Shame on MPs who stayed silent on the Bedroom Tax yesterday and other thoughts

As some of you already know, a motion by Labour to defeat the pernicious and cruel 'Bedroom Tax' failed yesterday by just 26 votes-the current Con-Dem coalition has a majority of 58. 

 What is shameful is that most Liberal Democrat MPs (only two, Andrew George and Tim Farron voted for this motion) , even from constituencies where the bedroom tax would have the worst impact (e.g. Brent Central, held by Sarah Teather) voted against the motion (and thus for the bedroom tax) despite harrowing stories of bedroom tax victims, and also 47 Labour MPs who could have helped the motion pass did not show up.

 The list of Labour MPs absent on the day includes notably Diane Abbott, Paul Flynn, Ed Balls, David Lammy, Chris Bryant, and Chuka Umuna, who are not only prominent in the Labour Party but also represent constituencies known to have above-average or relatively high levels of unemployment and poverty.

My friends in the Green Party,including Caroline Lucas, are proud to stand against this vicious tax and attack on the most vulnerable people in our society.

In other news, the Conservative Party has been deleting speeches from its website that were published before 2010. The reason why they have been doing that? To in particular hide the false promises they made to the public (especially regarding the NHS, schools,and our society) before the 2010 general election.

One more thing-good luck to Green Party local election candidates Alistair Grey, Sandra Hale, and Andrew Colclough in tomorrow's local by-elections in Allerdale, Bournemouth, and Stoke on Trent.

Alan.




 

Comments

  1. Varinder Singh15 November 2013 at 23:29

    Sometimes I think people don't fully understand how parliament functions. I've read so many similar statements this week to this one: 'also, 47 Labour MPs who could have helped the motion pass did not show up'.

    Such statements are not only unfair on hard working MPs who might be abroad on Parliamentary business but misleading. They suggest that had the MP been there they would have over turned the coalition governments intentions. They can't. That's the limitations of being in opposition - you're always outnumbered.

    Parliament runs on a pairing system (at this stage I'd advise those who do not understand this to do some independent google searching).

    I am sure that had the listed Labour MPs been in the Commons they would have supported the motion. However, if a Labour MP had been there so would the paired Tory MP. Therefore the vote would have been cancelled out.

    The public needs to understand that the absense of the paired MPs would have made no difference to the result.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alan B15 November 2013 at 23:38

    The pairing system needs to be abolished given that is unnecessary and burdensome...why has it not been abolished given that the share of votes given to Labour and Conservative is declining significantly and has been for some time?

    ReplyDelete

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