The Indy Scapegoats The Poor!

This balderdash from The Independent newspaper really gets my goat!

“Reeves stealth taxes ‘hammering’ workers while pensioners and benefits claimants ‘better off’” 02.01.2026

There is zero balance to the article, but rather a deliberate anti-social neoliberal slant.

40% of folk on benefits are in employment, but jobs pay so badly that the State is topping up their income. It ought to be pointed out that UK benefits pay mere survival rates no where near reaching the level of a Living Wage, with many foregoing food, heating &/or medications. Most users of food-banks are benefit-recipients with disabilities, severe illnesses or children.

Yes, children! Some 4,500,000 children in the United Kingdom live in poverty. Scrapping the two-child limit means that more Child Benefit will be paid out, a desperate fillip that in no way makes up for the ever-ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

As to pensioners, UK pensioners are by far the worst-off in Western Europe, and below average for OECD countries.

That the once-balanced and fair Indy cites an example of someone earning £50,000 (£31,602 is the median UK annual income per O.N.S.) per year having to pay £505 p.a. more tax without explaining that those receiving Social Security are on such low levels of support and have experienced real-term cuts* for years, absolutely disgusts me.

* Increases based on general inflation do not recognise the above-inflation increases in food & energy prices, let alone medications & prescriptions & optician & dental-care & mobility-aids, etc. that force folk in the lower income deciles to often borrow money to pay for basic necessities of life.

Link to description of data of DWP benefit claims.

Thoughts on the Coronation

Charles has his work cut out for him if he wishes to ameliorate the reputation of the royals amongst UK citizens.

*

According to the US newscaster CNN’s article from 5th May, the day prior to the coronation:

“Britons’ support for the monarchy is in long-term decline”

“More than one-third of UK adults (36%) say their opinion of the family has become more negative than it was 10 years ago…”

“… 37% of those age 35-54 and just 31% of those younger than 35 say they intend to watch the event, as an increasing number of young Britons express their indifference to or dislike for an institution they say has no relevance in their lives.”

“More than half (55%) of UK adults younger than 25 say that they don’t consider the royal family a good source of leadership and guidance, a view shared by just 36% of those aged 55 or older.”

*

“A member of Operation Golden Orb organising committee told The Sun that the ceremony may have cost £100 million. But separate unverified sources have suggested an even higher bill, of up to £250 million, partly because of the vast security costs.”

*

Today the Manchester Evening News, known as the M.E.N., writes:

“Taking place amid the cost-of-living crisis facing the UK and against a backdrop of strikes by doctors, teachers and other public servants over pay, the King’s coronation has been branded a waste of taxpayers’ money by critics. More than half of Brits do not think it should be funded by the government, a poll has suggested. The YouGov survey found 51 per cent of adults questioned believe the ceremony should not be funded by the government, almost a third – 32 per cent – said it should, while around 18 per cent did not know.”

*

Per the Wikipedia item on coronation:

Most European monarchs do not have public coronations. They simply swear an oath.

They thus save their countries £/€ millions which can be spent elsewhere as needs be.

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Looking at the last published accounts of Trussell Trust, the largest food-bank provider, it would appear that the monies spent on the coronation would have fed the UK’s food-poor for a year or so. Of course, that is simply a comparison. UKgov chooses not to feed the hungry (despite being a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). At any time it could ensure food to every UK citizen & resident. Instead the government spent the monies on adorning one single man!

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After Ezekiel

Today's sermon is based on the notable Prophecy of the Shepherd & the Sheep, after Ezekiel chapter 34: verses 1 to 31 of New International Version (NIV) of the Bible.

1-6

The polemical word came to me: "Mensch, apprise the politicos of Britain; forewarn and inform them: 'This is what the Sovereign British People say: Woe to you politicos of Britain who only take care of yourselves! Should not politicos take care of their folk? You eat five-star cuisine, clothe yourselves in fine tailoring, designer footwear & expensive accessories, but you do not take care of your folk. You have not supported the poor, nurtured the NHS nor cared for the disabled. You have not included the misfits nor acknowledged the lost, the suicides and deaths. You have ruled Brits harshly and brutally. So Britons despaired because there were no leaders with true vision for the people and their well-being, and whilst unemployed or under-employed or under-paid, they were forced to rely on food-banks and charity hand-outs. Brits wondered what was to become of them; from Britain's mountains through the hills to the low-lands all hope has been dispersed. No-one in authority deigned to research or even look at the people's despair.' "

7-10

" 'Therefore, you politicos, hear the polemical word: As surely as I live, declares this Mensch, because my country lacks good leadership and so has been plundered by the 10% and has become easy-money for international conglomerates, and because you politicos did not support my folk but cared only for your own pecuniary interests rather than my folk, therefore, you politicos, hear the polemical word: This is what this Mensch says: I am against the politicos and they will be held accountable to my folk. I will remove the establishment from having power over my folk, so that you politicos can no longer be solely self-serving. My country will be rescued from your grimy paws, and it will no longer be your cash-cow.' "

11-16

" 'For this is what the Mensch says: I myself will seek out my folk and look out for them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when s/he is with them, so will I look out for my fellow countrymen. Britons will look to bring love and hope to those lost in confusion and despair. Britons will come together from all corners of the United Kingdom and reclaim their land. Hope will be rekindled near and far throughout the land, both in town and country. All will have sufficient to eat, in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it will not simply be mass-produced fast-food, but nutritious alimentation. The workers will be permitted sufficient rest to develop a better work-life balance, declares the Mensch. Brits will commemorate those who died as a result of the politicos' policies. We will support those with impairments, disabled by societal barriers, and the impoverished; but those who were well-dressed and in positions of power shall be brought to book. Britain will become a country known for its justness and justice.' "

[Image description: various colours, pile of gourds & pumpkins]

17-19

" 'As for you, my folk, this is what the Mensch says: the courts will judge all equally with impartiality whatever one's status or wealth or ethnicity or gender or sexual orientation or creed. It ought to be enough for all to settle for a fair citizen's income; there should be no place for greed and avarice and hoarding so that others cannot share in Britain's bounty. All must have a seat at table; none should make do with mere crumbs.' "

20-24

" 'Therefore this is what the Mensch says to you, my fellows: See, the courts will judge between the impoverished and the 10%. Because the 10% have wheedled and tricked and manipulated to enrich themselves whilst impoverishing the rest, Britain will care for its own folk, and they will no longer be plundered. The courts will pass judgement. Brits will have a genuine democracy where every voice is heard and every vote counts. We will have leaders who are inspired, have vision for a better tomorrow and who will govern justly and wisely. Menschlichkeit will be the norm in the personal sphere: social justice will prevail in the political.' The Mensch has spoken."

25-31

" 'Britain will be a land of peace where all are welcomed as fellow siblings; it will rid itself of predatory free-market economics and look to a more sustainable future. The country will be united as one and will come to be and be seen as a beacon for all peoples of our world. We will address issues of climate change and do our utmost to restore the planet, so that all can be nourished by all that Nature has to offer. Brits will be secure in our land. We will know that Justice prevails, when the courts rule against poor working practices like unpaid overtime or excessive work demands, and gaol unsuitable employers. Britain will no longer sell its workplaces to the highest bidder and will tame all-devouring capitalism to serve we the people, not vice versa. The bounty of the country will be shared equitably amongst all citizens, no longer mainly the 10%; and we shall no longer be the laughing-stock of more civilised countries. Then Brits will know Menschlichkeit and all will be Menschen one unto another', declares the Mensch. 'You are the people, the people of this land, and Britain is our country', declares the Mensch."

[Image description: landscape wit mountains & full rainbow arc]

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Original text © NIV

1 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

⁷ “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
¹¹ “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. ¹² As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
¹⁷ “‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, ²² I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.
²⁵ “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. ²⁶ I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing.^[a] I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety,and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations.³⁰ Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. ³¹ You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture,and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Food-Banks: Shaming Our Nation

[Image description: ten bags of groceries]

A couple of weeks back I signed "Parliament: Debate UK hunger and rise in foodbank use" known as Jack's Petition (#jackspetition) after its creator Jack Monroe. The tally as I write stands at 142,688.

An hour ago I received the following email:

Today's the day!After 142,000 people signed our petition (142,000!) -- Parliament will debate why so many people in the UK are hungry and relying on foodbanks to feed their families this Christmas.
This debate is long overdue and it has been our sheer force of numbers that has made it happen, so thank you.
Hundreds of you have contacted your MPs to make sure they show up and stand up for hungry people in their constituencies -- people in work, out of work, living on their own, with children, without children, all struggling to put food on the table. I'll be in Parliament today to report back on which MPs turn up.
This debate is about finding out why so many people are hungry in one of the richest countries in the world. It is just the first step to tackling the issue but it is crucial. We need to understand the causes of hunger before we can address them.
Let's make sure everyone knows this debate is happening. Please send a tweet today using #foodbanks and #jackspetition. Tell people the reason you signed this petition. If you need inspiration of what to tweet, here are 20 facts about foodbanks in the UK. Pick one to tweet (or tweet all 20!):
Thank you for all you have done so far.
Jack Monroe
@MsJackMonroeP.S. If you are not on Twitter share these 20 facts about foodbanks with your friends on email and ask them to sign the petition at www.change.org/foodbanks 

The notification arrived whilst I was out and about in my mobility-scooter. Co-incidently this morning is the only day my local food-bank, St Alban's Parish of Broadheath, Altrincham whose logo appears below, is open for receiving donations, so I was delivering my annual Christmas food package. I could not sit down in all good conscience to a gargantuan feast knowing others were hungry. By feeding others my scruples will not trouble me over Yuletide.

The helpers very kindly made me a cuppa as there is a biting Easterly blowing outside. Whilst sipping my tea and the volunteers awaited clients, we chatted about the current state of affairs in the country. The ladies recalled WWII and said they had known nothing like this back then in our wealthy area. Now there are four food-banks in our locality. Underneath the exterior of Haves are very many Have-Nots. One OAP volunteer spoke of her shock at encountering such poverty, the worst she had seen in her considerable life-span.

Last week it was in the news that more than a million pensioners are in food-poverty. In previous weeks we have heard of millions of children going hungry and many now being fed by teachers out of their own pockets. Today in the news are the details of the human rights breaches of the homeless including access to food. The United Kingdom is a full signatory to the United Nations various conventions. According to today's Guardian the ConDem co-alition has turned down emergency food aid from Europe. The Conservative Party of the last few decades has proven itself to be unconcerned and completely dégagé in its responses towards poverty. The Liberal Democrats used to boast about their social justice credentials. Well that halo has slipped, tarnished and rusted away. Alas for once great Britain, the other two main parties, Labour and UKIP are as doggedly neo-liberal and corporatist. So no change in the future however anyone decides to vote.

To paraphrase the Bard, something is distinctly rotten in the state of England!

Tory Slates Use of Food-Banks By Starving

Last week a headline in Manchester's local newspaper, Manchester Evening News (M.E.N.), read:

Tory MP: Food banks could make people too reliant on handouts

I have interspersed some of quotations from the article with my own commentary.

[Image description: Paul Maynard by Blackpool tower; courtesy Wikipedia {{subst:npd}}] 

"Paul Maynard, who works for Minister of State Oliver Letwin, said people could start going to food banks out of habit rather than helping themselves." 

Emergency food parcels should not be given to people – because they could get too reliant on handouts, a Tory MP has said.

This is total balderdash, individuals referred to a food-bank may only do so three times using vouchers given to them by a social worker, a GP (family doctor), a CAB (Citizens' Advice Bureau) adviser or a head-teacher (school principal). They cannot return to the same food-bank. Given most areas only have one food-bank, it is difficult to see how any but a tiny minority would be able to form a habit. Three visits certainly does not constitute a behavioural norm nor does it indicate dependence. According to the Trussell Trust, the UK's main food-bank provider, the main reason for folk needing food assistance is due to governmental delays in processing benefits to which the individuals are fully entitled. In a sense, for very many folk, it is the Government who are actually creating the circumstances that force them to use the very food-banks the so-called Honourable Member seeks to castigate.

"Mr Maynard, who has some of the country’s most deprived wards in his own constituency [Blackpool North & Cleveleys], said: “I value personal responsibility. 

I do not believe that immediate food relief should be the role of the government. We can’t make food banks part of the welfare state. 

What I don’t want to do is normalise food poverty."

I wrote and submitted a comment that was accepted and now appears below the article:

"Under Britain's UN obligations the State is obliged to ensure food security for all its citizens. It is currently in breach of those obligations in a similar way as it is in breach of housing obligations, as recently exposed by a UN rapporteur. 

The so-called party of law & order seems to only want to follow the legal requirements that suit; hardly an exemplar to its citizens!"

The news item continued:

"But charities hit back, saying they had been left to face a huge number of people going hungry because of changes to welfare payments." 

"Representatives from debt advice charities and food-growing schemes said they feared the bedroom tax had left people too poor to eat…" 

And "the Poverty Commission warn[s] 1.6m people across the region are in danger of sliding into severe poverty."

Alas there are gullible and uninformed individuals who actually believe much of the rhetoric and polemic spouted by Maynard and others within the ConDem administration and the main-stream media (MSM). One such chap stated about the MP's comments:

"What he says is right, what do these "customers" spend the benefits they get on? Yes there are essential fuel costs but it's sometimes a lifestyle choice, ie have takeaway/supermarket prepacked meals v the cheaper make it yourself meals."(sic)

I felt obliged to stand up for folk…

"In response to James Wales (8.32): many disabled & elderly have to buy pre-packed meals; some due to physical inability to cook (arthritis/pain/spasms/shakes/weakness/etc.); some because they only get 15mins from social care to prepare & cook a meal as well as any other assistance that is required."

I am part of the WoW campaign which is trying to raise awareness of the difficulties, stress and unfortunately tragedies that have been and will continue to be caused by the so-called 'welfare reforms'. If the reader would like to help, please add your signature to the WoWpetition.

Oh, and by the by, this IS the Member of Parliament who described we disabled campaigners as "extremists" putting us on a par with terrorists. Though he did later apologise and attempt to retract the statement.

Billions removed from local economies - due to Government folly

The UK ConDem coalition government in its economic stupidity and arrogance is part-way through slashing social security payments to those in need - the vast majority of the British population benefits from such payments, now euphemistically termed 'welfare' by the spinning propagandists amongst the neo-liberal élite.

For those unfamiliar with UK taxation: inter alia, all employees, self-employed and carers pay (or have paid on their behalf in the case of the latter) national insurance contributions. These monies are supposed to be used to fund social security payments: for those who find themselves in straitened circumstances (the unemployed, the underemployed & the working-poor); for those with disabilities (to help towards the extra costs they face residing in a disablist society); for those with illnesses which mean they cannot work; for the terminally ill; for parents to help raise children. It is a type of insurance scheme. As such, not everyone will need to claim; but most do at some point in their lives, even if for example only child benefit.

The ConDems have cut billions of pounds from benefits whilst they have in practice turned a blind-eye to tax avoidance & evasion by international conglomerates and wealthy individuals. In April they gave millionaires a whopping tax-break whilst at the same time cutting benefits to tens of thousands causing misery through penury, hunger (hence the concomitant rise in the use of food-banks) and increased homelessness. The ConDems in their rhetoric call this "fairness" to taxpayers. However, every adult is a taxpayer, paying a least one of the innumerable taxes in the UK: from income tax, duties, television licence fees to VAT and car tax.

[Image description: Cameron transmogrified into a Ferengi]

A week ago I reported that the BBC chose to ignore the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion's (CESI) report commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents all English and Welsh local authorities whatever their respective political colours.

I have taken details from pages twenty and twenty-one of the report and list below the effects in roughly ten percent of these local authorities. The reader will note that local economies are losing millions of pounds. The knock-on effect is that local businesses have less custom and end up closing. This results in even more money lost to local authorities, not taken into account in the figures listed, due to loss of business rates and so forth. Furthermore, the Exchequer loses out on corporation taxes from once profitable companies. And so on. This is economic madness all done in the name of austerity, a policy adopted in the early part of the twentieth century and which led to the length of the Great Depression.

Everybody, including the middle classes, is losing out. Only the ultra-rich continue to prosper. And this is "fairness"…

The Stats

Woking Local Authority’s economy loses c. £14,400,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,735.30 to 8,287 claimant households.

Burnley Local Authority’s economy loses c. £29,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,736.49 to 16,874 claimant households.

Waltham Forest Local Authority’s economy loses c. £70,400,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,739.64 to 40,487 claimant households.

West Somerset Local Authority’s economy loses c. £8,000,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,757.22 to 4,526 claimant households.

Hounslow Local Authority’s economy loses c. £57,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,758.32 to 32,597 claimant households.

Islington Local Authority’s economy loses c. £55,900,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,761.23 to 31,735 claimant households.

Tower Hamlets Local Authority’s economy loses c. £71,600,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,761.64 to 40,621 claimant households.

Luton Local Authority’s economy loses c. £55,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,770.39 to 31,448 claimant households.

Rossendale Local Authority’s economy loses c. £19,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,771.81 to 10,892 claimant households.

Blackpool Local Authority’s economy loses c. £57,600,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,778.63 to 32,365 claimant households.

Oldham Local Authority’s economy loses c. £72,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,788.95 to 40,652 claimant households.

Croydon Local Authority’s economy loses c. £91,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,792.01 to 51,171 claimant households.

Hyndburn Local Authority’s economy loses c. £27,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,819.52 to 15,222 claimant households.

Blackburn with Darwen Local Authority’s economy loses c. £53,500,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,826.31 to 29,276 claimant households.

Brighton & Hove Local Authority’s economy loses c. £67,000,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,830.55 to 36,591 claimant households.

Hammersmith & Fulham Local Authority’s economy loses c. £38,800,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,832.17 to 21,204 claimant households.

Pendle Local Authority’s economy loses c. £28,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,835.59 to 15,406 claimant households.

Lewisham Local Authority’s economy loses c. £81,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,835.65 to 44,511 claimant households.

Newham Local Authority’s economy loses c. £98,500,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,869.03 to 52,682 claimant households.

Slough Unitary Authority’s economy loses c. £37,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,873.91 to 19,925 claimant households.

Kingston-upon-Thames Local Authority’s economy loses c. £25,100,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,874.66 to 13,400 claimant households.

Redbridge Local Authority’s economy loses c. £65,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £1,881.08 to 34,695 claimant households.

Haringey Local Authority’s economy loses c. £81,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,019.10 to 40,487 claimant households.

Enfield Local Authority’s economy loses c. £97,600,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,019.26 to 48,315 claimant households.

Harrow Local Authority’s economy loses c. £51,800,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,046.22 to 25,320 claimant households.

Ealing Local Authority’s economy loses c. £91,700,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,076.59 to 44,181 claimant households.

Barnet Local Authority’s economy loses c. £81,400,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,105.62 to 38,664 claimant households.

Hackney Local Authority’s economy loses c. £89,300,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,132.97 to 41,863 claimant households.

Camden Local Authority’s economy loses c. £58,600,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,194.93 to 26,677 claimant households.

Wandsworth Local Authority’s economy loses c. £66,200,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of 2,242.61 to 29,257 claimant households.

Brent Local Authority’s economy loses c. £124,000,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £2,774.80 to 44,688 claimant households.

Kensington & Chelsea Local Authority’s economy loses c. £57,000,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £4,068.80 to 14,048 claimant households.

Westminster Local Authority’s economy loses c. £129,200,000.00 due to an average loss from social security cuts of £5,161.14 to 25,038 claimant households.


WoWpetition

If the reader is a UK resident or a UK passport-holder resident outside the UK, you may wish to support the campaign against the War on Welfare, known as WOW. The link to the official petition and more information can be found at wowpetition.com .