Wednesday 14 September 2011

URGENT CALL TO ACTION



After an incredibly constructive debate yesterday in the House Of Lords the government appear to be concerned about how many Lords had significant concerns about the Welfare Reform Bill, even those Lords who in principle supported the bill had major questions they wanted answers to.

For a bill of this size and importance, convention dictates that the next stage of the bill should be kept in the main chamber of the House of Lords for debate. It's particularly important the bill be continued to be debated in the main chamber as disability access to the smaller committee rooms is very limited and people will not be able to access the committee rooms to exercise their democratic right to observe the passge of the bill from the public chamber.
At 3.30pm today the govermnent are tabling a motion to move the grand committee stage of the bill into one of the smaller committee rooms. Presumably the government are hoping that by moving a bill into the committee rooms it will be harder to scrutinise - there won't be enough space in any of the committee rooms to allow for all the Lords to participate, let alone for us to scrutinise online or attend in person.
This is an outrage - the government are clearly concerned by the level of queries and opposition to the Welfare Reform Bill highlighted by yesterday's debate and wish to quietly sideline it to a committee room where they hope it will pass with less opposition. Tabling the motion for the afternoon following PMQ's is also an underhand trick as it means it will be harder for us to object through the main stream media.
This is our call to arms. This bill affects us, our families and every aspect of our lives, as well as the lives of those currently paying into the system in anticipation of protection should they require it. If we can make enough noise in the next few hours the government will be forced to keep the passage of the bill in the main chamber of the house of lords where it can be effectively and appropriately scrutinised by all.
What you can do to help is this:
Please post copies of this blog onto your facebook, your twitter, stumbleupon, wikio etc. Please email it to everyone you know, please talk about this on your own blogs. Email or phone your MP to register your objections, email or phone the house of lords to explain your concerns, email or phone the media, local or national and explain that whether or not people are in favour of this bill, that it is a fundamental democratic right to have it debated in the main chamber of the house of lords where there is space for all who wish to attend and observe. Highlight the injustice and hypocrisy of the governments behaviour in trying to sideline this important bill into a room too small for all the Lords to attend and certainly too small to allow those in wheelchairs, or with guide dogs, the very people most affected by this bill to be able to observe from the public gallery.
If we make enough noise before 3.30pm today the government will have to drop this underhand tactic and the Bill will continue to be debated in the main chamber of the House of Lords where everyone who wishes to can attend and observe.
UPDATE 13.30
The email addresses to contact are:

anelayj@parliament.uk – this is the chief whip to whom you should send the email and cc it to the others.
bassams@parliament.uk – opposition chief whip.
freudd@parliament.uk – David Freud

25 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. first the students then the riots disabled guys and gals its your turn scroungers go away

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  3. I've emailed after hearing about this and have posted on the Broken Of Britain blog with what I sent. Here's some info on Grand Committees in the HoL - interesting too that voting isn't allowed in these types of Committees as opposed to full house:

    Grand Committees: House of Lords

    Most Bills which are not committed to a Committee of the Whole House in the Lords are instead sent to a Grand Committee. The proceedings are identical to those in a Committee of the Whole House except that voting is not allowed. This means that all decisions must be made unanimously. Any Member of the House of Lords may attend a Grand Committee.

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  4. Sent letter to all the links suggested... including my MP who wrote back 'I’m afraid I have no means of telling the Lords what to do. They run their own house and MPs don’t have a say.Sorry.'

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  5. All done some time ago Sue and belated congrats on 7th place. Should this issue be highlighted in papers?, but then again does anyone care anymore

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  6. Were at a stage now sue where the lords are in meltdown with every part of David Cameron's government and it is quite possible that owing to the country's complete failures on pensions /unemployment / ETC and on all aspects of government policy s before them they the lords will not be able yo give any of the policies before them a proper reading as i personally don't think they would be up to it both physically and mentally ?

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  7. Which is going to last longer; The war on terror or the war on the disabled?

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  8. Democracy is dead

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  9. [QUOTE]Anonymous said...

    Which is going to last longer; The war on terror or the war on the disabled?[/QUOTE]

    You make a very valid point
    Well with much regret it's the war on the sick and disabled and i for one have the body to prove it over 30 years

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  10. [QUOTE]outraged said...

    Democracy is dead[/QUOTE]

    Never a truer word said i don't even think the government know what it means as it's certainly not used in this country and by my understanding of the word

    What we have today is a system in which the government calls the shots and if you are a victim with wealth your lawyer will seek justice and deal with it for you on your behalf

    And if you don't have wealth then you have no access to justice at all and are stuck just like you would be in the middle east and it's as simple as that

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  11. so did they win or did we stop them?

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  12. Oh, Anonymous 17.58 we lost of course. Because Goliath is an evil git. They use their political majority newly created by Cammy to make sure they won.

    HOWEVER the very fact they took these steps shows that a) they were worried about how well informed the Lords were and b) the fact that so many people followed our live tweets.

    I know it feels like we always lose, but we really are making progress. Remember just a few months go they all just laughed at us. Now they worry about us.

    Sorry I didn't update you all, there's nothing worse than not knowing the outcome xxx

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  14. Do you hear the people sing
    Singing the song of angry crips
    It is the music of a people
    Who will not be scum again
    When the beating of your heart
    Echoes the beating of the drums
    There is a life about to start
    When tomorrow comes

    Will you join in our crusade
    Who will be strong and stand with me
    Beyond the barricade
    Is there a world you long to see

    Then join in the fight
    That will give you the right to be free

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  17. In fact I will call first thing ion the morning. For now, I will delete these posts as details are public. I assure you I will ke copies and if you want to contact me, please use suey2yblog@hotmail.co.uk

    Many thanks,

    Sue

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  18. Sorry, that last post was to Anonymous 19.22

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  19. oh Sue so disheartened now, constant arguments with wife cant see no way out, no future no purpose.

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  20. so does this mean the human rights courts as our only option left. how can they do this when it it not even law yet i am baffled totally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  21. Don't be disheartened - this DOES NOT mean the bill passed the Lords, just that they're trying to rig it to make sure that it does.

    Please try to remember the quote at the bottom of every page of my blog "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"

    We've forced them to the fighting us stage, we mustn't expect that they wld just toddle off. But make no mistake, they ARE fighting us now and we WILL win.

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  22. i try to remain positive Sue but like the rest of us its becoming more and more difficult. relentless media lies dont help the situation either. but will keep refering to the Gandhi quote when times are rough. Thanks for the pick me up

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  23. Sue is right, they just want to wear us down. If we give up we play right into their hands and they win.

    Chin up everyone and soldier on!

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  24. Terribly difficult not to be disheartened.
    It feels right now like trying to stop an express train. I used to think the government was uninformed. I now think they are disingenuous and dishonest. And that is even worse and much harder to fight. You can inform and win over someone who has good intentions but is wrongly informed. You can't do much with someone who wilfully chooses to do what they do.

    Even if we succeed, there is damage left in its wake (for instance removal of ILF, changes in care criteria in many places, changes to care packages without there having been any change in need, detrimental changes to Access to Work, etc...). Hard won battles from the past need to be refought simply to regain what we have lost in the past year.

    Only then can we start looking at problems that were already there and needed looking at. If anyone doubts there were any, I can pluck one out of the air immediately: lack of access to wheelchairs. This was a problem as far back as 2000 when I first realised I would one day need a powerchair but was almost certain to be ineligible on the NHS and turned out to be correct when I had to purchase my own privately in 2004. Obviously this is an issue close to my heart, but there are so many more.

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  25. You of the barricade listen to this
    No one is coming to help you to fight
    You're on your own
    You have no friends
    Give up or die

    Damn, their warnings
    Damn their lies
    They will see the people rise

    Disabled people, their families and friends will be taking to the streets in cities across the UK protesting against Government cuts to disability benefits and services. Protests planned in 12 cities are listed below.
    http://www.hardesthit.org.uk/

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