Monday 27 January 2025
Dear Matt Bishop,
My son in law , aged 44, worked in the tech industry before suffering a massive stroke that left him paralysed down one side, and unable to speak.. He works within his capacity, but still requires benefits. I’m deeply shocked at Rachel Reeves distinguishing him from “ordinary” people in receipt of social security because he is disabled.
His humanity, and that of all of us, I suspect, is now reduced in your governments view, to his/our capacity to work. This despite the fact that full employment is not the aim of a capitalist economy, as you know, but THAT was an issue addressed in my last letter to you, (August 2024) to which I received no reply.
It’s scandalous that instead of prioritising support for the disadvantaged and vulnerable, this government is doubling down on the austerity policies that has I/5 of the people of the U.K. living in poverty, and has resulted in more than 330,000 unnecessary deaths. More to come, I suspect.
Poverty levels within the Forest of Dean are high, and I’m inviting you to lobby Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer on the behalf of the poeple of the Forest of Dean, and everyone like my son-law, being driven deeper and deeper into anxiety and depression by what can best be described as Labour’s, “ War on The Poor.”
It ought to be a Labour Goverment’s priority to rebalance the economy (through taxation if that’s the only means it thinks it has) in the interests of ALL its citizens, not just the top 20%.
If Labour doesn’t change tack, yours will be a one-term legislature, and deservedly so,m.
Below are links to both the Philip Alston’s 2018 UN Commission Report on Human Rights on poverty in the UK ( with a summary) and the Lord’s Report on deaths caused by austerity. It is to the shame of all politicians that nothing has been, or is being done, to address the findings of either report. Are 330,000 deaths, not enough?
OCHR Report:
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Poverty/EOM_GB_16Nov2018.pdf
Summary:
The report is a statement by Professor Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, following his visit to the United Kingdom in November 2018.
Alston highlights the dramatic rise in poverty and destitution in the UK, affecting 14 million people, including 4 million who are more than 50% below the poverty line and 1.5 million who are destitute.
He criticises the UK government's austerity measures and social security policies, which he argues have led to social calamity and economic disaster, especially impacting children, single mothers, people with disabilities, and the working poor.
Alston also points out the government's denial of the severity of the situation and the resistance to change despite evidence and recommendations from various sources.
House of Lords Report on Austerity/Related Deaths;,
https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/mortality-rates-among-men-and-women-impact-of-austerity/
And here is House of Commons Data are poverty figures for the Forest of Dean:
The Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, UK has high rates of poverty, especially among children.
Poverty rates for children:
In 2020, 14% of children in the Forest of Dean lived in poverty
In 2023, a fifth of children in the Forest of Dean lived in relative poverty
Poverty rates for households
In 2021, the most deprived areas in the Forest of Dean were Cinderford, Coleford, and Mitcheldean, Drybrook, and Ruardean
In 2022, one in seven households in the Forest of Dean were in fuel poverty
Factors contributing to poverty
Income deprivation
Employment deprivation
Health deprivation
Disability
You were elected to the House of Commons to represent working people. Let’s see some evidence that you take these issues seriously. Let’s see a more urgent response than “waiting for growth,” we’ve been waiting 40 years for Reeves’ neoliberal economic model to bear fruit for working people.
Never materialised.
Time’s up.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Francis
