To: Stephen Crabb MP

Stephen Crabb. RESIGN as Mencap Patron Pembs immediately. Voted for disabled to lose £30 a week ESA.

Stephen Crabb, MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire and Secretary of State for Wales, we the undersigned demand that you resign your post as Patron of Pembrokeshire Mencap with immediate effect. Your recent vote in the House of Commons for disabled people to lose £30 per week of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) shows that you have absolutely no compassion or understanding for the needs of our most vulnerable and disabled members of society. You should hang your head in shame. As citizens of Pembrokeshire and elsewhere we feel that it is highly inappropriate that you continue as a patron for Mencap after voting for such inhumane and damaging cuts to ESA. Cuts that will cause further suffering, poverty and desperation for disabled people and increase the already horrific effect that your Government's cruel policies are having on our society.

Why is this important?

Stephen Crabb thinks that disabled people should suffer under his Government, lets force him to resign as Patron of Mencap in Pembrokeshire.

It's not even like this is Crabb's first offence, he may think that we don't keep an eye on his voting record in Westminster, however many of us can still remember that despite having been a former Trustee of Pembrokeshire Action To Combat Hardship (PATCH) and having posed for a photo op with the Charity just three days earlier, on December 15 of 2013, he voted against the publication of a 2013 investigation into food banks use and UK hunger, and against the motion which also called on the government to implement measures to reduce dependency on food banks in the UK. http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/letters/10954233.Foodbank_hypocrisy/

38degrees blog; Employment Support Allowance: Government forces through cuts

by Kahra Wayland-Larty Mar 16th, 2016

"Iain Duncan Smith’s finally got his way – forcing through cuts to support for people who face barriers to work due to illness or disability. Employment Support Allowance (ESA) is a lifeline: it pays to heat a cold home after cancer treatment, and extra prescription charges.

38 Degrees members certainly made it hard for the government. 100,000 of us signed the petition to prove public outrage – supporting the Lords to vote against these plans twice. In the end the government had to change the rules to make the Lords back down. Iain Duncan Smith might have got his way this time, but together we made sure it wasn’t easy.

There’s growing public anger against these dangerous cuts – just a few months ago hundreds of thousands of us helped stop cuts to tax credits. It’s vital we keep going, so that while the government’s breathing a sigh of relief, we’re getting ready for next time.

There’s never been a greater need for people power to defeat these cuts. So the more of us who are involved, the stronger we get. Please can you click this image below to share it on Facebook, as a way to show what you believe in, or forward this email to a friend you’d like to encourage to get involved with 38 Degrees. Anyone can be a 38 Degrees member by signing a petition, or taking another action"

Original blog here; https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2016/03/16/employment-support-allowance-government-forces-cuts/

How it will be delivered

We wont need to deliver it. The pressure that this petition and other media will put on him to resign should be enough!

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

Links

Campaign Facebook Page

Updates

2016-03-21 14:04:31 +0000

Special Crabb stickers!!! #StickItToTheTories

We have also been working closely with this fantastic new sticker campaign called "Stick It To The Tories" (#StickItToTheTories). They have got lots of anti-Tory stickers on their website including DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts), People's Assembly, anti-austerity, some great NHS stickers and lots more. They have created a special Crabb-Stick sticker-special just for us! Themed; "Crabb the grab -RESIGN! as Mencap Patron", so if you are in Wales, Pembrokeshire or anywhere else! and you feel like Sticking it to Crabb, or generally Sticking it to the Tories then you can get hold of this sticker (or any others) at http://stickittothetories.org.uk/product/crabb-resign-as-mencap-patron/ Please remember though all you budding stickerists; always sticker responsibly and legally!

2016-03-21 14:03:26 +0000

DPAC - Operation #ToryDump Lobby Disabilty Charities to reject #ESACut MP’s

DPAC have set up a great initiative called #ToryDump to get all the ESA cutting Tories to resign their posts within disability charities DPAC have created a list of all the MP’s who voted for the cut here and if you find that your MP is on the list, why not set up a petition in your area to get them removed too!
http://dpac.uk.net/2016/03/operation-torydump-lobby-disability-charities-to-reject-esacut-mps-nameandshame/

2016-03-21 14:02:39 +0000

10,000 signatures in just 4 days folks!! We're flying! let's keep the pressure up!

While this campaign is very much directed at Crabb, and purposefully so! It is also worth noting that Mencap Pembrokeshire are finding themselves under increasing pressure over this and will surely soon be left with no option but to give Crabb the boot! There has been a torrent of heart rending comments left on their facebook page (Stackpole Gardens) and we have heard that a lot of people have been writing in or emailing them nationally as well as local to insist that Crabb be removed as patron after voting for these ESA cuts. If you feel like contacting them yourself here are some details; Twitter @mencap_charity National Mencap Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Mencap Pembrokeshire Mencap Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/Stackpole-Walled-Gardens-359545597390807/ Email; [email protected] Let’s pile on the pressure until Crabb is forced to go!

2016-03-21 09:01:54 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2016-03-19 17:39:56 +0000

Stackpole have issued a statement.

"The following statement has been issued by the Trustees of Pembrokeshire Mencap.
Following publicity regarding Royal Mencap Societies views on the Employment Support Allowance, inquiries have been made of Pembrokeshire Mencap Society.
The Pembrokeshire Mencap Society is a stand alone charity, albeit affiliated to the Royal Mencap Society and committed to the same values.We are aware of the views of other similar charities, and their actions will be discussed by the Trustees at our next meeting. The Society has had a long association with, and enjoyed the support of our local MPs, of whatever party has been in power. Continues below........

2016-03-19 17:39:40 +0000

There are bound to be occasions when some of the members will have different views to those of our patrons. The current legislation will be discussed in due course and our views expressed to our patron if thought necessary. A spokesman thought it would not be in the Society's interests to ask Mr Crabb to resign." "
http://www.stackpole-walledgardens.co.uk/contact-us/

2016-03-19 16:41:17 +0000

In the Mirror;

"There is even a 4,000-strong petition to axe Mr Crabb as a Mencap patron after he voted to cut Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) by £30 a week."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-tory-welfare-chief-stephen-7589238

2016-03-19 15:51:40 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2016-03-19 15:36:56 +0000

BUZZFEED:

New work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb is facing calls to stand down as patron of a learning disability charity.

Jim Scott, a member of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, said he believed the petition he set up had become “massively more significant” in light of Crabb’s promotion.

“It’s a matter of time before he steps down as patron of the charity,” he told BuzzFeed News. “I don’t see how he can not.”

He added: “I thought I couldn’t imagine a crueller minister than IDS, but now they’ve appointed Stephen Crabb, I can.”

http://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewchampion/stephen-crabb-already-facing-calls-to-resign-from-charity#.oyz7BLwvL

2016-03-19 13:41:30 +0000

Good riddens IDS!! Out with the old, but the 'new' is actually even more of a frightening prospect!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixahTrESCbo

2016-03-19 00:57:25 +0000

Crabb will follow soon, it's only a matter of time. The question is; How large will he let this petition get before he capitulates? We know he will, because we also know that this petition will grow, and grow, and GROW until he does resign! He should have done the same as Zak Goldsmith did in the article below. Ironically, he may now actually have to wait a few days until the IDS RESIGNATION has quietened down because he wont want people to think he has resigned from the cabinet too! How long are you gonna leave it Crabby?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-zac-goldsmith-forced-out-7574364

2016-03-18 21:22:41 +0000

I.D.S HAS RESIGNED...

Iain Duncan Smith has decided to resign as Work and Pensions Secretary in the face of further cuts to his department.

Announcing his resignation in a letter, he said: "I have for some time and rather reluctantly come to believe that the latest changes to benefits to the disabled and the context in which they've been made are, a compromise too far.

"While they are defensible in narrow terms, given the continuing deficit, they are not defensible in the way they were placed within a Budget that benefits higher earning taxpayers.

"They should have instead been part of a wider process to engage others in finding the best way to better focus resources on those most in need."

http://www.itv.com/…/iain-duncan-smith-resigns-over-disabi…/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35848687

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/iain-duncan-smith-resigns-as-work-and-pensions-secretary-over-disability-benefit-cuts-a6940126.html

2016-03-18 18:30:07 +0000

2,000 signatures reached in just one day!! Amazing!

2016-03-17 23:18:41 +0000

1000 signatures in the first eight hours!!!!!!!!!!!!

2016-03-17 23:17:19 +0000

1,000 signatures reached