People Will Starve If You Cut Their Benefits - A Hate Letter To The Labour Government

Red or blue, the message remains the same.

Dear Red Tories,

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. At first, when you won the last general election by a considerable landslide people celebrated. I felt slightly guilty then for the sense of foreboding this change brought, and put it down to general anxiety. Always trust your gut, readers.

First, you came for the pensioners' winter heating allowance. How dare wee Ethel down the road not want to choose between freezing or starving to death? It's for the greater good, plugging the gap in public finances! Surely a few dead pensioners won't matter. Aging population, amirite?

There was a backlash at this, as there should be, but alas you kept on trucking. I kept a watchful eye on you as you started to bluster about the welfare bill and continue to talk about inhuman cuts to PIP. Something I've written about previously, you nicked it off the Tories. Talk about copying homework.

Cut to today, the reason I am angrily typing away at my laptop fuelled by despair and rage instead of going the fuck to sleep. Listen to your Auntie Indi here kids, don't check the news before bed. The cuts you are suggesting are disgusting. The welfare budget is "Letting down taxpayers" you know, so we have to do something! Why shouldn't you target benefits? After all, Liz Kendall is on record as saying "There are people who shouldn't be on benefits who are taking the mickey".

The cuts being suggested are just to the disability and long term sick component of Universal Credit and PIP. Right now, people who fall into a support category receive an extra £416 on top of the basic amount. Imagine taking that out of your pay packet every month. Cuts to this amount are under the guise of "supporting sick and disabled people back into work" by making it impossible to live without doing so. Not only that, but the amount of PIP claimants receive may be frozen, not rising with inflation. ITV has a list of the changes expected here.

So many charities and foundations have said this is a bad idea, likely to do more harm than good. Even your own backbenchers are "uneasy". Have you listened, Red Tories? No you haven't, because that would mean you'd have to gasp ask people who can easily afford to pay more tax to do so! And you can't upset your wealthy donors, now can you. Where would you get your suits from? Your own exorbitant salary and expenses packages? Heaven forfend!

It's all a bit much. I didn't choose this life for myself. I had dreams. I had ambitions. I am intelligent and creative and I wanted so, so much more than this. A life. A career. To feel like I could make a difference. Alas, on all attempts it lead to me getting so stressed out I would have a mental breakdown.

If you force me back into the work place by cutting my benefits it will happen again. I won't be able to step back into the relative safety of state benefits this time. I guarantee I'm not alone either. The ball is in your court, Red Tories. Will you show the meagrest bit of compassion for those who need you most or will you damn us further? I'm pretty sure I know the answer but hope springs eternal.

We're people, not numbers on a budget report. You say people are your first concern, perhaps you should start acting like it. You won't though. It's inconvenient.

No love, only rage,

Indi