Nathalie Bienfait, Green Party councillor for Bow West, says that the overwhelming majority of people in Tower Hamlets who voted in the last general election cast their vote for candidates they thought were committed to ending austerity and who would improve people’s lives.
Labour’s changes to the benefits system will hit local people hard. Already, 50% of our children live in poverty and families which include a disabled person will be hit hardest. Bangladeshi and minority ethnic communities will be most severely affected.
Voters in Bethnal Green and Stepney have been really let down by their MP Rushanara Ali. Not only is she a member of a government which is essentially supporting the genocide in Gaza, she supports the government’s moves to proscribe the action group Palestine Action. On welfare, she has removed evidence of her previous opposition to benefit cuts from her website. This is despite the fact that many other Labour MPs have spoken out against the further impoverishment of the very poorest people.
Nathalie said “It’s only right that vulnerable people are protected by our Government, and we’ve seen Labour and Rushanara Ali MP betray the trust placed in them at the General Election last year. I’m pleased that the bill has been watered down to protect disabled people, but I dread to think what this Labour Government will try next.”
The Greens say that we have an alternative. We call for:
- Withdrawing the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill
- Increasing all disability benefits by 5 per cent and Universal Credit and legacy benefits by £40 a week
- Working with Disabled people to co-produce a social security system that is fair, humane and accessible – and which joins up the support for Disabled people to help with additional costs.
Everyone who lives in Tower Hamlets sees daily evidence of the huge inequalities in our society and in our community. Labour seem determined to make them worse by targeting the poorest. The Greens are the only national party active locally which is committed to ending them.