Thanks to Kay Smith from Unite the Isle of Wight group for this report from their recent meeting with Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner. Ed
On Thursday 3rd September the steering group from Unite the Isle of Wight met with Andrew Turner MP to discuss the harsh impact Conservative government austerity measures are having on the Isle of Wight.
Fairly represented?
The group wanted to ensure that the 75% of Islanders who did not vote for him were being fairly represented and that issues brought to them by members of the public at their previous two rallies, through concerned correspondence and on the group Facebook page, were being adequately addressed.
On the agenda for the Island were the pressing issues of childhood poverty, foodbanks, welfare benefits, Spare Room Subsidy (bedroom tax), social housing and the cuts made by central government on the Isle of Wight council.
Kay Smith and Geoff Lumley, spokespeople for the group said,
“There are so many urgent issues that we needed to discuss, but we had to prioritise the discussion.
“Andrew was very generous giving us an hour of his time and although we knew we were not likely to agree on these issues, it was important that real life stories of his constituents had a chance to be heard.
“It is just terrible to hear so many of these stories, caused by Conservative austerity policy, on so many hardworking and decent people. Not to mention the devastating cuts in public services that the whole Osland relies on.
“Unite the Isle of Wight are driven by the compassion to change that.”
Where we disagreed
The group disagreed with Mr Turner on a number of his statements, these included:
“It’s better for the voluntary sector to provide relief than the government – for example with foodbanks.”
“Disabled people who are able to work, but who may need appropriate jobs, should consider moving to the mainland to work.”
“The government should not be the source of support when people find themselves in financial hardship through lack of work.”
and
“People are better off than ever before.”
Questions over bedroom tax to be tabled
However the group were keen to point out that there were some areas of agreement.
“Andrew has said that he would consider the impact of the Spare Room Subsidy in relation to the shortage of one bedroomed properties available on the Isle of Wight – making the policy unworkable for many and he did agree to think about the impact of Housing Benefit on the cost of private sector rent.
“He is going to table some parliamentary questions for us to get further information. We welcome this response as these are some of the fundamental issues that concern us about current government policy and we look forward to meeting with him again very soon to find out the results.”
The question tabled by the MP on 7th September was,
“Department for Work and Pensions
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the supply of one-bedroom properties for people affected by the under-occupancy penalty (a) on the Isle of Wight and (b) nationwide.”
Future rallies
Unite the Isle of Wight will continue their campaign and will be holding another rally on 28th November to highlight the next round of cuts to be initiated by the Conservative government.
Details will follow soon and the group welcome you along to hear a broad range of speakers.
Find out more about the group by visiting their Facebook Page
Image: francis mckee under CC BY 2.0
