Welfare Reform Bill & The Spartacus Report
Here’s a very quick post. Time is tight, so I’ve cut-and-pasted a lot of this info from other sources, which are credited at the bottom of this page.
There’s a lot in the news at the moment about the Welfare Reform Bill, and its passage through parliament.
The Welfare Reform Bill is the pet project of UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan-Smith (IDS). It is a spider web of legislation spreading across the entire social security system of the country. It is 180 pages of legalese, which most people would be daunted by taking on.
The mainstream media and Westminster have been pretty much silent and unperturbed through the course of the Bill.
Meanwhile, in the real world, there has been a widespread and vigorously negative response to the reform plans since the get-go amongst disability campaign groups, the blogosphere and of course, amongst the sick and disabled people claiming the benefits today.
The UK government launched an expensive public consultation exercise on replacing the DLA with PIP last year to gather feedback and proposed amendments and additions. On receiving an almost 100% negative feedback, the government proceeded to produce a report for the House of Commons which they stated proved that disabled people were broadly in support of the changes.
As the Bill proceeded from House of Commons to House of Lords, the consultation feedback was not included.
In response to the proposals themselves, the lack of interest from MPs in defending the interests of their sick and disabled constituents, and the misrepresentation of their public consultation feedback the disabled community lost patience with the process and took matters into their own hands.
The report was published via the Diary of a Benefit Scrounger blog and can be read in full there.
There is also an e-petition, organised via the same blog, urging the government to stop cuts to benefits and services which fall on disabled people. Please sign this petition urgently.
The Spartacus Report states its findings as follows:
The battle is not over. In fact, it’s barely begun. Please spread the word and make a stand before it’s too late.
There has been support from the world of celebrity and public figures including Stephen Fry (whose initial linking tweet crashed at least one website associated with the publication of the report), singer Billy Bragg, comedian and activist Mark Thomas, TV personality Sue Perkins, writers Val McDermid and Kate Long, Coronation Street actor Julie Hesmondhalgh, satirist Tim Minchin and many others.
The report is backed by Disability Alliance, representing over 380 charities. Scope, Mind, RNIB, Sense, the National Autistic Society, ME Action and the Papworth Trust are among those who have specifically promoted it, alongside community groups and the beliefs and values think-tank Ekklesia.
You can read the latest update about opposition to the Welfare Bill here. Also, there’s a Facebook page here. And you can find the author of the report on Twitter @suey2y.
Big thanks to Scriptonite Daily for excellent commentary on the Welfare Bill and Spartacus Report. Most of this post has been gathered from info here. And, of course, to the Diary of a Benefit Scrounger.
Alastair Smith. 18 Jan 2012.
