Tory Britain today: Couple separated after 70 years because they ‘don’t meet criteria’
![Jessie and Ray Lorrison have spent the last 70 years together, but have now been told they must live separately [Image: North News and Pictures].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/161101-Jessie-and-Ray-Lorison-North-News-and-Pictures.jpg)
Jessie and Ray Lorrison have spent the last 70 years together, but have now been told they must live separately [Image: North News and Pictures].
The Tories may wish to quibble that the implication of the Act is for local councils to interpret, but it seems likely this is another Tory attempt at penny-pinching, and never mind the human tragedy it causes.
How many more couples are being separated in this entirely unacceptable way?
There is a petition, which you can sign if you visit the Mirror‘s story (the link is below).
But will it do any good if the law is against this couple?
How did we – the British people – ever come to accept such laws as reasonable?
An elderly couple who have been by each other’s side for 70 years are being ‘forced apart’ by social services – as they ‘don’t meet the criteria’ to live together.
Jessie and Ray Lorrison, of South Shields in South Tyneside, have spent nearly every day of their lives together since they first met in 1946 – but have now been told they must live separate lives.
Ray, 95, is living at Westoe Grange Care Home in the town, while his heartbroken wife Jessie, 88, is in hospital after being told she ‘does not meet the criteria’ to join her husband.
A South Tyneside Council spokesperson said: “The Council is not able to comment on individual cases, however any decision on care and support for an individual is based on their own needs and is made in line with the Care Act.
Do you want Vox Political to cover a story? Use this form to tell us about it:
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
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!
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:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now 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:
The LA has changed its mind. The real question is why these lovely people were put through this anguish in the first place.
And has the Care Act been amended to ensure nobody else is mistreated in the same way?
A note has been added on the petition page saying that this couple will not now be separated. Unfortunately, of course, the Care Act is still there waiting to ensnare others who may well have to undergo the same distress as Mr and Mrs Lorrison
Just so.
I did consider taking down the article but you are right – others may be caught the same way.
This is not the first case I have heard of….
Another milestone on the way to the return of 19th century Workhouses.