Cameron, his “Difficult Decisions”, Welfare and GE2015

On the Marr show of 19/4/2015, David Cameron was questioned about making welfare cuts. When faced with specific examples of people dying due to benefit sanctions, he entirely skirted the main issue by citing how many people have come off benefits and gone into employment. (900,000)

He completely and purposefully misses the point that not all people can work, even with the best of intentions. Some of us are too sick/disabled.

The only conclusion that can logically be drawn from Cameron referring to those deaths as his “difficult decisions” is that ultimately he’s okay if some of the most vulnerable members of our population are killed by purposeful neglect because they cannot work. And that’s an extremely terrifying thing to contemplate.

As a disabled person who has paid into the system for many years and continues to do so as a worker and employer I feel like Cameron’s government views me as expendable. The government must understand that disabled people also contribute in many ways. And since Cameron seemingly is so obsessed with creating new jobs for the able bodied, he should recognise that since I require a carer (PA) I am the means in which that person is employed and their taxes and NI paid. I have provided employment to 7 people since my illness. For a few of the people I’ve employed I was their first job that paid taxes and NI, having previously worked on a cash only basis. Now isn’t that a good thing, that my physical loss can at least manifest into someone else’s legitimately contracted employment?

I also continue to work as I can and contribute to charities with my time, abilities and money. I am not a benefit scrounger. Cameron may be media savvy enough to not use that term, but his policies and actions show his true attitude regarding those whose bodies rebel, making most of the workforce inaccessible to them. No one is immune from a physical crisis. Cameron is showing by his policies that he is dangerous as both a leader and a person wielding influence in society. The sick and disabled are not the enemy, we did not cause the recession, and penalising us is not the cure for it. “Austerity” has become code for Greed on one end of the scale and deathly poverty on the other.

Anxiously awaiting the results of GE2015. How many more will die under another Conservative government? How much more damage to the infrastructure of the UK can we take? Praying the Tories will be shown the door.

Best wishes to all and thanks for reading,

Erin