Well if anyone doubted that both AA and DLA were under threat of being abolished, they shouldn't be now! Here's a copy of an email i received from the Benefits and work website.
Looks like the veteran campaigner Lord Ashley will be helping oppose this, which is good news!
Best Regards - Taggy
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A champion emerges as minister admits DLA threat
Dear Paul,
The last two weeks have finally removed any uncertainty about whether DLA is under threat, but they have also brought real cause for optimism.
Lord McKenzie of Luton, the parliamentary under secretary of state for work and pensions, was asked last week in a House of Lords debate which disability benefits the government are ‘considering integrating into the wider social care budget in England’.
Lord McKenzie replied:
“At this stage, we do not want to rule out any options and so are considering all disability benefits.”
Even when care minister Phil Hope’s claim that DLA is ‘not under threat’ was referred to and Lord McKenzie was specifically asked to rule out the using DLA as a source of funding for social care, his response was “no particular benefit is ruled out of consideration.”
So, whilst we can’t say why Phil Hope made his ‘be very happy’ statement, we can now say with certainty that it does not reflect the government’s stated policy. For more, see:
Senior minister confirms DLA is under threat
Senior minister confirms DLA is under threat
But that same Lord’s debate also brought a real ray of hope in the form of a champion prepared to fight for DLA and AA.
Lord Ashley of Stoke warned the minister that “any attempt by the Government to withdraw these benefits, or any benefits at all, will be very strongly resisted by disabled people, by their organisations and by many Members of both Houses of Parliament.”
Lords warn attack on DLA and AA will be “very strongly resisted”
Lords warn attack on DLA and AA will be €œvery strongly resisted€
Lord Ashley – former MP Jack Ashley - is a formidable campaigner, with victories dating right back to the thalidomide campaign of the 1970s. It will not have brought any joy to ministers’ hearts to see Jack Ashley, and a number of other noble Lords, lining up against them. And it’s a tribute to the efforts of Benefits and Work campaigners that this issue has gone from being almost entirely unacknowledged – or dismissed as scaremongering - to being debated in the House of Lords in less than three months.
Elsewhere, the No 10 petition has perked up again, now reaching over 17,000 signatures. As few as another 1,000 signatures should see it getting into the top 10 petitions before the care consultation ends on November 13th. Do you know people who haven’t signed yet? Try and encourage them along to:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AttendanceA/
Meanwhile, the Big Care debate website continues to be swamped by people protesting about the threat to disability benefits. From a feeble 130 posts when we began this campaign, there are now 2,219 responses on the Executive Summary page and 606 on Having Your Say. The total is far higher than that achieved by any similar government consultation and the responses are overwhelmingly hostile.
If you haven’t yet sent a response, please do so by visiting this link:
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/
Or emailing:
[email protected]
We’d like to close this newsletter with an email from one of our campaigners which we think is an inspiring example of spontaneous campaigning:
“Today I was in the Blackburn Shopping Centre on my Shopmobility scooter when I saw Mr. Jack Straw doing his shopping. It was too good an opportunity not to speak with him, so after a few swift manoeuvres I asked for one minute of his time. I told him that I had worked for the past 32 years in the NHS and had now been diagnosed with RA [rheumatoid arthritis] hence the scooter and that I have just been awarded DLA and what a difference it has and will make to myself and indeed others and to please not take it away…. He said “he wouldn’t” and gave me his card to write to him and of course I will follow it up with a letter.”
We’re not suggesting that gangs of claimants on Shopmobility scooters should roam our town centres hunting for MPs spending their expenses – pleasing though that image is - but if you’re able to, why not make an appointment to see your MP at their regular surgery and put your views across in person?
With an election looming, the fact that people are prepared to actually visit them in their offices will make a real impression, particularly on MPs with slender majorities.
Good luck,
Steve Donnison
Please feel free to forward or publish this email.
Benefits and Work Publishing Ltd
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk
Company registration No. 5962666
POST YOUR NEWS
Finally, remember that you can post your news in the Benefits and Work forum, if you’re a member, at:
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=showcat&catid=13
and/or in the free welfare watch forums at:
http://welfarewatch.myfineforum.org/index.php
You can also keep up with news about opposition to the green paper at the Carer Watch campaign blog:
http://carerwatch.com/cuts/
Unfortunately, we’re getting so many emails on this subject that we are unlikely to be able to respond individually. But we do appreciate hearing your news and views and we do encourage you to publish them for others to read on the forums detailed above.