Named and shamed Tories get hot under the collar

Op-ed: UK Home Secretary Theresa May is intent on pushing through the investigatory powers bill which will allow police to hack people’s computers and view their browsing history. The tightened measures are said to be necessary to fight cyber-crime, intercept terrorist threats and break up paedophile rings but could it also be about keeping an eye on we the people and holding us to account?

The Tory government has also been busy pushing through legislation that will hit the incomes of some of the most vulnerable people living in the UK. Slashing PIP, personal independent payments, and ESA, employment support allowance, says it all about the Conservatives.

Tory ministers claim that spending on benefits for people with disabilities is continuing to rise but tell that to those hard hit. Is budget spending increasing due to increased administration costs because it certainly is not because benefit payments are going up?

With stories of people considering suicide as a way out of the trap set by the Tories this bunch of politicians, many millionaires by birth rather than hard work, have no shame.

But it seems they do.

All stand by their vote to slash the benefits listed above and others but few seem to like the fact that campaigners are making sure they are named and shamed on social media.

If you frequent social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter you may have already seen memes of those who voted for the cuts. Each carries the MPs name and a little background detail as well as letting the world know the person voted for the cuts.

Some of the additional information on the memes highlights the MPS claimed huge expenses or have large private incomes illustrating how out of touch they are with citizens who will struggle financially just losing £30 a week from their income.

Hell boss of the DWP Iain Duncan Smith made headlines after in 2013 he said he could easily live on £53 a week but then in the same year spent £39 on one breakfast.

But the anger these insensitive cuts is causing is snowballing.

A series of Tory MPs who supported the cuts and are involved in charities for people with disabilities have been sacked.

Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, a man who has links to the Rothschild family, voted for the cuts in spite of being patron of a disability charity. Wednesday the Independent reported "Lucy Byrne, the charity’s chief executive, said the MP had been invited to its office “to explain” the decision" and Thursday he has been sacked.  He is no longer patron of his local charity Richmond AID.

---

But ahead of Goldsmith "Kit Malthouse, the MP for North West Hampshire, was forced to resign from his position as patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Society after its members said his voting position “prevented him from being an effective patron."

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the cut to people who use specially adapted equipment will affect 370,000 disabled people, who will each lose an average of £3,500 a year.

£3,500 a year is a huge amount of money when you are living on a restricted income and have special needs but even that is a drop in the ocean to many Tory MPs.

Long live the Freedom of Information act and websites such as They Work For You that enable the electorate to get a clear picture of their MP without any spin.