Pat's Petition

I'm expecting that most people will have seen this already but to be on the safe side I wanted to share this here.

The government have an e-petition website. If any petition receives over one hundred thousand signatures then it will be eligible for a debate in the House of Commons.

Pat Onions is blind and is also a carer for her husband David. On top of that she finds time to campaign on issues that affect carers and disabled people. One of the things she's done is to launch Pat's Petition which calls for the Welfare Reform Bill to be paused and properly reconsidered.

From the petition:
The government were embarking on wholesale reform of the benefit system when the economic crisis struck. These welfare reforms had not been piloted and the plan was to monitor and assess the impact of the new untried approach as it was introduced in a buoyant economy. Unfortunately since then the economy has gone in to crisis and the government has simultaneously embarked on a massive programme of cuts. This has created a perfect storm and left disabled people/those with ill health, and their carers reeling, confused and afraid. We ask the government to stop this massive programme of piecemeal change until they can review the impact of all these changes, taken together, on disabled people and their carers. We ask the government to stand by its duty of care to disabled people and their carers. At the moment the covenant seems to be broken and they do not feel safe. Illness or disability could affect any one of us at any time, while many more of us are potential carers.

As I write this the petition has a little less than 18,800 signatures. The needed 100K is a way away and it might seem to be impossible. But it's very doable. Recent events have shown just how much we can achieve with each of us doing as little or as much as we can and by remaining united.

So I'm asking everyone who reads this to sign the petition and to do whatever else they feel able to share it with others.