Save Our Free Health Service

We have until the 16th May to petition the Government to drop their Health Bill and call for a re-think.

For clues as to where the Health Bill will lead us in its present form, watch this Panorama report on America's underclass. Most ended up on the streets due to healthcare costs.

Add your name to the Health Bill petition here:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22670



Please share this link as widely as possible:-
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22670

Here's to hoping you never get sick or lose your job...

It's hard to know what to write today.

Yesterday was a day of opportunity, a chance to put the odious Welfare Reform Bill a little bit to rights with 7 small amendments proposed by the House of Lords. Yes, each one reduced the amount of total savings projected in upfront terms - but long term the opportunities they provided disabled people, single parents and the unemployed in expensive areas would have saved a lot more. Instead, Financial Privilege has been used and abused to ignore the expert opinions provided by the House of Lords

Three concessions have been offered to the Welfare Reform Bill by the government as follows:

• Families affected by the £26,000 welfare cap will be given at least nine months "grace period" to adapt to the loss of benefits, by finding a job or moving house.

• A discretionary fund will be established for local authorities to use in "difficult cases" - such ensuring a family is not forced to move when a child is at a critical stage in its schooling.

• The lowest income single parents seeking support from the Child Support Agency will not be charged a fee (the current plan proposes a £50 fee for parents on out of work benefits)

@BendyGirl said the rest best, and we will leave it to her: The Death of Decency

#Frothers will keep running and campaigning - keep following for more updates on changes to Britain's Welfare State.

Welfare Reform Bill - The Last Stand

Here's where we are at the end of the House of Lords debates over the Welfare Reform Bill.

Amendment 1: Setting Lower Rate DLA for children at no less than 2/3rds the rate for Higher Rate claimants.

Amendment 12: Protecting housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have un-needed spare rooms

Amendment 36a: Protecting young disabled people's eligibility for contributory Employment Support Allowance (ESA)

Amendment 38: Raising to 24 months the proposed 12-month limit on claiming contributory ESA.

Amendment 38a: Exempting cancer patients from the contributory ESA limits

Amendment 59: Excluding child benefit from the £26,000 household benefit cap.

Amendment 62c: Dropping the proposal to charge single parents for using the Child Support Agency.

Tomorrow is the day that Ian Duncan Smith is threatening to push through the Welfare Reform Bill without the above amendments - fought hard for by charities, campaigners, the House of Lords and all of us - these amendments might help save homes and keep people with disabilities and children just that bit further away from poverty.

I think a lot of us would rather see the whole bill chucked out - even with the amendments there are going to be some very vulnerable people stuck in extremely tough situations, but if the amendments are all we can have let the House of Commons know they must take them.

What can we do now?

It's too late for letter writing, but it's a good moment to get on Twitter! You can see the list of Labour MPs on Twitter, Liberal Democrats on Twitter as well as Other parties on Twitter and if you're feeling optimistic (remember a few Conservative Lord's have rebelled already, particularly around the CSA changes) Conservatives on Twitter

You can use the hashtags #wrb #frothers and for disability news #spartacusreport