Homelessness
At the end of 2018, there were 62,000 homeless families living in temporary accommodation in England alone. These families included 124,000 children1.There are 80% more children living in temporary accommodation than there were in 2010.
These figures do not include families or children who are "sofa-surfing" instead of relying on their Local Authority. The Children's Commissioner's Office estimates another 92,000 children are living in "sofa-surfing" families2.
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Policing
Police numbers have fallen by 20,600 between March 2010 and March 2019, representing a 14% drop in number of police officers. Taking into account a rising population, this is a cut of 19% in the number of police officers per head of population3.Knife crime (excluding Greater Manchester, who didn't submit figures in time) has increased from 30,620 reported incidents per year in March 2011 to 44,076 per year in March 2019, an increase of 44%4.
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Justice
Since 2010...162 magistrates’ courts have closed, out of 323,
90 county courts have closed, out of 240,
18 dedicated tribunal buildings have closed, out of 83,
17 family courts have closed, out of 185,
8 crown courts have closed, out of 92.5
Legal aid spending has been cut by 37% between 2010 and 2018, with the Ministry of Justice suffering more cuts than any other government department. Access to justice? What access to justice?6
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NHS
In 2005, a policy book entitled "Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party" was published, co-authored by (among others) Michael Gove, Daniel Hannan, Greg Clark, David Gauke, Jeremy Hunt and Kwasi Kwarteng. All Conservative MPs or MEPs, in case you hadn't spotted it. Among the many statements advocating moving from our current system of a National Health Service towards a private, insurance-based system, is this one:“Our ambition should be to break down the barriers between private and public provision, in effect denationalising the provision of health care in Britain.7"
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Food banks
In the last five years, food bank use in the Trussell Trust network has increased by 73%, so that in the past year alone, nearly 1.6 million three-day emergency food parcels were supplied to people in crisis.More than half a million of these parcels went to children8.
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Disability benefit
Approximately 1,600 working-age disabled people have died every year over the past five years within six months of having their claim for disability benefits rejected9.Remind me again why you're voting Conservative?
Education
Since the 2015/16 academic year, my son's school has seen a real terms funding cut of £200 per pupil.10Remind me again why you're voting Conservative?
You may think that this isn't you. Maybe you don't vote Conservative. Maybe you do vote Conservative, but you do so for their policies on other matters. But if you do vote Conservative this is you. This is what you've chosen. This is what you've endorsed. This is what you are happy to allow to happen in your name. This is a price you think is worth paying. These lives. These people. These children. And I do hold you responsible. Maybe you wanted lower taxation, or tighter immigration controls. Maybe you wanted less state intervention in business. Maybe you wanted looser banking regulations. Maybe you wanted a referendum on our membership of the EU. I don't know what you wanted, but this is what you got. This is what you chose for all of us. You own this. This is you.
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Hear hear!
ReplyDeleteHear hear!
ReplyDeleteI'm so angry it's become a default state, and it doesn't help anything, but... stopping being angry feels like giving up.