MacShane Says Cameron Should Read Out Names of Disabled Who Die

David Cameron should read out the names each Wednesday at Prime Minister’s questions of those who have died after the Government stripped them of sickness and disability benefits an MP has said.



Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham, in a speech on Saturday 4 August has accused David Cameron and Nick Clegg of launching launched a ‘vindictive, vicious campaign to strip people with disabilities of their fundamental rights’.



The MP was speaking at a Community union conference held at Wortley Hall, South Yorkshire.



He said:

“We judge a society not by how well it pays its bankers or how many gold medals are won but how well it treats the weak and vulnerable.”

“Between January and August last year on average 32 people died every week who the Government said were fit to work. One man Stephen Hill died of a heart attack after the Department of Work and Pensions said he was fit to work and he was denied sickness benefits.”



“David Cameron should read out each Wednesday the names of those who have been sacrificed to meet his targets for increasing poverty and misery among the weakest in society while he rewards his millionaire mates with tax-cuts worth £40,000 a year.”



“The Government has handed over to a private medical contractor Atos, the task of carrying out medical tests to judge eligibility for these new benefits. Appeals against incorrect decisions by Atos are costing £50m a year, with tribunals having to sit on Saturdays and increase staff by 30% to deal with the backlog. Appeals find in favour of the claimant in at least 30% of cases though some experts reckon 9 out of ten appeals would be won if the victim was helped by an expert welfare adviser.



“The most terrifying letter in Britain today is the brown envelope from the DWP instructing a sick or disabled person that they must submit themselves to this firm making £100 million a year by carrying out these tests.



“Charities report that up to half a million disabled people of working age could lose their benefits when the tests are further tightened up next year.



“Yesterday Steve Ford, chief executive of Parkinson’s UK, said ‘Assessments carried out by Atos have led to many people being forced to appeal against decisions that are plainly wrong. How can someone with Parkinson’s – a progressive neurological condition – have an assessment report that implies they will be ready for work again in six, 12 or 18 months?’



“Labour MPs and our excellent Shadow Minister Anne McGuire have been constantly attacking the Government on this. Before May 2010 Lib Dems would also have stood up for disabled people. Not any longer. The record of LibDems MPs and Minister in acting as cover for this Tory attack on the weak and vulnerable is a disgrace.

“But it is part of a wider attack on working people and those who are not millionaires sitting in the Cabinet.



“We have seen this with the outrageous decision to close down Remploy factories. In 2007, Chris Grayling the Tory MP, now DWP minister, said ‘Let me assure Remploy and its employees that the next conservative government will continue the process of identifying additional potential procurement opportunities for them and the public sector workforce.’



“We know those words to be a lie. Remploy factories have been closed down and one of the proudest achievements of the post-war Labour government, setting up factories for the disabled, are now being destroyed. The Remploy workers and their unions are right to protect and strike though I doubt if it will have any impact on this hard-hearted government.



“Anti-union attack dogs are on the rise everywhere. There is a braying Toryism that hates trade unions and like a child pulling bits off a daddy longlegs Tory MPs seek every opportunity to bash, trash and lash unions. Their main objective is to force a renunciation of the European Union’s social rules.



“The Tory onslaught on social Europe is an ideological and cultural attempt by Thatcher’s and Tebbit’s children and grandchildren to harness the anti-EU feeling in the nation against trade union rights in general.



“It is almost as if the end of communism which the Thatcher-Reagan Tories claim as their great victory is incomplete unless unions are also eliminated from their world. There is a constant grind of anti-union laws and policies. Access to industrial tribunals are made more difficult; backbench bills are introduced to deny shop stewards time off to carry out union duties; modest British financial support for the International Labour Organisation is axed; every time workers vote in a secret ballot to stop work there is a hue and cry about banning or limiting strikes.



“Long standing national pay structures are threatened by proposals for regional pay as if an army Colonel at Catterick in Yorkshire should be paid less than an army Colonel in Aldershot in Surrey.

“From a right-wing ideological point of view there might be some justification for this if the nation was being put back on the path of growth and job creation.



“As we know this is not the case. George Osborne is making a new film ‘Honey, I shrunk the Economy.’ We have the longest recession since the 1930s. Manufacturing output has hit an all-time low. Housing investment has been cut from £2.4 billion in 2010 to under £800 million today. We can win all the gold medals the Olympics can offer but unless we invest in our own nation, in our own people, in all of our regions, and in people like those with disabilities who need a helping hand not a slapdown then our nation will get weaker and weaker.



“The poet Oliver Goldsmith wrote



Ill fares the land, to gathering ills a prey

Where wealth accumulates and men decay



“Britain’s wealth is being accumulated by the undeserving rich while the disabled are expected to decay as their life chances are removed from them by Tory ministers and their LibDem helpers.



“It is still 3 years to go to the next Government. And have no illusions that despite negative opinion polls as the Fabian Society recently reported there is no support for higher taxation amongst rank and file Labour supporters.



“Labour needs to build a new 21st century coalition of support that includes unions like my good friends in Community to whom I pledge my commitment and support but goes out to the young, to women, to graduates with and without work and speaks for all the nation not any single group within it.



“It is very hard after voters have lost confidence in a party after a long period of power to win that confidence and trust back again. The Tories have all the off-shore press on their side and on most issues the BBC and Sky reflect the interests of the better-off in Britain and the London dislike of social Europe.



“So the challenge is bigger than at any time in Labour’s history. In 1945 it had been 16 years since Labour won power and the country was changed by the egalitarian sacrifices made necessary by war. In 1997, it had been 18 years since Labour held office and the nation was ready for change and new leadership. It is only two years and a bit since we were defeated and although the nation is saying no Cameron it needs more persuasion to say yes again to Labour.



“That is a political challenge we must rise to. The party and its MPs are more united than ever before in period of opposition like the 1980s or the 1950s. Ed Miliband is making a bigger and bigger impression in the Commons. We have a brilliant intake of new MPs who are the smartest political generation in Labour history.



“But now we need to reach out beyond our comfort zone of Tory bashing. That is the challenge and I am sure with Community’s support we can start pedalling hard to win for Britain.”

Accessible Rail Travel

I am campaigning in the UK to make rail travel more accessible for blind and disabled people, for example all the Rail Companies eg. Virgin, Arriva, National Express, First Scotrail and the other companies have the buttons all in different positions.

Here’s an example: in the toilets, buttons in the same position do different functions in different trains. In one train a button might open the door, but in another train the button will do something different. I personally know two people that were trapped in the toilet and required assistance to escape, and even more extreme, I know a gentleman that pressed the emergency button by mistake and stopped the whole train.

I was hoping my colleagues in the UK would contact their Westminster MPs, Minister of Transport and the Association of Train Operating Companies to ask that all the buttons be relocated in the same order, have contrasting colours, and even an audible signal. This would help give blind and visually impaired people more independence and make travelling by rail more stress free.

I am surprised at the number of people that have joined this group since November 2007.

I lost my sight in 1977 due to problems with the Optic nerve, and I’ve been active in the National League of Blind and disabled (Trade Union for the Blind and Disabled).

I coordinated the successful campaign for free concessionary travel for the blind and partially sighted on buses, ferries, trains, and Glasgow underground. This campaign took from 1978 to 1999.

I am active locally in campaigning for information and accessibility on all fronts. More pressure must be put on the government to improve train travel for blind and visually impaired people in the 21st Century. I hope people can contact their Westminster MP, their Trade Unions and the Association of Train Operating Companies on this subject.

Scotland’s Future Rail Transport

The Scottish government should start the high speed rail link from Scotland - from Edinburgh, going via the edge of Haddington and the Lammermuir Hills, through the Scottish Borders via the Keilder Reservoir, onto Woler and then to Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham. This would make more sense starting from both ends of the country.

Also the Scottish government should look positively at making a start on the cross Glasgow rail link, i.e. Aberdeen to Ayr, Stirling to Stranraer, Edinburgh to Largs. This would join up more communities, help the environment, and employment. Also tourism.

Other rail links within Scotland: Edinburgh to Eyemouth, Edinburgh to St Andrews, Stirling, Alloa and the Fife circle link with a connection to St Andrews. Also, Kirkcaldy, Windygates and Leven.

They should also look at relocating some stations which are not best suited for passenger access, and reopen the following stations: Abbeyhill, Newburgh, East Linton, Reston, Kintor – and examine other relevant stations for a better commuter service.

This would increase rail travel.

Proposed to start the first section of the Waverley line Edinburgh to Tweedbank Galashiels to finish this by 2014 I feel strongly there should be a starting date for the Carlisle to Hawick section and dates to join the last section up.

All other Rail Lines that were closed down in the 1960’s should be investigated to see if there is a use for them and the HS02 line will not reach Scotland Line until 2032 – 2046 more should be done to bring these dates forward.

More should be done to electrify the Line to Aberdeen and Inverness also there should be more duel track on these Lines.

During the Edinburgh Festival there should be later running Trains between Edinburgh and Towns within the central belt Scotland .Also to see if there is a need for later running trains on Friday and Saturday nights .

Hope the Scottish Government in cooperation with UK Government work together to take Rail Travel into the 21st century.

Disabled Benefits Attack - Sign the petition

There is a government petition against the attack on disabled benefits which Alex Scott would like to be circulated to the Community Union for their support; however people have to be on email to list their name. The website address is; http://epitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/2096815 I would be pleased if all my friends could support and circulate this information

Incommunicado for a couple of days.

Tomorrow, I'm off down to Sheffield for the Community Union (National
League of Blind and Disabled section) meeting.

It's just a small meeting, dealing with employment benefits and
accessible travel and other disabled matters.

So I'll be offline for a couple of days, but write to me as usual and
I'll deal with anything as soon as I can once I'm back.
--
Alex Scott MBE

Check out my weblogs and Facebook profile at:

alexscottmbe.blogspot.com
alexscott1999.tripod.com
http://www.facebook.com/alexscottmbe

Continually campaigning for better accessability for disabled people
to public transport

Write up in Community Union Magazine.

I recently the subject of an article in "Community Magazine", the
magazine for Community Union. I've copied the article here for your
reading pleasure:

Issue 18 Autumn 2011

Article Begins:

"ALL ABOARD FOR ALEX'S RAIL CAMPAIGN

Blind Section member Alex Scott has a history of campaigning for
better transport for disabled people in Scotland. He was heavily
involved in a drive to get concessionary travel for disabled people.
But he has not stopped there.

Alex is working with a new campaign, Better Rail Services, aimed at
getting the Scottish Government to reopen closed routes and stations.
"Rail transport is all about linking communities together, that's why
Community is involved. It's good for jobs and the environment too", he
said. "That's why I'm urging Community members across Scotland and the
rest of the UK to lobby their MSPs and MPs to bring our rail system
into the 21st century".

Alex is also a strong supporter of the HS2 project to create a
high-speed rail network linking London to the north. He wants HS2
extended into Scotland much sooner than currently planned.

Community is also backing the HS2 campaign because the union believes
it is the kind of major infrastructure project that will help to get
the economy moving and reduce the north-south divide.

Find out more on the Community website.

http://www.community-tu.org/"

Article ends

Better Rail Services

Firstly we welcome the opening of the Bathgate Airdrie link and the line from Edinburgh to Helensburgh as this will change peoples lives in the future by joining up communities. It is hoped that the new Scottish Government can look positively at reopening stations and the lines that were closed down in the late sixties and there should be a timetable to do this over the next parliamentary term. They should also look at the following stations'Reston in Berwickshire (with the opening of the link to Eyemouth)East Linton in East LothianNewbury in FifeGorgie, Abbeyhill and Portobello in Edinburgh.
It is hoped that they can reopen the South suburban line and join this up with the Fife circle line. The trains would do a figure of eight outer circle and inner circle. There should also be a connection between Edinburgh and St Andrews.During the festival they should see if they can run later services to Newcastle, Carlisle, Dundee, Stirling, Glasgow and all other stations in the central belt. At the moment the last direct train leaves London Kingscross at 7pm and this should be put back to 8pm. More should be done to reduce the time to less than four hours on the east coast line. The high speed service on the west coast line could serve Edinburgh as well as Glasgow from Euston via Preston, Carlisle to Edinburgh during the peak period. This would not cost much and would save a considerable amount of travelling time from the centre of London to the centre of Edinburgh. A faster service would appeal to potential travellers who may otherwise opt to use the airlines.
The high speed link between London and Scotland is said to be with us by 2032-46. More should be done to bring Scotland into the 21st century on accessible rail travel. All these points should be taken into consideration by the Scottish government in co-operation with the UK Government.

The opening of the railway line – Edinburgh to Galashiels is in the planning stage and there should be a push for the reintroduction of the Carlisle to Hawick section of the Waverley line. This would leave a 30 mile gap in the rail link between Galashiels and Hawick which could be scheduled for completion at a later date.

The above mentioned will be an investment for Scotland’s future transport needs and help to promote tourism also the economy and employment.

Alex Scott MBE blogspot.com.