A letter to my MP by Elizabeth Keen

I am writing to you with regard to the new bedroom tax, which as you are aware was imposed on 1^st April 2013. As you know, there is a lot of concern about how the sick and disabled are coping, I fully understand that they have special needs and need help with regard to getting about, going about their day to day business and also the need for extra rooms for equipment etc.  I have even attended protests and signed numerous e-petitions with regard to their plight, and on a couple of occasions implored my friends and family to sign them too. However, my reason for writing to you is with regard to myself and the rest of those who are suffering because of that extra bill and also the council tax – especially single people and single parents, who do not seem to get mentioned when people are talking about the suffering that has come into play as a direct result of this and other cuts imposed by this sorry dictatorship that has the nerve to grace the houses of parliament calling itself a government.

I am a single parent living in a 3-bedroomed property, I moved into this house 12 years ago with my then husband and 8-week-old son. Since then I have divorced due to irreconcilable differences and now there is just my 12-year-old son and myself living here. The problem is this, I am unemployed and have been for some time. I must make you understand however that this is not through lack of trying; I apply for jobs online several times a week, every week without fail, I attend the work program at Avanta Manchester without fail. I am 42 years old and I feel that some times this plays against me when applying for work.

Since the bedroom tax and council tax contribution has been in place I am finding it almost impossible to make ends meet. There is no clear way to pay all my bills without something having to be missed out under the mantra “I’ll miss that this week and pay double next payday”. It’s horrendous. I used to be able to do a main food shop every fortnight, that is now impossible. After having paid what I need to pay in order keep a roof over our head, the powers-that-be off my back and warmth and light in the rooms, there is barely any money left to buy a decent shop. I now have to rely on child benefit – which I get once a month – to buy a fortnight’s worth of shopping, and even then it’s mostly from the local Lidl and any bargains in Asda on foods that have reached their sell-by dates. I am not happy about this and it’s getting even harder as the price of food seems to escalate with every new week! Some times I feel that I cannot stand the fact that I have to deny my son basic things like new shoes, clothes etc… this is due to the fact that the bit of extra cash I used to use for such essentials now has to go on food.

As you are also aware, to avoid paying this evil tax one would have to move to a smaller property, but which you are also aware council homes were built with families in mind and as a result there are very few 2-bedroom homes to be had. In fact in this area the ones that are available are either taken or riddled with rats and mice because they back on to Clayton Vale. If I had to move then I would have to move from the area and find a new school for my son. However, I can’t do that because thanks to that odious man I can longer afford the cost of a new high school uniform. The one my son has cost £40 more than that school uniform grant allowed. So there is no way I could find another £120 for uniforms plus the cost of moving home. In fact I could not afford the moving cost anyway. Apart from that, I do not want to move as this is our home.

It is not just this that has caused me write to you, I am also wondering when the stigma of being on benefits is going to stop. I am truly saddened to the core about the way in which some people in our society are encouraged to make those who are really trying to get on in life by any means possible feel even worse that they do already. I am already extremely upset and worried about the future, in fact I am finding it increasingly difficult to imagine that any decent kind of future is within our reach! Imagine how it feels when every time you open a paper or log on to the internet someone is calling the less fortunate – to coin a phrase I saw the other day by a UKIP official – ‘Parasitical under-classed scroungers’! and I also believe that a Miss Swann of this party also feels that it is ‘dangerous to let the unemployed vote’ is that because the majority of unemployed people will vote Labour? How can they make derogatory statements such as this? Are we no longer to have a voice? Are we no longer classed as citizens? Yet another disgusting statement from people who have no idea of the lower and working classes, that has really disgusted me. How are we to endure this kind of bullying? Because that is all it is, bullying of lower to middle class people from people who were born privileged and have no real notion of what it is to struggle and who have no idea of what we the working class are really like. When did we become a nation of denunciation and judgement before anyone has taken the trouble find out why that lady is a single mum or why that person is unemployed? Every day I hear about someone calling or laying judgement on a single parent or someone who cannot find work.

I am speaking of myself when I tell you that my child was born in wedlock and he was born when I was thirty therefore I did not have children at an early age – one of the many bully tactics that I have heard. I divorced my husband because he and I became incompatible in-so-much as we were not working as a couple and so went our separate ways and eventually I sought the divorce. I am out of work because there are not enough jobs to go around. Moreover, I know from personal experience that for every job available there are upwards of 50 applicants! So you have to take on board all the different aspects of people lives before categorizing them into classes to which they do not belong, I think if the government had made any attempt to look into this they would see that not all families are alike and the majority of unemployed people are not lazy scroungers, as certain members of the conservatives would have the public believe, who sit watching TV all day long. I would love to have the time to sit around all day, but if I did I would not be watching television as I am not a big fan.

What I would like from you is to know what, if anything, is being done to bring an end to this suffering? Why are the government being allowed to promote bullying in this manner against the lower classes and why is Ed Miliband not doing anything about that and other issues which are heavy on peoples mind at the moment? To name the two main ones: the Universal Credit and welfare ‘reforms’; I read an article with regard to Mr Miliband’s view of the cuts and to my misery it seems that he is in favour of them. Can you tell me why he is NOT fighting our cause as is the job of a Labour politician? When did Labour stop being a socialist party to become capitalists? How much further right can he possibly lean? (Please be aware I refer only to Mr Miliband’s beliefs and not the whole of the party).

Furthermore, I am also extremely concerned at every new reform I hear about as they just seem to get more and more criminal. Take for example Home Secretary Theresa May’s idea of abolishing The Human Rights Act, I have to say the very idea of this made me feel physically sick and I thought the idea would have been rejected straight away and although I have heard nothing further either for or against the motion, I have heard talk of the Tories wanting to pull out of the European Union, to my mind that in itself is evidence enough to support the idea that it may indeed be about to materialize, as in leaving the EU that would make us exempt from their legislations. Then where would that leave people like us? Without that particular safety net the government would be free to manipulate and conceive policies that potentially could cause even more damage to the building blocks that have taken a long time to construct to keep the people of this civilised country safe. Already our freedom of speech is being compromised. Facebook has been trying to block posts and statuses of a certain writer, deeming his page as ‘unsafe’ simply because it is dedicated to telling the network exactly what this government are trying to do. I also read an article concerning Google receiving more and more requests for the removal of any article or website that has political connections – and we already know that in the media and on the news that most do not even mention what is happening, other than to lie to the public about how right they were with their austerity measures and to bully the poor! Which brings me to the question; how did the powers that be ever think that George Osbourne had a clue about economics?

Then there is the selling off of the NHS. No, not selling, but offering to the highest bidder as if it was a lot at an auction. What is wrong with these people? Are they quite mad? Or are they just a bunch of cruel, non-empathetic, unsympathetic, ruthless, money-grabbing, little, rich boys devoid of any real human emotion, who have no regard for the people of their country – the very people they claim to want to ‘help’. This is NOT helping. This is persecuting the poor for simply being poor, and to me that is absolutely disgusting and goes against everything that I was ever taught about being a good decent human being.

Now I hear about Mr Grayling wanting to introduce justice ‘reforms’, that doesn’t sound so bad until you read what it is that he wants to change: I draw your attention to the abolishing of up to seventy percent of small solicitor firms, and taking away the right to choose one’s own solicitor! This would make it almost impossible for anyone that deserves a fair trial the chance of getting exactly that. A direct violation of Magna Carta and the Human Rights act no less. In that every man shall have the right to a fair trial. What is even more astonishing is the fact that this motion is NOT subject to a debate in parliament. Talking of rules, laws and regulations, it seems to me that this government is quite happy to break every law in the book in order to get their policies through whether approved, voted for or otherwise again a direct violation of the Magna Carta…’No man is above the law’ this appears to have been thrown out of the window. Mr Cameron certainly believes that he and his motley crew most certainly ARE above the law. As was fairly obvious with the workfare escapade, this man is systematically destroying this country that I once held very dear to my heart, bit by bit, piece by piece he is chipping away at all that I thought was great about it, taking on a downward slide back to the dark ages. I am extremely concerned about what he will do next. How much more damage he can do before 2015? This brings me to my main question, once again, and that is, as I have already stated: what is being done to put an end to the torture and how is the government managing to get away with so much treason against the nation without so much as a by or leave?

I would be very grateful if you would please enlighten me to some if not all of these issues. I would love to hear your views on everything that is taking place.

Thank you for your patience,

Yours Sincerely,

E Keen