Women's Views on News |
| Nanas send Queen open letter about fracking Posted: 21 Sep 2016 01:29 PM PDT
A group of women who have been opposing Cuadrilla's shale gas plans in Lancashire have sent an open letter to the Queen as part of their long-standing and on-going attempts to prevent fracking near Blackpool. Lancashire County Council refused planning permission to frack at both sites in June 2015. But Cuadrilla appealed and the government decided it would have the final say after a six-week public inquiry. The government's announcement on whether fracking should go ahead at Roseacre Wood and Preston New Road is due by 6 October. In the letter, Tina Rothery, writing to the Queen on behalf of the Lancashire Nanas campaign group, said: 'I am writing this as a fellow grandmother and would ask that you consider my question from your obligation to defend your young and with your heart, rather than your crown. We are a group of UK citizens who feel increasingly shut out of the decision that is soon to be made on shale gas extraction in Lancashire. It is a basic tenet of democracy that power should remain as close as possible to the people and not be concentrated in the hands of a few. We have seen democracy in action in Lancashire, where the people said ‘No’ to fracking and both their borough and county councils agreed with them, and in their turn said ‘No’ to Cuadrilla’s planning applications to frack two sites in rural Fylde, Lancashire [1]. Cuadrilla appealed and a public inquiry was held earlier this year at which we – the residents – spent three weeks giving evidence. The planning inspector’s report has subsequently been submitted to Sajid Javid MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who will make a decision at the beginning of October. The decision to refuse planning permission for fracking in Lancashire was local democracy in action. However, the government's support for shale means that the power has been passed from Lancashire’s elected representatives to the hands of a few, who are interested in aiding the interests of big business, rather than the interests and health of the residents of Lancashire [2]. This is not democracy. During the last five years we have spent a considerable amount of time, energy and money pursuing every democratic opening available to us. We have: Held public meetings to gauge opinion and share information; Helped create groups to discuss the hundreds of peer-reviewed studies; Provided residents' feedback to councillors; Engaged with and provided MPs with feedback on residents’ concerns about the effects of fracking so close to residential areas; Engaged with government ministers over residents’ concerns; Attended industry information events in order to discover/understand their plans and what they might mean for residents; Created petitions and obtained thousands of signatures which were delivered to County Halls and Downing Street; Organised and attended peaceful demonstrations locally and nationally; Took peaceful, direct and non-violent direct action; Co-operated with NGOs to put pressure on central government; Given evidence at the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee on the Economic Impact on UK Energy Policy of Shale Gas and Oil; Attended and gave evidence at Lancashire County Council Development and Control meetings on Attended and gave evidence at the three-week long Public Inquiry; Contacted Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with an invitation to visit proposed sites and meet residents (not accepted); and Sought help from our Monarch (this action). We have exhausted every democratic channel. We are desperate. What would you do, Ma’am? Yours sincerely, Tina Rothery, on behalf of the Nanas & Residents from Lancashire The letter is being followed up with a protest outside Buckingham Palace on 27 September 2016 – with best crockery and best finery in case Her Majesty steps out for a cuppa – starting at 2pm. Company welcome.  |
| SNP has five answers to UK women’s pension row Posted: 21 Sep 2016 01:22 PM PDT
SNP MP Mhairi Black dropped off a copy of the SNP’s recently-launched Pensions Report at No 10 Downing Street this afternoon. This report, she pointed out, does the government’s job for them, by offering real workable solutions to the injustice that women born in the 1950s face regarding changes to their pensions. Around 2.6 million women were affected by a change in the law that accelerated the pace of 'equalisation' – raising women's pension age to match that of men – and many will receive their pension several years later than they expected. Furthermore, due to the UK government's shambolic handling of the notification process many thousands of the women affected by the changes were not been given a reasonable period of time to properly prepare for retirement. The issue has been widely debated in the House of Commons, and given tremendous support by Mhairi Black, and the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign groups have worked tirelessly for the introduction of fair transitional measures, but the UK government has refused to act. The SNP agrees with the equalisation of the state pension age but does not support the unfair manner in which these changes were made in the 2011 Pensions Act. Women born in the 1950s and affected by these changes are feeling the hardship now and need action taken now – and since the Conservatives refused to act the SNP decided to do the necessary work and find a solution. The SNP's ensuing independently researched report puts forward five options that would enable the UK government to reverse its mistakes and ensure dignity in retirement for these women. And the research has found that all this could be done at a fraction of the cost the UK government has been talking about. For £8 billion – as opposed to the £30 billion predicted by the UK government – we could to return to the original timetable set out in the 1995 Pensions Act – which would go some way to ending the gross injustice served to these women and would help to alleviate pensioner poverty. Politicians and campaigners already know that the money is to hand, as the National Insurance Fund is projected to have a surplus of £30.7 billion at the end of 2017/18. The UK government is sitting on this ‘hefty pot‘ and must surely consider using £8 billion to alleviate the plight of the women of the 1950s that the government itself has caused. And the SNP delivered a copy of this report to 10 Downing Street ahead of the Conservative Party Conference. The SNP's report models five different reform options for compensating women born in the 1950s who lose out from the accelerated increases in the State Pension Age (SPA) specified in the Pensions Act 2011. The five different reforms are modelled in the report: Option 1: Resetting women's pension age to 60 This option would reduce women's SPA back down to 60 – where it was before the increases in pension age in the 1995 Pensions Act began to take effect. Option 2: Return to the timetable in the 1995 Pensions Act This option restores the timetable specified in the 1995 Pensions Act (whereby women's SPA rises from 63 in March 2016 to 65 by April 2020, with no further increase to 66 until the mid-2020s). Option 3: Slow the timetable for increasing women's pension age This option maintains a rise in women's SPA to 66 but slows down the timetable so that women's SPA rises to 65 by April 2019 (instead of November 2018) to 66 by April 2021 (instead of October 2020). Option 4: Reduce the qualifying age for Pension Credit to 65 for a transitional period This option keeps the timetable for increasing women's SPA to 66 as set out in the Pensions Act 2011, but lowers the qualifying age for Pension Credit to 65 for the period from November 2018 to April 2021. This compensates women aged between 65 and 66 on low incomes who would otherwise be adversely affected by the accelerated timetable for the rise in women's SPA to 66. Option 5: Allow women affected by the increase in SPA to 66 to receive the State Pension at age 65 on an actuarially fair basis This option would allow women affected by the accelerated increase in the SPA to claim the State Pension at age 65 but at a slightly lower rate than the full rate of State Pension (around 6 per cent lower if the pension is claimed a year early). The SNP hopes that this report will not only be welcomed by the UK government but convince them to take action and give these women their proper hard earned pensions and retirement. It is, as the SNP points out, time for the Conservatives to face up to reality: pensions are not a benefit, they are a contract and the UK government is in the process of breaking that contract. But it can be fixed.  |
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