This Site has been asked to publicise a message that MPs need to read this book – and so do you.

I refer to The Department, by John Pring of fellow political commentary site Disability News Service.

Every MP in Parliament has been sent a complimentary copy of the book, and another friend of Vox Political has asked me to suggest that readers like you might write to your own representative, as follows:

Dear [MP],

May I ask if you have read any of the book you should have received over the last few days, entitled The Department by John Pring?

It is an expert investigation into the huge number of deaths of sick and disabled people caused by the Department for Work and Pensions, in what can only be described as acts of violence by policy.

It delves into the murky world of outsourcing ‘assessments’ to third-party companies who used staff with entirely inappropriate qualifications to actively deny access to benefits.

This outsourcing literally amounted to manslaughter by proxy, by ‘medical staff’ who refused to accept medical evidence and had no duty of care whatsoever to claimants.

Long-time readers of Vox Political will be aware that I spent years campaigning for the DWP to reveal the extent of the harm it had done to sick and disabled benefit claimants.

This resulted in a front-page news story on most (if not all) of the national newspapers in August 2015, when it was revealed (thanks to a Vox Political Freedom of Information request) that 2,400 people had died within just a fortnight of being denied benefits – on the grounds that they did not qualify.

Authorities at the House of Commons tried – and failed – to prevent delivery of the book to MPs, as detailed by cartoonist ‘Crippen’ [see featured image]:

Although they had been assured weeks in advance – both by the House of Commons Post Office and Commons security – that they would be allowed to bring in the copies through the security scanners at Portcullis House, managers refused to allow them to bring in the sealed envelopes, each addressed to an individual MP.

Using negotiation and peaceful direct action, activists – led by Disabled People Against Cuts and Black Triangle – used the books to block the public entrance to the building for more than an hour. Their action ensured that every MP received a copy of The Department, which details how DWP’s actions eventually led to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of disabled people in the post-2010 austerity years.

After meeting outside DWP’s Caxton House offices last week, activists – including relatives of two of the disabled benefit claimants who died – carried all 650 copies across Westminster to Portcullis House, where many MPs and the House of Commons Post Office are based.

Among those who supported the event were Gill Thompson – whose brother David Clapson died in July 2013, three weeks after having his jobseeker’s allowance sanctioned – and her husband Mike. She said that the crowdfunding and action had been “quite an achievement … We have had our obstacles, but we got there in the end. That book has given me David back, it’s put him in a human light and given him back his dignity that [DWP] took away from him.”

Another supporting the action was Joy Dove, whose daughter Jodey Whiting took her own life in February 2017, 15 days after she had her out-of-work disability benefits wrongly stopped for missing a work capability assessment.

And, you know what? You may wish to buy a copy of the book yourself.

The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence, by DNS editor John Pring, was published by Pluto Press last month and is available to you if you click on the link.

---

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/

6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical

7) Feel free to comment!

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:

The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: