My MP is David Cameron

These figures seem to differ from those you quoted for benefit fraud, this is official data from the social securities agency

• £5.1m – Income Support
• £1.8m – Jobseeker’s Allowance
• £1.1m – State Pension Credit
• £3.1m – Incapacity Benefit
• £1.3m – Carer’s Allowance
• £0.2m – Instrument of Payment (cheque) fraud

Our Mp is a blinding local MP but i fear for him this time round....that was the only drawback to Labour getting in in 97 is that we lost Rosie Barnes as our local Mp cos she was really good....

So less than 0.8 billion then? Surely that's good? And a dramatic decrease from 2001. Also good news.

No Labour, Conservative or Lib Dem supporter will ever say don't cut down on benefit fraud........ I think the only point people are trying to make in this thread is that you have to be careful not to penalise those in genuine need.

Surely this is something we can all agree on?

Fair enough Squiggle, there are loads of hits for the figure I quoted but your source is better.

It is estimated that in 2008, £12.6 million of public money was lost through benefit fraud. 

So my figure was vastly inflated...Ooops

Rosie Barnes - I'm glaf she was a good MP, but  can't hear her name without remembering this pic of her, and the most important night she forgot her Right Guard..

Exactly

It used to be said that ours was the 2nd safest Labour seat in the country, due to boundary changes in the other ours is set to be 1st.  On paper it already is with the outgoing MP regularly getting 70 odd % of the vote and even breaking 80%

It wants shaking up here a bit, it's all a bit jobs for the boys, the new guy was the old ones secretary...they are all like bitchy auld women tittle tattling.  It's sleazier than Westminster in our local Labour club.

And incidentally as someone who intends to vote Conservative at this election I am all for closing the loopholes that enable tax avoidance.  It is totally immoral to pay less tax because you can afford fancy lawyers.  But as well as cracking down on  benefit fraud and tax avoidance it is essential that jobs like the one I saw recently this guy working as an executive (non hands-on) in the immigration service was on 3 times the salary of the PM, whilst at the same time they are planning to get rid of those front line immigration officers who have authority to question suspected illegal immigrants and replace them with more junior staff who would not have that authority.  Madness.

Totally agree Bazille, wasn't condoning it at all.  Just the big boys like to blame the little people for everything when they want to be taking a look at their grubby pals first.

this is the post that alarmed me!

How exactly do they propose to accurately identify those that fit the layabout description, before cutting their benefits?    

Jobseekers allowance is already tightly monitored... they have to provide evidence of attending interviews... fortnightly interviews at the job centre...   if they don't show up, or don't have the right paper evidence that they have been attending interviews their jobseekers allowance isn't paid.

Its no longer a case of sign on.. get your cheque.

Madness

Ditty don't even get me started on the chaotic shambles that is that Pathways to work thing.
Crazy Government employed Dr:YOU, YES YOU LAYABOUT SCROUNGER YOU ARE FIT FOR WORK COZ YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD...SCUMBAG....oh what's that you have terminal cancer...whoops

 I watched a political programme tonight, which was looking at the *unspoken *cuts... and they played a clip from the debates, in which all THREE leaders talked about making people  work..... and GB was as as adamant as  both the others.... if not more so.

And so they should..... it makes logical sense doesn't it? It just worries me how they will go about it, and I'm afraid I trust the Conservatives least when it comes to fairness.

Notice I said Conservatives least and not Labour the most....a subtle difference that is very important.  

I don't see how....   if they could they already would

and they treat you like complete crap at the job centre... and I wasn't even entitled to any money, I was just getting the NI stamps

Good to see Teh Leccy back

Sazza   I have missed you woman!

they all mess it up in the end, but i dont wanna see my nan lose her free tv liecence, her winter allowance, and all the other help she gets, at 87 and living alone it would be very confusing for her to cope with so many changes to her monies. shes been a labour voter all her life, and she feels they have looked after her well the last few years. Me i dont know if i'll vote labour or the libs but i wont vote cons.

I have missed you too, I think about you every time I read HYS

  Me, you and Nelson SOOOOOOOOOOOOO need to put the world to rights Sazza

Justafriend, when Gordon was Chancellor my Nan used to call him "My lovely friend"

I know that will have the Tories here rolling their eyes, but he did make a massive difference to her life...for a few years she had spare cash for the first time EVER and she felt empowered.  She's in a Nursing Home now and not always fully with it, but for a few years there she oddly, had more freedom in her life than she ever had before...even though she could barely get out.

i know what youre saying leccy, my nan still walks to get her pension on a thursday, and if i see her that day shes always trying to give me a tenner bless her. She does live in the past and always talking about being brought up in the slums and some of the terrible jobs shes done in her life, i think shes felt rich for the first time ever the past few years, it just makes me smile and feel proud of her.

My Mam used to go to get her shopping and she always used to make my Mam get me a "treat"...sometimes it was a tin of Impulse body spray, sometimes some Dove body lotion, I've even had plug in air fresheners and Pears liquid hand-wash

Coz "she enjoyed treating me and couldn't when I was a kid"

thats what it is leccy, they enjoying being able to treat us, great ladies, thats what they are, who have lived through many general elections.

I have COPD which is a chronic lung problem and have just spent 2 weeks in hospital because a stomach bug went onto my chest and turned into pneumonia. I don't get anything other than incapacity benefit, I've tried tried to get disabilaty allowance to keep my car going because without it I'm housebound, but the fact that I can only walk 5 meters without getting out of breath does not seem to make any difference. My cooker blew up the other day and I can neither get it fixed or replace it, but there is no help either. This is under a Labour Government, so I have have no trust in the Tories.

bloody hell cologne!!

Awww Cologne Hope you feel better now How is your son getting on?

oh cologne hope you are getting better,

Even if they would replace your cooker it would come from Argos (which I know would be great and you'd appreciate it)...but if an MPs cooker broke it would be from John Lewis.

And hope you feel better soon.

Cologne... have you tried freecycle or somewhere like that... you could explain your circumstances & you might get someone prepared to deliver it for you

Thanks everybody for your lovely replies. It will take a few weeks to recover, but I don't mind that as long as I can keep using my car to do my shopping. My daughter helps with the bags and all the heavy stuff, but without the car, I would lose my independance completely, I'm only after the lowest amout, which would keep the car going and would entitle me for a blue badge. Everything is a blooming struggle.

Cologne so sorry to hear of your struggles.  I have been awarded the blue badge recently because of my difficulty in walking with arthritis.  I was surprised at the method and it may well be different where you are but let me tell you my experience.  I was given the number and rang it expecting to be sent a form to fill in but she said I will ask you some questions so I answered them all and she said yes you are entitled and sent me a form just to sign and send back with a photo.  I am 100% sure that, from what you have said, you would have no problems.

Regarding DLA my husband received this following his stroke and so I am familiar with the criteria and again from what you say you would fulfil the criteria for receiving DLA.  My advice would be to phone your local social services and ask them to send you an advisor to help you fill in the claim form.  A friend of mine did this recently after her elderly mother had been turned down for Attendance Allowance.  The lady, in this case, who came knows how to fill in the form and assess the claim.  The claim was successful and my friend even then qualified for Carers Allowance.  Good luck.

Just to follow on from Leccy.......Carers allowance for just £54 a week, for caring for someone full-time 24/7 is 'benefit fraud' IMO.

I was really sorry to read this Cologne, I hope you're feeling much better  I hope you can appeal for the mobility allowance too, and I share you fears about the Tories and incapacity benefit. I really hope some of the adivice by other forum members can help you with the mobility and cooker problems.
 
Camerons policies on the incapacity benefit terrify me, we know that people not capable of work are going to be moved into training programs and job seekers. That's a 25 pound a week cut in the basic incapacity benefit and we all know that people who genuinely can not work will be moved onto this.

My brother suffers from premature Alzheimer's and had to appeal to receive mobility allowance, he worked all is life and at the age of 53 was struck down with this dreadful disease. It makes my blood boil when I hear the word benefit scroungers and people are lumped together in a sweeping statement. He wouldn't know how to drive a car, get on public transport, let alone find an employer who would employ him. NOT all people on benefits are scroungers and LAYABOUTS!

In the last tory government sick notes were flung about like ticker tape to get people of the unemployment figures, fiddling the figures is where we are today.People scared stiff of having to lose out because of a previous tory rule trying to con the public about unemployment statistics. 

 . 
 

Cologne, I`m sorry to hear you`ve been ill  I received your e.mail but all I could read was your initial hello. My pooter virus is stopping me reading my e.mails atm.  It won`t allow me to reply either. I`ll pm you here.
Squiggle has given you some good advice re your DLA application. (well done squiggle) Another option is Welfare Rights..they help with completing the form. The DLA application is complicated, with it`s repeat (I believe "trick") questions. I`m sure you could handle it but you have enough to cope with. I advise getting help. If ( and I`m sure you will, considering your illness) you are given the award, then your blue badge will almost be automatic. They award from the day you pick up the phone and ask for the application form. Do it today cologne. You are given about a month to send it back (it gives the end date on the form)   Good luck, I`ll be in touch.  

Cologne  I sincerely believe that you are entitled to DLA. The forms are an absolute bugger, so Dame Ann is right, get someone to help you. May be if you contacted the medics from your recent hospital stay they can steer you the right way.

Scotty what I found is that the blue badge is not dependent upon receiving an award for disability so I think that cologne could go for that straight away.  My reason for going to the social services 'at home' service is they really know as they fill in the forms whether it is going to be successful or not.  It is not just someone who understands the form, this lady who came to my friend's house is top notch and as cologne also lives in Devon like me I have high hopes that a similar scenario could apply.

A non-sequitur if I may say so. Do you honestly think Cameron would have all the "official" support if that was going to happen?