The Conservatives are refusing to give details of where £12 billion of further social security cuts will come from, but Iain Duncan Smith has sai
The Conservatives are refusing to give details of where £12 billion of further social security cuts will come from, but Iain Duncan Smith has said, “there are some things that we will do, and want to do, that are of life-changing, dramatic effects.”
This has only served to increase the alarm felt by people who need the support of benefits, who have already suffered due to measures like the Bedroom Tax, and who now feel they have a financial sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
Particularly afraid are sick and disabled people, who have been hardest hit by welfare reform and austerity, and cannot imagine how they will cope if they lose even more.
Last weekend, Disabled People Against Cuts wrote an open letter expressing their fears, which they placed on their website and asked people to sign. However, so many people tried to sign the letter their website could not cope, and they had to publish this apology:
‘Very sincere apologies, but due to the massive numbers of people who have attempted to sign the letter, our technology simply cannot cope with it.
“This demonstrates the strength of feeling that exists amongst our supporters, and we are looking into alternative methods of recording this massive support.
We will be re-running this as soon as we can. Apologies once again, to the people who have signed, those who tried but were unable to sign and those who wanted to sign, but we have been defeated by the limits of our technology.”
A few days later they announced, “Never deterred, we’ve come back with a petition. Fingers crossed that change.org can cope … Sign the Petition here.
Each signature sends an email to Iain Duncan Smith. Please sign the petition and stand in solidarity with sick and disabled people at this very anxious time.
* More on the issues in the 2015 General Election from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/generalelection2015
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© Bernadette Meaden has written about political, religious and social issues for some years, and is strongly influenced by Christian Socialism, liberation theology and the Catholic Worker movement. She is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor. You can follow her on Twitter: @BernaMeaden