1.2 billion which is paid due to fraud so 0.7 %

Or to put it another way, 99.3% of claims are legitimate and £155.7 billion is legitimately claimed and £1.5 billion is underpaid in the first place.

So effectively 99.3% of claimants are having their lives made hell and are being treated inhumanely, with many people losing benefits to which they are entitled and people who are never going to be fit for work are being found fit for work for the sake of £1.2 billion.

£1.2 billion.  That is the cost then, of the lives of people who have died as a result of this inhumane treatment and the people who are unjustly sanctioned to meet targets, and the cost of the lives of those who's lives are made a living nightmare.

And their crime? To be the most vulnerable section of our community.  This is wrong.

Labour needs to stop joining their voices to those on the right and in government and stop victimizing the very people it set out to support.  Labour needs to support these people and call for an end to welfare cuts, an end to sanctions and an end to work capability assessments.

Labour needs to stand up for the 99.3%.

Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, Socialist, Environmentalist, Disabled Rights Supporter

Email #7

Dear Harriet

Im going to keep it short today, as its Sunday, and Im just waiting for my eldest to finish getting dressed so that we can go to Church.  After Church we are going to spend a couple of hours at the local SSI wetland centre.  My boys do love the park there!

Our environment is important to us.  We live just outside a SSI National Park, in fact most of our constituency is this National Park.  We also have two SSI Coastal areas within easy reach of us.  It really is a beautiful place to live.  So I want to talk to you about fracking.  Fracking has been proven to pollute water- which is hardly suprising since the process involved uses up to 600 chemicals including carcinogens and toxins such as mercury, lead, uranium, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid and formaldehyde.  This process causes methane gas and toxic chemicals to leach into nearby groundwater, causing methane concentration in drinking water levels to increase by 17x.

In America 1000 documented cases have been found where sensory, respiratory and neurological damage can be traced back to fracking where people have ingested contaminated water.  50-70% of the toxic chemicals are left behind as part of the process and is not biodegradable.

This could have a profound impact of the species and habitats in my area, and across the rest of the country, as well as having a profound impact on the people of this country.

In this case would the end product really be worth all the damage?

I dont think so.

We need to care about our environment, We need to be opposed to fracking and the damage it will cause our beautiful areas and our people.  We need to CARE.

And we need our NHS to stay public.  Because if fracking is allowed to happen and people start to suffer they will need an NHS to turn to.

We need socialism because we need to care about how each action we take as communities and as a nation will have on the very people who make up our communities and our country.

Please listen.  Your party members are in the main opposed to fracking.  And we want a return to socialism that looks after our people and our environment.  And we want a socialism that takes care of our people when they need it.

Protect the NHS.  Protect the environement.  Stand up for socialism and the core principles upon which the Labour party was founded.

Constituent, Labour Party member, union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist

http://www.dangersoffracking.com/
https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/campaign/fracking?gclid=Cj0KEQjw18-rBRDogrTg4Lusuu0BEiQACs8YQuo65IwVoWiQCYwR1Dt_3_9kcLTz9FZzDu5PiMdjVr0aAtRT8P8HAQ

Email #6

Dear Harriet

I want to speak to you today about housing.  Its pressing on my mind today because this morning I received my court date for my hearing.  Remember I told you about the flat I used to live in? Well my local authority is taking me to court.  In order to get recommended to the housing association that owns the house I now live in I had to sign, under duress, an agreement to pay for any damage or repairs or any decorating that would bring it up to being "brush ready" for the next tenant to decorate (as the local authority policy is not to redecorate between tenants).  This seems reasonable, if your local authority is one that behaves in a reasonable way.  However mine is not.

I subsequently received a bill for in excess of £2000.  When I challenged the local authority to itemise the works carried out they failed to do so, however the did make a statement to say the list included the removal of an item "dumped" in the communal areas (even though I had reported this item myself after witnessing my neighbour-the one harassing me-dump it), the repairs to the plasterwork (that I had been complaining about for almost 10 years having discovered it was "shot" when I attempted to decorate upon moving in and had two assessors look at and tell me it wasnt their responsibility), the removal of wallpaper (where I had decorated to meet the rules of my tenancy agreement) the installation of plinths under the kitchen units (destroyed by a flood, caused by their kitchen fitters when I had my kitchen replaced by them under the better homes standard legislation, that they had removed-not me- saying they would replace and then did not return to do so) and cleaning.  The cleaning charge is the one that angers me the most.  My father is ex army, he was taught to clean barracks when his unit moved on and so he spent two days cleaning the flat from top to bottom for me before I handed my keys back.  Added to which the local authority's own policy is NOT to clean (even though they should) between tenants which is why when my parents moved into a flat owned by the same authority it was disgustingly filthy.

This wouldnt be as bad if it wasnt an insult to over six years of injury.  The harassment I and my children suffered was intense and contributed to my rapidly declining mental health.  The policy for complaints for harassment in this local authority is for "diary sheets" to be filled in detailing the harassment, police reference numbers and witness details, for a period of six weeks.  I was filling in these sheets and complaining to my authority for six years.  In this time the tenants above me were dealing drugs from their property, having loud parties, verbally abusing me and my children every time they saw us, kicking our door in three times so that on the third time it had to be replaced, beating me up with a baseball bat, threatening my eldest with a gun, vandalising my car, entering my property while I was out to vandalise my electrics and making malicious allegations to social services to the point where social services themselves were able to see it was nothing more than a means of harassment.  It was no exaggeration the other day when I told you I was living in a personal hell.

When I was admitted onto the homemove register it was under harassment which is a breach of this authorities tenancy agreements.  To date no action has been taken either by my county police or my local authority against my former neighbours relating to any of these offences and yet I am being charged for works that were done to my property with no itemised breakdown to prove they were carried out.

As a compromise I offered to pay the cost of replacement of the bedroom door that my eldest son punched through, even though there is legislation about doors and the only reason my then 11 year old son was able to punch a hole in it was because it didnt meet the legislation and was paper thin. This was not an acceptable offer as far as my local authority is concerned.  On the paperwork for the court I agreed to mediation over the matter; my local authority refused mediation.

There are some people who would suggest that it is only right that I pay for damage and repairs, however all the items that were contained in their statement were either resulting from works that their employees caused or from their refusal to carry out works that were pre-existing when I signed my tenancy agreement 10 years ago, or from where I had complied with my tenancy agreement (decorating).  Unfortunately after my Dad finished cleaning I did not have the foresight to photograph the property to prove at a later date that it had been cleaned.

Hopefully you can see now that for some time now life has been quite difficult for us as a family. One place I turned to for support during this time was Shelter.  They are amazing.  They have helped so many people and work hard to highlight the cases like mine of people who live in accommodation but accommodation that is not secure or accommodation that is sub standard.  81,000 people were facing homelessness in 2013-2014, doubling in the 5 years of the coalition government (http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/why_we_campaign/housing_facts_and_figures/subsection?section=homeless_households)

Up and down the country there are stories like mine:  of families with children, of couples, of single people, of single parents, of people with mental health issues, of veterans and the one thing that links them all is that they are facing serious hardship.  In many of these cases the hardship is not in one form, it is complex.  Families who are facing homelessness are more likely to be suffering from depression or other mental health problems, are more likely to be in poverty, are more likely to need food banks and are not part of a culture of lazyness or workshy attitudes, they are part of a culture of poverty.

Yesterday the Mirror reported on a pilot scheme run in conjunction with the Trussel Trust that will support people who face fuel poverty.  We have already seen how the use of foodbanks has risen over the last 5 years; no doubt we will see the same rise in fuel banks over the next 5. (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/poverty-forced-people-turn-food-5726219)

This is why, now more than ever, society needs socialism.  We need to end this culture of poverty.  Instead on getting tough on "welfare reform" we need to get tough on the causes of poverty.  This means an end to austerity, an end to zero hour contracts, and end to the bedroom tax, and end to WCA and ATOS that LITERALLY is hounding vulnerable people to death.

So again, I renew my call to you as party leader, to stand by what you said and listen to the party and return it to its socialist roots.

FIGHT.  Fight for us all,  Fight in memory of those who have already suffered all they can:

Terry McGarvey, 48. Dangerously ill from polycytheamia, Terry asked for an ambulance to be called during his Work Capability Assessment. He knew that he wasn’t well enough to attend his WCA but feared that his benefits would be stopped if he did not. He died the following day.

Elaine Lowe, 53. Suffering from COPD and fearful of losing her benefits. In desperation, Elaine chose to commit suicide. Mark Wood, 44. Found fit for work by Atos, against his Doctors advice and assertions that he had complex mental health problems.

Starved to death after benefits stopped, weighing only 5st 8lb when he died. Paul Reekie, 48, the Leith based Poet and Author. Suffered from severe depression. Committed suicide after DWP stopped his benefits due to an Atos ‘fit for work’ decision.

Leanne Chambers, 30. Suffered depression for many years which took a turn for the worst when she was called in for a WCA. Leanne committed suicide soon after.

Karen Sherlock, 44. Multiple health issues. Found fit for work by Atos and denied benefits. Fought a long battle to get placed into the support group of ESA. Karen died the following month of a heart attack. Carl Payne, 42.  

Fears of losing his lifeline benefits due to welfare reform led this Father of two to take his own life. Tim Salter, 53. Blind and suffering from Agoraphobia. Tim hanged himself after Atos found him fit for work and stopped his benefits.

Edward Jacques, 47 years old and suffering from HIV and Hepatitis C. Edward had a history of severe depression and self-harm. He took a fatal overdose after Atos found him fit for work and stopped his benefits.

Linda Wootton, 49 years old. A double heart and lung transplant patient. Died just nine days after the government found her fit for work, their refusal letter arriving as she lay desperately ill in her hospital bed.

Steven Cawthra, 55. His benefits stopped by the DWP and with rising debts, he saw suicide as the only way out of a desperate situation.

Elenore Tatton, 39 years old. Died just weeks after the government found her fit for work.

John Walker, 57, saddled with debt because of the bedroom tax, John took his own life.

Brian McArdle, 57 years old. Suffered a fatal heart attack the day after his disability benefits were stopped.

Stephen Hill, 53. Died of a heart attack one month after being found fit for work, even though he was waiting for major heart surgery.

Jacqueline Harris, 53. A former Nurse who could hardly walk was found fit for work by Atos and her benefits withdrawn. in desperation, she took her own life.

David Barr, 28. Suffering from severe mental difficulties. Threw himself from a bridge after being found fit for work by Atos and failing his appeal. David Groves, 56. Died of a heart attack the night before taking his work capability assessment. His widow claimed that it was the stress that killed him.

Nicholas Peter Barker, 51. Shot himself after being told his benefits were being stopped. He was unable to work after a brain haemorrhage left him paralysed down one side.

Mark and Helen Mullins, 48 and 59 years old. Forced to live on £57.50 a week and make 12 mile trips each week to get free vegetables to make soup. Mark and Helen both committed suicide. 

Richard Sanderson, 44. Unable to find a job and with his housing benefit cut forcing him to move, but with nowhere to go. Richard committed suicide.

Martin Rust, 36 years old. A schizophrenic man who killed himself two months after the government found him fit to work.

Craig Monk, 43. A vulnerable gentleman and a partial amputee who slipped so far into poverty that he hanged himself.

Colin Traynor, 29, and suffering from epilepsy was stripped of his benefits. He appealed. Five weeks after his death his family found he had won his appeal.

Elaine Christian, 57 years old. Worried about her work capability assessment, she was subsequently found at Holderness drain, drowned and with ten self inflicted wrist wounds.

Christelle and Kayjah Pardoe, 32 years and 5 month old. Pregnant, her benefits stopped, Christelle, clutching her baby son jumped from a third floor balcony.

Mark Scott, 46. His DLA and housing benefit stopped and sinking into deep depression, Mark died six weeks later.

Cecilia Burns, 51. Found fit for work while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She died just a few weeks after she won her appeal against the Atos decision.

Chris Cann, 57 years old. Found dead in his home just months after being told he had to undergo a medical assessment to prove he could not work.

Peter Hodgson, 49. Called to JCP to see if he was suitable for volunteer work. Peter had suffered a stroke, a brain haemorrhage and had a fused leg. His appointment letter arrived a few days after he took his own life.

Paul Willcoxsin, 33 years old. Suffered with mental health problems and worried about government cuts. Paul committed suicide by hanging himself.

Stephanie Bottrill, 53. After paying £80 a month for bedroom tax, Stephanie could not afford heating in the winter, and lived on tinned custard. In desperation, she chose to walk in front of a lorry.

Larry Newman suffered from a degenerative lung condition, his weight dropping from 10 to 7 stone. Atos awarded him zero points, he died just three months after submitting his appeal.

Paul Turner, 52 years old. After suffering a heart attack, he was ordered to find a job in February. In April Paul died from ischaemic heart disease.

Christopher Charles Harkness, 39. After finding out that the funding for his care home was being withdrawn, this man who suffered with mental health issues, took his own life.

Sandra Louise Moon, 57. Suffering from a degenerative back condition, depression and increasingly worried about losing her incapacity benefit. Sandra committed suicide by taking an overdose.

Lee Robinson, 39 years old. Took his own life after his housing benefit and council tax were taken away from him.

David Coupe, 57. A Cancer sufferer found fit for work by Atos in 2012. David lost his sight, then his hearing, then his mobility, and then his life.

Michael McNicholas, 34. Severely depressed and a recovering alcoholic. Michael committed suicide after being called in for a Work Capability Assessment by Atos.

Victor Cuff, 59 and suffering from severe depression. Victor hanged himself after the DWP stopped his benefits.

Charles Barden, 74. Charles committed suicide by hanging due to fears that the Bedroom Tax would leave him destitute and unable to cope.

Ian Caress, 43. Suffered multiple health issues and deteriorating eyesight. Ian was found fit for work by Atos, he died ten months later having lost so much weight that his family said that he resembled a concentration camp victim.

Iain Hodge, 30. Suffered from the life threatening illness, Hughes Syndrome. Found fit for work by Atos and benefits stopped, Iain took his own life.

Wayne Grew, 37. Severely depressed due to government cuts and the fear of losing his job, Wayne committed suicide by hanging.

Kevin Bennett, 40. Kevin a sufferer of schizophrenia and mental illness became so depressed after his JSA was stopped that he became a virtual recluse. Kevin was found dead in his flat several months later.

David Elwyn Hughs Harries, 48. A disabled man who could no longer cope after his parents died, could find no help from the government via benefits. David took an overdose as a way out of his solitude.

Denis Jones, 58. A disabled man crushed by the pressures of government cuts, in particular the Bedroom Tax, and unable to survive by himself. Denis was found dead in his flat.

Shaun Pilkington, 58. Unable to cope any more, Shaun shot himself dead after receiving a letter from the DWP informing him that his ESA was being stopped.

Chris MaGuire, 61. Deeply depressed and incapable of work, Chris was summonsed by Atos for a Work Capability Assessment and deemed fit for work. On appeal, a judge overturned the Atos decision and ordered them to leave him alone for at least a year, which they did not do. In desperation, Chris took his own life, unable to cope anymore.

Peter Duut, a Dutch national with terminal cancer living in the UK for many years found that he was not entitled to benefits unless he was active in the labour market. Peter died leaving his wife destitute, and unable to pay for his funeral.

George Scollen, age unknown. Took his own life after the government closed the Remploy factory he had worked in for 40 years.

Julian Little, 47. Wheelchair bound and suffering from kidney failure, Julian faced the harsh restrictions of the Bedroom Tax and the loss of his essential dialysis room. He died shortly after being ordered to downgrade.

Miss DE, Early 50’s. Suffering from mental illness, this lady committed suicide less than a month after an Atos assessor gave her zero points and declared her fit for work.

Robert Barlow, 47. Suffering from a brain tumour, a heart defect and awaiting a transplant, Robert was deemed fit for work by Atos and his benefits were withdrawn. He died penniless less than two years later.

Carl Joseph Foster-Brown, 58. As a direct consequence of the wholly unjustifiable actions of the Job centre and DWP, this man took his own life.

Martin Hadfield, 20 years old. Disillusioned with the lack of jobs available in this country but too proud to claim benefits. Utterly demoralised, Martin took his own life by hanging himself.

Annette Francis, 30. A mum-of-one suffering from severe mental illness, found dead after her disability benefits were ceased.

Ian Jordan, 60. His benefits slashed after Atos and the DWP declared Ian, a sufferer of Barratt’s Oesophagus, fit for work, caused him to run up massive debts in order to survive. Ian was found dead in his flat after taking an overdose.

Janet McCall, 53. Terminally ill with pulmonary fibrosis and declared ‘Fit for Work’ by Atos and the DWP, this lady died 5 months after her benefits were stopped.

Stuart Holley, 23. A man driven to suicide by the DWP’s incessant pressure and threat of sanctions for not being able to find a job.

Graham Shawcross, 63. A sufferer of the debilitating disease, Addison’s. Died of a heart attack due to the stress of an Atos ‘Fit for Work’ decision.

David Clapson, 59 years old. A diabetic ex-soldier deprived of the means to survive by the DWP and the governments harsh welfare reforms, David died all but penniless, starving and alone, his electricity run out.

Chris Smith, 59. Declared ‘Fit for Work’ by Atos as he lay dying of Cancer in his hospital bed. 

Nathan Hartwell, 36, died of heart failure after an 18-month battle with the ­Department for Works and Pensions.

Michael Connolly, 60. A Father of One, increasingly worried about finances after his benefits were cut. Committed suicide by taking 13 times the fatal dose of prescription medicine on the 30th October – His Birthday.

Jan Mandeville, 52, A lady suffering from Fibromyalgia, driven to the point of mental and physical breakdown by this governments welfare reforms. Jan was found dead in her home after battling the DWP for ESA and DLA.

Trevor Drakard, 50 years old. A shy and reserved, severe epileptic who suffered regular and terrifying fits almost his entire life, hounded to suicide by the DWP who threatened to stop his life-line benefits.

Death of a severely disabled Dorset resident, unnamed, who took her own life while battling the bedroom tax.

(http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2014/10/21/uk-welfare-reform-deaths-updated-list-october-21st-2014/)

The welfare state is Labour's legacy.  If Labour stands by and lets it get destroyed then we will only be adding to this list.

Constituent, Labour Party member, union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, Socialist.