Hypocrisy by Tory MP over Mental Health

I discovered that hypocrisy had reached new levels when I read Richmond MP Rishi Sunak's piece on mental health in the Darlington & Stockton Times (26/7/19).

Mr Sunak wrote about the importance of prevention in mental health. This from an MP whose party has overseen a rise in mental health problems as a direct result of the policies they have introduced. Since the introduction of Universal Credit, claimants' suicides have doubled and claimant sanctions have rocketed.

More than one million welfare benefit sanctions have been imposed against disabled people since 2010. Over 32,000 claimants have been issued with sanctions longer than six months since 2012. Two-thirds of these were on the government’s hated Universal Credit (UC).

The Scottish Association for Mental Health in their report “It Was A Confusion” finds that Universal Credit is not working for people with mental health problems. they find that:

"Far from simplifying the UK’s social security system the introduction of Universal Credit has added to the complexities faced by people with mental health problems. This is causing hardship and emotional distress to people attempting to engage with the system. We found problems across the Universal Credit journey, from applying for the benefit to being assessed, the conditionality regime and managing a claim. Below are some of our main findings."

At the same time 57% of Clinical Commissioning Groups planned to reduce their spending on mental health services, despite Government claims to the contrary.

This Conservative Government, of whom Mr Sunak is now a prominent member, is forcing more and more people into poverty and depression. The Trussell Trust alone gave out 1.6 million food parcels in 2018-19, a rise of 19% in just one year.

Clearly, Mr Sunak has taken economy with the Truth to shameless new heights!

Sources:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/15/welf-m15.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/13/sanc-m13.html
https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/universal-credit-and-mental-health/65632/
https://fullfact.org/health/spending-mental-health-services/
https://universalcreditsuffer.com/2019/04/25/trussell-trust-foodbank-use-up-19-in-2018-19/

Leslie Rowe Independent Brexit Candidate for Catterick & Brompton on Swale Ward

I have decided to stand as an independent candidate for the district council elections. For many years Catterick & Brompton on Swale were represented by independent councillors. Then the Conservative election machine took over and Tory councillors were elected. Since then this area has seen a marked decline in services. Children's playgrounds and bus shelters left to rot are a clear visible sign, but the Conservatives have overseen a decline in health and social services, public trainsport, social housing and increased homelessness. The operation of a food bank in an affluent area like Richmondshire is a clear sign of the damage caused by Conservative Government at all levels, nationally and locally.

The betrayal by a Conservative Prime Minister of the Brexit referendum result in 2016 sums it up. YOU CAN NEVER TRUST A TORY!

I will continue to fight for democracy, to fight for our right to make our own decision, particularly on economic policy. The right for a local council to source its supplies locally, to support local people in terms of improving social housing, improving local services, improving the poor recycling rate of Richmondshire district Council and reducing the use of plastics (including the plastic cups used at Council offices!), supporting local businesses and fighting to get local schools out of the clutches of avaricious academy chains and back under local control.

It is time to change. For a new type of politics based on representation of the people, not representation of vested interests and the establishment.

Break the chains! Vote Leslie Rowe on May 2nd!

If you want to contact me, write to the address below or send an email to lesliearowe@yahoo.co.uk
Published & Promoted by Leslie Rowe, West End, Richmond Road, Brompton on Swale, Richmond DL10 7HF

Green Candidate at last election calls on MP to resign

In this blog, I am not mincing my words. I call on the sitting Richmond MP, Rushi Sunak, to resign for misleading the voters in the Richmond Constituency over fracking under National Parks.

As the Green Party candidate for Richmond (Yorks) at the last general election, I was in an excellent position to hear the promises made by Mr Sunak.

At several public meetings during the election campaign, as well as in his manifesto, Mr Sunak assured people that a Tory Government would not be fracking under our National Parks. However, Mr Sunak has just voted in the House of Commons to do just that.

The vote on the Government’s Draft Onshore Hydraulic Fracturing (Protected Areas) Regulations 2015 will see fracking allowed beneath National Parks, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Groundwater Protection Zones, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and World Heritage sites. This could expose many of the UK’s most fragile and treasured landscapes to noise, air and light pollution, resulting from fracking rigs being situated around the edges of protected areas, in order to drill down and then horizontally across to access the shale gas reserves beneath.

The Government had previously committed to an ‘outright ban’ on fracking in National Parks, AONBs and SSSIs. However, the latest regulations attempt to sidestep this by allowing underground drilling in the fissures deep below protected areas. This could lead to thousands of lorry movements to transport equipment and fluids, noise from compressors, and 24 hour floodlighting around the perimeters of these areas – causing pollution to spill over into Britain’s most precious countryside.

SSSIs are conservation areas for wildlife and rare plants. There are around 4,000 in the UK, protecting 8% of land. There are 15 National Parks in England, Scotland and Wales, covering 22,658 square kilometres: more than a tenth of the area of Great Britain.

Greenpeace estimates that 300 square kilometres of the North York Moors could become open to fracking after government consultation, as well as areas near Stokesley in the Richmond constituency.

Mr Sunak and the Conservatives deliberately misled the electorate about their intentions over fracking. Also, the vote this week goes directly counter to the Paris Agreement last week on climate change. To meet those agreed targets it is essential that no fracking takes place, as the Government have also abandoned their proposals for carbon capture.

Any jobs created by fracking will be in the tens, not the thousands boasted by Mr Sunak and will be more than outweighed by those lost to the tourist trade.

Mr Sunak and the Conservatives are cynically putting our environment at risk in pursuit of corporate profit and Mr Sunak should resign for misleading voters in the Richmond constituency.


Sources: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/shale-developments-to-be-banned-in-all-uk-national-parks

http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/08/18/dozens-of-sites-of-special-scientific-interest-in-blocks-offered-for-fracking/















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