The ABC Passes Concerns About MP’s Rhetoric to the Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP - Speaker of the House of Commons

Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP

Order, Order, Order - John Simon Bercow  (born 19 January 1963) is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons  since June 2009.

Prior to his election to Speaker, he was a member of the Conservative Party. Once a hard-line right-winger he later moderated his views after becoming an MP and at one time was rumoured to be likely to defect to the Labour Party,

Because of this reason, Mr Bercow MP, has at times been unpopular with many of his former colleagues.

John Bercow went to the University of Essex (Colchester) current home of the student volunteer team which has been recruited to work with the ABC. John describes himself as a humanitarian and speaks highly of his time at Essex.

In 2005, Mr. Bercow won the Channel Four/Hansard Society Political Award for 'Opposition MP of the Year'. He said:

In addition to pursuing a wide variety of local issues, I have attempted to question, probe and scrutinise the Government in the House of Commons on important national and international topics which concern people. Over the last 12 months, I have constantly pressed the case for reform of world trade rules to give the poorest people on the planet a chance to sell their products and improve their quality of life. The plight of the people of Darfur, Western Sudan, has also been a regular theme. They have suffered too much for too long with too little done about the situation. I shall go on arguing for Britain to take the lead in the international community in seeking decisive action for peace and justice.

Information courtesy of Wikipedia. 

We have written to the Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP about the Friday debate in the Houses of Parliament.

++++

Dear Mr Bercow

I founded the Association of Pensions & Benefits CIC (the ABC) an organisation to help those on state funding. Currently we are contributing to the ‘Gig economy’ debate, and we are known to the DWP Select Committee. I was communicating with Andrew Forsey just last week. Andrew works with Frank Field MP of course, Chair of the DWP Select Committee. I have Cc’ed Andrew, just to keep the DWP Committee in the loop.  

This is the ABC here: www.abcorg.net We are partners of the Electoral Commission promoting voter registration with this hard-to-reach group, and we are currently working with a volunteer team of Essex University students adding content to our website, which doubles as a directory of help for the low paid. Later I hope to launch WorkTV. We have other initiatives underway.

During the Mhairi Black MP Private Members bill debate Friday 02 December, some very unpleasant remarks were made about the unemployed, by one MP.   

A reply came back ‘If you feel like that [about people] why are you working in this House’ I believe was the reply. I wrote this article in disgust about one individual: http://www.abcorg.net/item/1100-tory-right-wing-mp-david-nuttall-shows-his-contempt-towards-those-on-benefits

We host both Parliament TV and Europarl TV during relevant debates and we keenly follow relevant discussions with our growing audience.  

The suicide statistics have just gone up, and they are high already, and they are expected to rise further towards 2020.  Please see our article: http://www.abcorg.net/item/1096-deaths-from-suicide-increase-slightly

Please may I suggest that you speak to MPs and make them aware of the effect of what they say can have on people in the country?

Christmas is a very tough time of year, especially for people who may have low self-esteem, mental health issues or simply be suffering from loneliness. As such, they can be very deeply affected by what they see on TV and in newspapers.

Some people do not necessarily see the world in a balanced and rational way due to their anxiety’s. Of course, there are those with PHD’s, even airline pilots ‘on the dole’. For most people, they anticipate that life will eventually get better, but not everyone is optimistic?

I founded the ABC after a chain of events which started with a friend committing suicide just after Christmas in a shared house. Steve, was left an orphan as a young boy, and to help him [so they thought] he was sent to a public school where he was bullied because of his circumstances. For years, he was a robust salesman, with an outgoing gregarious personality - till one day he said, a veil of blackness came down over him like a curtain. I will not give the whole story, but in our house, we failed to recognise just how ill he was… till one day he hung himself from the landing and his body was found hanging above the stairs. He was found by our landlord’s agent, a former policeman who gave him the kiss of life, but alas he had been dead for some time.  We were all very shaken-up. We knew Steve ‘had the blues’, but we had no way of knowing what was about to happen? 

The remarks Friday did not reflect well on the individual MP who made them, the Party he represents, or even the Houses of Parliament.

These kinds of remarks can trigger people who maybe considering taking their own life to do so. I was given figures recently that one in six suicides are DWP related?

I just hope you might be able to take a moment to remind MP’s of the powerful effect their words can have? We cannot all be winners, and I hope you might remind MP’s that saying what you think, without thinking, can have tragic consequences.

I would be grateful if you would consider our points, the majority of our MP's do a fine job. 

On behalf of the ABC - have a very Happy Christmas to all who work at the Houses of Parliament, both staff and MP's.     

Seasonal Greetings,

Simon COLLYER

Founder & CEO

Video below: The Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP reflects on his life and experiences.