UN Vote for Palestinian State is symbolic but necessary.

Welcoming the decision by the UN General Assembly to give ‘non-member state’ status to Palestine within the UN Roger said “The overwhelming support for recognising a Palestinian state by the General Assembly is to be very much welcomed.  Although this vote will not change anything on the ground in the Middle East it is symbolic because when the UN took its historic decision to create the State of Israel it also proposed that a separate Palestinian state should be established.  This was originally rejected by the Palestinians and other Arab countries but the vote, in response to the call by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian authority, re-emphasises the desire of the world community including the Palestinian and Arab states to seek a permanent two-state solution.”

Roger on Lord Leveson

Speaking from Westminster prior to the much anticipated release of Lord Leveson’s  first report into the press,  Roger said: “I am not in favour of self regulation for the press and, indeed, for any other bodies of professionals because, in my experience, the only one that does a good job of ‘self regulation’ is the British Medical Association.

 

I believe that there does need to be independent regulation of the media but this can only have the required powers if it is backed by statutory laws and that is what I will be supporting.”

Roger Demands Urgent Investigation into Allegations of Unjustified Benefits Sanctions in Birmingham Jobcentres. 

Following a number of complaints from constituents, Birmingham MP, Roger Godsiff, has written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith MP, asking him to investigate, as a matter of urgency, the number of sanctions which are being handed out to benefits claimants at local Jobcentre Plus offices in Birmingham. 

Roger Godsiff said: “I am receiving an increasing number of complaints from constituents who have had benefits suspended for periods of up to 4 wks on the first occasion because Jobcentre Plus advisors believe that claimants have not been doing enough to find work even when they can show clear evidence of meeting the job search requirements. 

He continued: “Set against the background of rising unemployment, an increasing number of people being passed ‘fit for work’ by dubious and clearly flawed Atos assessments, cuts to housing benefits which have seen landlords automatically sending out eviction notices, the last thing claimants need is a ‘kangaroo court’ where their only lifeline of support is withdrawn. 

Again, the suspicion is that underlying all of this is that sanctions are being applied as an instrument in themselves to reduce benefits and I have asked to Secretary of State a number of questions including whether or not staff at Jobcentres have been given targets for applying sanctions and what recourse claimants have to overturn a decision if they feel that sanctions have been unjustly applied.  

Roger concluded: “Currently, there is growing lack of clarity on the delivery of new services and this includes Universal Jobmatch (UJM) which I understand is being rolled out to jobseekers attending the Kings Heath JobcentrePlus and will replace the notice boards on which vacancies are advertised.  Constituents are complaining that they are being ‘told’ to sign up for this new service but it is unclear whether or not to sign up is mandatory  and whether failure to sign will again incur sanctions.”

 
Birmingham job seeker, Cait Reilly, took the DWP to court after she was told by her local Job Centre in King's Heath , despite DWP rules to the contrary, that she would lose her benefits if she did not take a Poundland placement as part of the government’s Work Programme.

Roger welcomes Gaza ceasefire. 

Roger has welcomed the ceasefire negotiated by the Egyptian Government between the Hamas led Government in Gaza and Israel.  Said Roger “The carnage has left over 100 Palestinians and 5 Israelis dead and there have been no winners in this latest conflict.  It was obvious that the continuing blockade of Gaza by the Israeli Government was going to result in renewed conflict and I am pleased that the ceasefire agreement specifically refers to the need to end the blockade. “ 

He went on “The Palestinians living in Gaza want to be able to run their lives and businesses but this was never going to be possible while Israel strangled them through the brutality of the blockade from land and sea.  I very much hope that the blockade will be lifted which is what Western Governments, including the UK, have been calling for.”

Corporate Whinge

Starbucks – doing you a favour by not making any money out of UK!! 

Speaking from Westminster recently, Roger said: “The astonishingly pathetic assertion by Starbucks Finance Chief to MPs that ‘the company makes no profit in Britain’ must rank as the joke of the year. 

Despite having 31% of the British market he asserted that Starbucks had only once turned a profit in 15 years despite the company telling it American investors that it was ‘very satisfied with the way its British operation was working!’ 

So, lucky Starbucks coffee drinkers, just be thankful that when you pay for your next cup of coffee at Starbucks remember you are being subsidised by the company - and not taken for a ride!” 

Kraft – or just krafty? 

Commenting on the furore swilling around regarding the revelations that companies like Starbucks, Amazon, Google and Facebook have paid just £30 million in Corporation Tax in the UK on sales of £3.1 billion over the last four years Roger said recently: “ I wrote to Kraft, who took over Cadbury’s, to ask how much Corporation Tax they had paid.  As you can imagine they were extremely guarded over their figures and said that they paid Corporation Tax ‘based on the laws of the countries in which we operate including the UK’. 

They also said ‘like most global businesses we pay most of our Corporation Tax in the countries where we have headquarters’.  Kraft is not headquartered in the UK and, neither for that matter, was Cadbury’s who were headquartered in Switzerland and operated through numerous different companies based in all parts of the world.

 

Of course Kraft trumpet that they employ 5,500 people in the UK and allegedly contribute £272 million to the local economy in Birmingham but the fact remains that Kraft pays far less in Corporation Tax on the profits it makes in the UK and the number of people it employs in this country is less than Cadburys employed – so what has been the benefit to Birmingham and the United Kingdom economy of the acquisition of Cadburys by Kraft.”

“You can judge a society by the way it treats its prisoners"

Roger calls for a: “little less judgement and a bit more humanity” in the cases of extradited Britains, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan. 

 

Roger has written to Foreign Secretary, William Hague, concerning the conditions under which Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan are being detained in advance of their trial in October 2013. 

Roger said: “I have heard from constituents that these two British citizens are being held in extremely harsh conditions – solitary confinement - with no communication allowed with their families. Letters have been sent by family members but have not been passed onto the two men. Mr Ahsan has been clinically diagnosed as suffering from Asperger’s and assessed as being at risk of committing suicide. 

He continued: “Personally, I can see no reason why at the very least Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan should not be allowed contact and communication with their families. I have asked William Hague to ascertain what conditions they are being held under and if they have been offered consular services which is the basic right of any British citizen.

 

With the soaring rhetoric of President Obama’s acceptance speech not yet a distant echo and the resonance of a nation born in freedom and tolerance still fresh, I am reminded what one of the world’s most notorious prisoners said: “…. no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”― Nelson Mandela

Roger calls for suspension of Atos assessments. “It’s just a benefits grab that destroy’s lives” he says.

Roger has added his voice to those calling for a suspension of Atos assessments following the death of Brian McArdle who died from a heart attack the day after his benefits were stopped.  

Mr McArdle who, having suffered a blood clot on his brain, was left paralysed on one side, unable to speak properly and blind in one eye and yet was summoned to an Atos work capacity assessment, before which he suffered a further stroke and was eventually informed he was to lose his disability benefits. 

Speaking from Westminster Roger said: “This wasn’t an accident waiting to happen, it was inevitable. I have never had any faith in the objectivity of the Atos medical procedure, it’s just a benefits grab.” 

Mr McArdle’s  13 year old son Kieran wrote to Atos to tell the company that their assessments `are killing genuine people like my dad’. 

Roger has signed Early Day Motion 687 and has joined other campaigners calling for 3rd December to be a day of remembrance for all Atos victims. 

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/687 

·        More than 40 doctors and nurses working for Atos have been reported to medical regulators for professional misconduct.

·       One in five recommendations to find someone fully “fit for work” made by Atos is inaccurate according to new DWP statistics.

·       Employment and support allowance (ESA) appeals were up by 40% on the same quarter of last year, according to new Ministry of Justice statistics. 

Source: Disability Rights UK Updates Oct 2012

How to appeal the decision of an Atos medical in Birmingham:-

http://bit.ly/RdsEqy

To complain about the way your Atos medical was conducted:-  

Write to or email: 

 Atos Healthcare, Customer Relations, Wing G, Government Buildings, Lawnswood, Leeds LS16 5PU or email customer-relations@atoshealthcare.com quoting your name, NI number and date of your medical examination.