This blog aims to raise awareness about regulations and bills being passed through parliament that the scrutiny of the British public (with the use of social media) would make much more difficult if they inform their MPs of what is going on in real life.
Inspired
The last one was lazy conjecture but inspired this one. I deleted the last one.
Read further below to see what is happening in parliament while our backs are turned. It could well be effecting you or someone you know right now.
If you only think about politics when an election comes up, or not at all, you are wasting what dwindling democratic rights we still have in the UK.
Imagine the boat as the government and the whale as the British public before an election……
When things go wrong, it is worth informing your MP. This isn’t just to see what they can do for you. This is how we are best able to stop the government from turning the UK into an oppressive regime.
Fall
How far are you going to let this country fall?
For instance: (Click here for whole pdf)
‘In Reilly and Wilson v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Court of Appeal ruled on 12 February 2013 that 2011 Regulations underpinning some of the Government’s back to work schemes – including its flagship Work Programme – were unlawful and must be quashed.’
Convention
In a House of Commons Debate, Ian Lavery, Labour member for Wansbeck, says ‘that the regulations conflict with article 4(2) of the European convention on human rights, which provides, subject to exceptions, that…’
“no one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.”
House of Commons Debate on the 2013 bill.
It wasn’t the forced labour that the court found against DWP, but the insufficient way it communicated with claimants. The Court of Appeal have a very good point in raising that issue.
Insufficient
Sadly, the threat of a £130 million liability to pay back wrongfully sanctioned claimants isn’t enough to get civil servants to rethink their vague, insufficient, untimely and misleading communication style. (See Rants on Individual Electoral Register)(and on wasteful mailouts).
This is why it is important that we watch what they are doing and use what we see to inform our votes and to engage more in politics.
As mentioned, the government wants to avoid a liability of £130 million. Their response? To fast-track emergency legislation: Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) 2013 to quash the 2011 regulations, which stood at the time of the appeal to make DWP’s sanctions unlawful.
Restrospectively
There are 300,000 cases of people appealing through the courts about sanctions decisions, which the 2013 Bill will affect retrospectively. This is despite a Court of Appeal ruling that DWP failed to inform claimants properly at the time in question. Huh.
Here’s the debate in the House of Commons. Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab) and Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab) both raise specific points, while Ian Duncan Smith just brushes these aside with his own agenda. Of course!
Therefore what is your responsibility in all this? Speak up and don’t complain while the government rips the country down behind your back (with selfish agendas, much as people in Lehmann Brothers and AIG did before the 2008 crash).
Consider this quote by Marianne Williamson
“Our Greatest Fear”
Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.
And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
Dairy of A Nonny Moose 