WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE THREAT POSED TO UK CITIZENS BY TERESA MAY'S TORY GOVERNMENT.

You have the power to change what you are about to read, in just a few short weeks. 

"we should be piling up the bodybags and tiny infant coffins outside number 10 Downing Street, and making our Prime Minister and Chancellor walk that gamut every day"  

The information is disturbing, it will shake you to the core.  Even if you have heard it before you may not have processed it fully.  As human beings we react to horror, to unnecessary deaths, with cognitive dissonance, because it is uncomfortable to hold two contradictory beliefs simultaneously.  Beliefs that the people in government are working in your best interests, and that the people in government are neglecting your fellow citizens to death are two such beliefs.  Because of this we try to explain evidence away, we try to reason where there is none, we try to find some explanation that will keep us feeling safe and stable.  It is too late for this, we are at too crucial a time to allow this natural defence to keep us from doing the right thing for our fellow citizens.

When the argument “we have to do this for the economy, we have to save money” goes through your mind, think about what we are saying, is money worth more than life?  Then consider the fact that Austerity is a choice not a necessity.  Not only is Austerity leading to the deaths below but it is also destabilising our economy even more.  Defunding and privatising our NHS is completely unnecessary and can only cause chaos for the population and increase the profits of the wealthy.  The next piece of information will leave you flabbergasted - the sanctions imposed that are leading to some of these unnecessary deaths and suicides cost us the tax payer 153 million more than we are saving per year.  Every single year, it costs more to harm these people than we will save.  Did you agree to this?  I know I didn't?  The Tories know this, they have been advised against it, they went against majority economic academic opinion to impose austerity in the first place. 

When you hear yourself saying “people who claim benefits are fraudsters, we need to be harder on them”, read the facts on benefit fraud and consider the official figures in this graph (Tax fraud here does not include Tax Evasion which is much higher):

Then consider this:

And ask yourself what the hell is going on?  All of these figures and statements are factual, they can all be supported with independent research.  Tax avoided, evaded and uncollected is a drastically far greater drain on our resources, and yet the Tory government promotes this, they continue to cut taxes for corporations and refuse to take action on Tax Havens. So why are we asking the most vulnerable to pay the price?  Benefits going unclaimed far exceed any fraud, so why is this the focus?

There were 30,000 excess deaths in 2015 (the largest increase since WWII) linked to Tory cuts in health and social care.  These were largely in the older population most dependent on health and social care, but more and more we are hearing about urgent and essential operations being cut for all sections of the population by an NHS at breaking point.  We are hearing of people being turned away and the Red Cross declared "a humanitarian crisis" in our NHS earlier this year.  Hospitals themselves are issuing black alert status, this means they are unable to guarantee life-saving emergency care.  None of us is safe from this breakdown of care, even personal fortune may not save you.

A major study State of Child Health 2017 has warned that child health in the UK is in jeopardy due to an alarming gap between the rich and poor.  Our children's health is falling behind many European countries and the report confirms a strong link between rising poverty and inequality in the UK and increasing poor health and mortality.  Despite these findings child poverty is at its highest level since 2010 and is predicted to increase by 50% by 2020 under the Tory government.

The Tory overhaul of disability benefits has been on a level of callous and cruel, I have not witnessed before.  People are being declared fit for work despite severe disability and even terminal illness.  We can't reason that this is in anyway justified, we can't say that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) are targeting people who are not "disabled enough", or people who are abusing the system, because thousands of people, 80 people per month, are dying after this declaration, many within weeks of the decision.  How fit and healthy can they have been do you think?  Ordinary people are being denied basic care, really, denied basic humanity, despite many having paid into the system all their working lives.  Ken Loach's recent film 'I Daniel Blake' recently highlighted many of these issues and is highly recommended. 

"The figures revealed that between December 2011 and February 2014, 50,580 recipients of ESA had died. Of this number, 2,380 – or 4.7% – had received a decision that they were fit for work. Many of these would have appealed the decision, a process that can take many months. Another 7,200 claimants had died after being awarded ESA and being placed in the separate work-related activity group – a category which identifies claimants who are unfit to work but may be able to return to work in the future."

Unsurprisingly, some of these deaths may have been suicides linked to welfare assessments.  The intense stress people are put under leave many to believe they have no other option. Calum's list details some of the most harrowing and heartbreaking accounts of people who's suicides have been linked to the Conservative Government's welfare reforms.  Despite this the private companies earning millions from the Government to run the disability assessments, have been regularly asking claimants "why haven't you killed yourself yet" type questions, that are clearly potentially harmful in this often dehumanising atmosphere.  The United Nations have severely criticised the Government for 'systematic violations" of the rights of the disabled. In an unusual move The British Psychological Society together with leading Counselling organisations, recently issued a statement opposing all welfare sanctions, not only because there is no evidence they work, but also to warn that their will be a mental health crisis if this continues. 

We are used to blanket denials from the Conservative Government, the Party line is to deny, deny, deny and avoid taking responsibility.  Thankfully the Professionals speaking out are the people we trust, including Doctors, Surgeons, Nurses, Psychologists, Counsellors, Psychotherapists.  The denials increasingly look as ludicrous as they are in the face of the evidence and these expert assessments.  Even one of the Tories arguably most biased reporters admits “This is the fourth Number 10 team that I’ve covered, and their (Conservative Government) attitude to all of this is very, very different - where they basically try not to respond to anything".

We are being lied to, we are being pushed to blame our fellow vulnerable citizens of which any of us could become, for the drain on our economy. Who is actually responsible:

"It was the f*****g banks" - Frankie Boyle

The Tories are telling us that we must pay with our health care as they defund the NHS, we must pay with our social security as they take essential money away from the disabled and stop the money of people who have no other means of survival.  We cannot expect benefits when we are ill or disabled even though we pay for this in national insurance contributions?  You will undoubtedly be shocked to hear that this National Insurance Fund, that we all pay into to secure our health care, welfare net if we can't work and pension, has a surplus, 2016 figures showed this to be £30 Billion.  Yes Billion.  We must pay with our job security as 0 hours contracts become the norm.  We must pay with our security of a roof over our heads, as rents far exceed our wages.  It doesn't end because the Tory Party seem unconcerned as our Country and our revered Health and Social Care crumbles.

Next time you hear Teresa May or any of her fellow Conservative Politicians repeating the Strong and Stable hypnotic mantra, remember what kind of society they consider Strong and Stable.  It includes neglecting Citizens to death and presiding over a failing economic model that sucks the vulnerable dry and open handedly provides welfare for the richest. If they are this cruel or deluded (it can only be one or ther other) now, what the hell can we expect if they secure a win again?  

#Vote Labour - because Jeremy Corbyn is currently the only Politician who understands how broken our society is.  He is also the only Leader who has the economic strategy and policies in place to fix it.  He's been fighting this kind of injustice all his life, we couldn't be in better hands.