Welfare Reform Bill Protest and Lobby in December

Just got this from Treelover, over on the Urban 75 boards:

The Coalition Against the Welfare Reform Bill

National Lobby of Parliament and Rally
London
4th December 2006
11am to 5pm

Bring your Voice
Bring Your Friends
Bring Your Questions
Bring Banners

Welfare Reform not Welfare Destruction!

Rally will be opposite the St Stephens Entrance to Parliament, from there we want groups and individuals to go and lobby their MPs, and challenge them about their position on the Welfare Reform Bill. Event starts at 11am (main speakers 1.00 pm) to give people a chance to come along as they have time, during their lunch etc.

Challenge the Bill…

After the vibrant lobby by the newly established Coalition at the Labour Party conference in Manchester, which heard speakers including Alex Kemp, national officer of the NUS Disabled Students’ Campaign and John McDonnell MP, CAWRB has arranged a Lobby of Parliament and a Rally outside it, to let the Government know that we oppose the current Welfare Reform Bill.

These reforms are the most significant in sixty years, in many ways redefining the relationship of the state to disabled people claiming benefits. If passed the bill will bring in a form of US-style workfare, it will see disabled people threatened with the loss of benefits and possibly forced into unsuitable work or medical treatments, a massive intervention by the state into an individuals personal health, on top of abolishing housing benefit in the private rented sector. In the present bill, even when someone is “unable to see, unable to hear, unable to stand, unable to dress, even incontinent of bowels four times a month,” they will not be exempt from the provisions of the Bill!

The Bill fails to address major issues such as incorrect medical assessments and discrimination by employers. CAWRB is also very concerned about the involvement of major charities and their potential conflicts of interest. Many disabled people are very concerned and very angry about these changes. We say that the disability benefits regime is almost unbearable now.

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Indymedia Sheffield Posting