A letter a day to number 10. No 1,492
Wednesday 13 July 2016.
Dear Mrs May,
I am afraid I do not have any words of welcome to offer you, there would be nothing laudable or useful in such words of insincerity from me. I prefer to leave them to politicians, for many of whom insincerity and downright hypocrisy is their stock in trade.
Before attaining the crown of leadership by default you campaigned under the banner of, ‘A country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few’. Given your voting record of supporting the bedroom tax, voting against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices , voting against higher benefits for long term sick and disabled people, voting to reduce council tax support, voting to reduce social security, to name but a few, your campaign banner does not inspire confidence.
As a member of the privileged elite, it is fair to ask you, what have the elites ever done for us that has not come through bitter and protracted struggle? History does not inspire confidence in attention grabbing banners and what has been a six year war against the poorest and most vulnerable people in Britain at the cost of thousands of lives.
At the very least we need an end to the atrocious sanctions regime and tick box Work Capability Assessments which are depriving people of the most basic means of survival.
Whilst George Osborne has consistently laid the responsibility for Britain’s recovery at the door of the poor, it was not the poor who broke the world’s economies, it was not the poor who made Britain one of the world’s most unequal countries and it was not the poor who raised Britain’s debt to £1.6 trillion. All that and more lies with the privileged elites.
It falls to you to negotiate Britain’s departure from the EU and even the Washington Post has picked up that you proposed using Europeans living in the UK as bargaining chips. It says much about you that you would even consider treating the lives of ordinary people in this way. Andy Burnham said in parliament this week, “My own kids would quite like their mom (from the Netherlands) to stay here forever if that is okay.” I hope you were listening, because people’s lives are not yours to play with.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36763208?SThisFB
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/10426/theresa_may/maidenhead/votes
https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk
Fear and Loathing in Great Britain 