{"id":4453,"date":"2015-06-10T16:49:57","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T15:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4453"},"modified":"2015-06-10T16:49:57","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T15:49:57","slug":"dear-andy-burnham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4453","title":{"rendered":"Dear Andy Burnham"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I have a lot of time for Andy Burnham. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s from Liverpool, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m from Liverpool. He supports Everton, so do I. supports Everton, so do I. I feel like I know him. So I was sad and disappointed when I read his speech about getting tough on benefits \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and I decided to tell him.<\/p>\n

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Below is what I wrote to Andy (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll let you know if he replies) but in fact I need to direct it to four of the leadership candidates \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Andy, Yvette, Mary and Liz \u00e2\u20ac\u201c because, on the subject of benefits, they all need to think very carefully about what they are saying.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDear Mr Burnham,<\/p>\n

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I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always thought you are a good sort.\u00c2\u00a0 I would like nothing more for there to be a Scouse Evertonian as leader of the Labour party and perhaps, one day, as Prime Minister, too. I have huge admiration for the work you have done for the Hillsborough families.\u00c2\u00a0I was therefore so sad to read your speech today vowing to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bget tough on benefits\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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You \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and too many of your Labour colleagues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c appear to have bought into the myth propagated by the media that the poor are lazy, that the disabled are shirkers and the unemployed could find work if they wanted to.<\/p>\n

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I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not denying that there are people who scam the system, we all know of people who \u00e2\u20ac\u015bget everything\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 without having done a day\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work in their lives. But while these are a tiny, tiny minority everybody on benefits is being tarred with that brush and this is so wrong.<\/p>\n

 
\nIf you will indulge me I will tell you why I am sad and why I fear that the most vulnerable members of our society are being criminalised and demonised.\u00c2\u00a0Please do read this and share with your Labour colleagues because it is very important that your party really understands what is going on in this country before they `talk tough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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Up until March 2014 I was a civil servant working at Land Registry. I was also a PCS rep, specialising in equality. I took redundancy and since then I have been a volunteer activist with Unite Community based in Durham. I help to set up a clothing bank, which runs along similar lines to a food bank. We also give out toiletries, which are not considered to be essential by food banks.<\/p>\n

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We are visited by many people who are absolutely desperate and many are so embarrassed to be there. I have seen a young mum cry because we provided her with nappies.\u00c2\u00a0 I have been hugged by a woman with two teenage daughters because I handed over essential feminine hygiene products. Their gratitude far outweighs the service we provide. It is heart-breaking.<\/p>\n

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We are regularly visited by a group of homeless lads. One of them died a few weeks ago, of pneumonia. He was twenty two. This is 21st Century Britain. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met a young man who was run over by a car, spent twelve days in hospital and was sanctioned for missing his job centre appointment!<\/p>\n

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I wish you could meet Johnnie (not his real name) who I am helping with his benefit assessment. Johnnie has been off work sick for two years. He had cancer. He may never be able to return to work because the chemo he had has caused him to lose sensation in his hands and feet. He is a van driver. There is little his company can offer him by way of alternative employment. He had worked for them for 15 years. Johnnie got statutory sick pay for six months but then nothing, and has claimed Employment Support Allowance. His company say they have been supportive because they have kept his job open \u00e2\u20ac\u201c costing them nothing but offering Johnnie no financial help either.<\/p>\n

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Still, I wish you could see the way Johnnie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0eyes lit up when he told me how he cleaned his van every Saturday,\u00c2\u00a0inside and out because it was his place of work and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwho wants to work in a tip?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately Johnnie and our homeless friends are not news \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who\u00c2\u00a0wants to read about genuinely ill man claiming benefits he is entitled to?<\/p>\n

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Please, Mr Burnham, do not fail these members of our society \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they need to be helped, they need to be treated with respect and dignity. And, hand on heart, through the work I do, I have yet to meet the seventeen holidays a year, drives a Porsche, 60 inch plasma screen telly benefit claimant of myth that you seem to read so much about.<\/p>\n

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And why is so little said about tax\u00c2\u00a0avoidance, where is the outrage and promises to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bget tough\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on those\u00c2\u00a0people and companies who cost the UK billions of pounds a year?\u00c2\u00a0 Why\u00c2\u00a0is nobody taking them on?<\/p>\n

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I fear I have taken up far too much of your time already. If you win\u00c2\u00a0please spare a thought for the weak and vulnerable members of our\u00c2\u00a0society who are not architects of their own downfall.<\/p>\n

 
\nSincerely Angela\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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