As the UK breaks up for Easter weekend most people are quietly ignorant, by circumstance or choice, of the beginning of the end of the welfare state, which begins on Easter Monday.  Today we take a look at what will be happening, how people will be hit, and what we can all do to bring it to a full stop.

The New Poll Tax

As of April, anyone currently claiming Council Tax benefit will see a rise in their annual council tax bill of up to £600 a year.  The stated purpose of the cut is to reduce the current Council Tax Benefit bill by 10% and is in no way based on the reality of the need for financial support of the groups who currently rely on it.

Council Tax Benefit currently supports 5.9 million UK households, 3.2 million contain working people.  It is payable to pensioners, the disabled…

This letter has been sent from us to all Birmingham Labour Councillors;

“Dear Labour Councillor,

We are writing to you asking you to take action to defend your residents and tenants from the Bedroom Tax.

There are solutions. It would be easy for Birmingham city council to pledge not to enforce the tax. Dundee (SNP) & Brighton & Hove (Green) councils have already announced that they will not be evicting tenants who do not pay the tax.

Chair of Brighton & Hove Green Party, Rob Shepherd, said: “This government is willing to see people thrown out onto the streets purely because they can’t pay their bedroom tax. They can be sentenced to homelessness simply for trying to maintain a normal, liveable family home. The Conservative and LibDem coalition government should be ashamed of itself, and as Greens we will have no part of it”.

We congratulate these councils on their…

The updated version for our estate work can be viewed here.

This is well worth a read: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2298146/I-refuse-surrender-Marxist-teachers-hell-bent-destroying-schools-Education-Secretary-berates-new-enemies-promise-opposing-plans.html 

Yes it’s written in the name of Michael Gove. Yes it’s in the Mail. Not sure which day. Just read it.

Then when you’ve read it, read it again, calmly and carefully.

When you have stopped laughing ask yourself this question: how can this be written by someone who holds a position  in the government of this country?

It really is incredible.

The two largest teacher unions, NUT and NASUWT, representing 9 out of 10 teachers, are today announcing the next phase of their jointly coordinated campaign to Protect Teachers and Defend Education.

Following the refusal of the Secretary of State to genuinely engage with the NASUWT and NUT to seek to resolve our trade disputes with him, plans are in place for the next stage of industrial action which will include:

• continuation of the current action short of strike action instructions;
• national rallies across England and Wales in April and May;
• escalation of the national action short of strike action;
• a rolling programme of national strikes commencing with local authority areas in the North West of England on 27 June; and
• unless the Secretary of State responds positively to the unions’ demands, a rolling programme of strike action will continue into the Autumn term and will include a one day…

(satire – probably)

In a tough speech on immigration, the prime minister David Cameron has pledged to clamp down on eastern European weather conditions coming to the UK, saying under the previous Labour administration Britain had become a ‘soft touch’ for cold weather.

Mr Cameron firmly placed the blame for the unseasonal snow and bitter spring conditions now being experienced across Britain on Labour’s failure to control immigration of freezing weather especially from colder places like Poland and the Baltic states. 

The prime minister said that from now on, continental atmospheric conditions will have to prove they have a “reasonable prospect” of being typically British grey and drizzly but no colder than “a bit nippy” if they would like to settle in the UK for more than six months.

Labour warned against overblown rhetoric and said there were already rules in place to deal with…

(not satire – it’s the Sally Army!)

The Salvation Army has been heavily criticised for using unemployed people who have been forced – under the threat of having their benefits taken away from them – to work against their will for them for free as part of the government’s Workfare scheme.

And what is the Salvation Army’s defence?

Workfare doesn’t exist.

Here’s a screenshot from their Facebook page:

Well – pretending workfare doesn’t exist is one way to avoid people criticising your use of it I suppose.

Whatever next?

Government ministers claiming poverty and homelessness don’t exist?

Oh …… hang on a minute……

.

Here’s a petition demanding the Salvation Army withdraws from the workfare scheme:

The Salvation Army of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland: Withdraw from the government “workfare” style scheme

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