Power in numbers

This week is voter registration week. In part 2 of our series on why voting matters, UNITElive spoke with a mother of four who’s taken on the dreaded Bedroom Tax. Jessica McCarnun explains why casting your ballot this May is so important.

Life under the coalition government hasn’t been easy for Jessica McCarnun – one of half a million people who’ve been affected by the Bedroom Tax, which came into effect in April 2013 and disproportionately harms the disabled.

 
Under the tax, those who are in social rented housing are slammed with an extra £14 a week after being deemed to have one spare bedroom and £25 a week for more than one empty room. As a direct result of the Tory tax attack on those who are already struggling to get by, two-thirds of those affected haven’t been able to afford their rent.

 
McCarnun, a Unite Community campaigner from Salisbury, is a mother of four children, two of whom suffer from a disability. It was through her personal experience of the Bedroom Tax that she’s become a dedicated campaigner against a policy that hurts the most vulnerable in society.

 
Without any legal training, McCarnun has helped thousands of families, many of whom are disabled, win appeals against the tax. So far, she’s had a 100 per cent success rate.

 
Although McCarnun’s and other campaigners’ tireless work have helped thousands from falling off the edge, she asserts that there’s only one sure-fire way to secure policies that work for working people and not against them – and that’s through voting.

 
“When you don’t vote, you’re effectively giving up your chance at being heard,” she said. “The only reason we have such inhumane policies as the bedroom tax in place now is precisely because millions didn’t vote in the last general election.”
Indeed, five years ago, only six in 10 people cast their ballot.

 
“There are staunch voters who will always vote – for example, older people – and their concerns are almost always heard in Parliament,” she explained. “When you think about the groups that are least likely to vote – young people, working-class people, and ethnic minority people – you see it reflected in policy.

 
“They say that work pays but working people now are hurting more than ever before,” she said, adding that she understands the disillusionment with politics among the most downtrodden. “But we have the power, in numbers, to make a difference.”

 
“We must dispel this notion that there’s no point, because it’s simply not true,” McCarnun added. “Voting is perhaps the simplest but most power tool we have to change not only our lives, but our children’s lives, for the better.”

 
Voting  is easier now than ever before – you can register online in less than five minutes. Be sure to register before the deadline on April 20 and join our coalition campaign, #NoVoteNoVoice. Find out more here.

To find out more about Jessica’s work, visit her website here.