Over the last weekend I had a busy and varied constituency
advice surgery in Newquay, where it was good to discuss a varied range of
issues with constituents who came to see me.
In the afternoon on Saturday, I also organised and ran a
community litter pick in St Austell, where a great group of people came
together, braving the snow and collected a mountain of rubbish from the Gover
area. This was part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean, and I
hope to organise similar events in Mid-Cornwall in the future.
One thing that was prominent last week was the spreading of
incorrect facts for political means by the Labour Party, regarding the vote on
Universal Credit that took place.
Unscrupulous Labour politicians chose to put
out messages that were simply incorrect, which were then picked up and spread
as fact on social media. Another example of what is commonly known as ‘fake
news’. These lies, which said that 1,000,000 children would lose entitlement to
free school meals, are simply wrong.
The changes to the entitlement to free
school meals that were voted on in Parliament were necessary to bring the
system up to date and accommodate the switch to Universal Credit.
Once these
changes come into effect from 1st April:
All
children in reception, year 1 and year 2 will continue to get free school
meals, thanks to this Government.
No
existing recipients of free school meals will lose them. Every children
who current receives free school meals will continue to qualify.
As
these changes come in 50,000 extra children will get free school meals than
under the previous system.
Instead
of basing the eligibility on the number of hours adults in a household are
working, the government is introducing a means test so that if you are
receiving Universal Credit and you're earning less than £7,400 from work, your
children will be entitled to school meals if they're in Year 3 or above. As I
stated previously, children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will continue to be
entitled to free school meals regardless of their parent's income.
Whilst
the figure of £7,400 may sound low, once income-related benefits are taken into
account these households would have a total annual income of between £18,000 and
£24,000 depending on their exact circumstances. It is also important to note
that under the previous system, the threshold for eligibility was £6,240 and
therefore families will be better off under Universal Credit.
After
these changes there will still be families with household incomes of £24,000
that will qualify for free school meals.
Last
week’s vote in reality was about using
taxpayers’ money most wisely, focussing it on the families and children who
need the most help, and those seeking to gain political capital by scaring
people into believing they will no longer be entitled to something because of
it should be ashamed of themselves.
Another
thing that this issue highlighted and brought out in droves, were keyboard
warriors, who seized upon the opportunity to attack MPs who voted for the
changes, with foul and abusive personal attacks on social media.
In
an age where the leader of the opposition advocates ‘kinder, gentler politics’,
it is a shame that many of those who purport to support him seem to think that
this kind of behaviour is acceptable. It sadly seems to be the norm now,
particularly on social media, that if people, particularly those identifying
themselves as supporting the Labour Party, do not agree with someone’s
political views, they see it as perfectly fine to launch into these sort of
attacks. I have always thought that if people resort to this sort of vitriol,
particularly without bothering to check the facts first, then they have lost
the real argument.
After
several years now in politics I have come to accept that this sort of thing
goes on. I am very grateful to those locally who have been in touch expressing
their support for me and disgust at the things they have seen posted. However,
please be assured these type of attacks really have no effect. I will continue
to do all I can to represent everyone who lives in our constituency, regardless
of your political views.
