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Friday 5 April 2013

British Parliament - a pay rise for them, workfare & poverty pay for us !

This week has seen the biggest assault on the 'Welfare State' since it's creation, causing unimaginable hardship for the British People - meanwhile the Conservatives & their MPs want a £31,000 pay rise !

We hear Boris Johnson 'above' tell us about his second job, writing articles once a week on a Sunday for a staggering £250,000 a year - he calls this amount 'Chickenfeed'

Apparently British MPs are struggling to make ends meet on £65,738 a year. The so-called Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) says 70% of MPs claim they deserve a +32% pay rise, potentially lifting salaries to £86,250.

Contemptuously a further 20% of MPs thought remuneration of at least £95,000 a year was deserving.

In hard economic times & when benefit claimants are being demonised as benefit scroungers, forced to WAIT seven days before being able to claim benefits after losing a job. Respect For the Unemployed & Benefit Claimants examined the House of Commons  & the House of Lords to identify if we really are 'All in this Together' as David Cameron would have us believe.

Working with various organisations & studying the ultra complex system of payments, that so-called honourable members of the British Parliament & the House of Lords accumulate became staggering - our conclusion, we are governed by contemptuous  millionaires !!

Ex-Cabinet minister and Labour  MP Jack Straw thinks the time for an MP's increase is as good as any.

Tory MP's think annual salaries should come closer to £96,740; Liberal Democrats thought the right salary was £78,361, while Labour members of the House of Commons  believe £77,322, is fair !

On average, across all parties, MPs want a 32% pay rise to £86,250..... 'We're all in this together' ?

MP's on the Select Committee & those who 'chair' those committee, receive extra payments of up to £14,582. There are also other 'benefits' MP's have including childcare vouchers and greatly subsidised meals & a public bar. Most MPs believe they are undervalued, with a third of them apparently thinking they should be on over £80,000 a year, which might not arouse such fury were it not for their readiness to slash the living standards of their constituents.

There is a decent minority of MPs in the House of Commons who have steadfastly opposed front-bench acceptance of the bankers' case that the working class should pay for their recklessness.

There are many others for whom grinding the poor to give succour to the rich is the natural order.

The 99% in Britain are struggling in chronic poverty, unable to pay bills, buy quality food items. Meanwhile both the House of Commons & the House of Lords enjoy privilege beyond imagination. 

These Lords & MP's hold many assets - (many hidden from public view), including savings & (second income wages). There are Lords & MP's who gain extra payments from industrial lobbyist.

An un-honourable House of Commons
Benefit Claimants are quite rightly 'angry' at those who sit in an 'undemocratic & an unelected House of Lords. Those MP's & those who sit in the Lords firmly believe it's OK to hold two jobs & enjoy a subsidised restaurant & bar.

In contrast benefit claimants are struggling to buy food, pay bills or 'even get the benefit payments'.

We are forced to work for free under 'Workfare' or risk benefit suspension for up-to 3 years.


This in our opinion is a product of a 'Benefit Culture' in Britain, the real benefit scroungers sit in the House of Commons.   


Cruel & vindictive government welfare cuts that came into force this week will heap even more misery on Britain's poorest. The Conservatives & Liberal Democrats assault will hit millions of families, with low-paid workers, the unemployed and disabled people bearing the brunt.

The tax and benefit changes will leave families nearly £900 worse off on average according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Meanwhile David Cameron and George Osborne are giving millionaires an average £100,000 tax cut."

The bedroom tax, changes to council tax benefit and the replacement of the disability living allowance will all have a devastating effect. It will disproportionately hit disabled people.

UK's poorest households face a bleak April as they struggle to budget for all these cuts coming at once. People are already cutting back on the essentials of food and heating but there is only so much they can do.

The result will be misery - cold rooms, longer queues at food banks, broken families, missed rent payments and yet more people facing homelessness - devastating for those directly affected, but bad for us all.


As part of welfare changes in April, local authorities will take over the running of Emergency Welfare Loans and Grants, formally know as the Social Fund Budgeting Loans & Grants, which are meant to help people deal with crises such as leaking roofs, broken boilers and lack of food.

After the Department for Work and Pensions said it would no longer administer social fund payments centrally, Birmingham City Council said that, unlike other councils, it had decided not to give out small one-off cash grants and loans from its newly devolved £6.1m fund. Instead repayable loans would be placed exclusively on 'Asda pre-payment' debit cards.  


The Labour Party controlled authority said the cards – which Asda said were similar to their gift cards – would restrict spending to a list of predetermined goods, which would exclude tobacco, alcohol, phone-related expenditure and fuel.

Demolition of the Welfare State in the UK: http://t.co/uvVlTTet9r
Low income households will be struck by a multitude of government cuts starting this week, totalling more than £2.3 billion. The figures below represents how much will be cut from support for low income households compared to last year.

** Bedroom tax £490m

Council tax benefit localised and devolved budgets cut by 10 percent £485m
Local housing allowance annual uprate at CPI (instead of RPI) £90m

** Benefit cap introduced £290m

Tax credit disregard for in-year increases reduced to £5,000 £455m
Working age benefits and tax credits: uprating capped at one percent £505m

Total losses: £2,315m


So who does 'Representative Democracy' represent ?

It seems those supporting the have been stuck in 'Cryogenic Suspension' where is our Representation ?


Email: respect_unemployed@ovi.com
Respect For the Unemployed & Benefit Claimants
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