I reached state pension age and I am now free from the clutches of the workfare providers.  I noticed that many of the websites that used to provide information regarding sanctions and experiences of workfare have disappeared or stopped updating. It's sad to see them go as sanctions on universal credit are reported to be high.

The saddest thing for me is the way the Labour party totally ignored the unfairness of legacy claimants not receiving the extra twenty pound a week that claimants on universal credit received.  Starker asked plenty of questions regarding sleaze and the cost of wallpaper but not one question on behalf of legacy claimants. Starmer clearly has no time for the unemployed and sticks to the theme that Labour is the party for working families. The chancellor knew that Labour wouldn't care if he ignored the unemployed but he had to give the extra twenty pound a week to the unemployed who had already switched to universal credit. Eventually when it was time to stop the extra twenty pound the chancellor had to find a way of keeping Labour on board. He increased the amount people kept who were in work on universal credit so that they still had the extra money and the others just lost the extra.  

Then we had the concerns over the energy costs but how could the chancellor help people without giving any help to the unemployed. He decided to increase the amount you could earn before you pay national insurance, at least only people in work can benefit from that. Then he helped a little with fuel duty, as most people unemployed don't have a car it won't help many of them.  The chancellor has it appears given everyone two hundred pound off their bills from October that we have to pay back over the next five years. That would suggest something like ten pound a quarter extra on our bills for five years.  I'm a bit concerned about this. I use very little electricity but the unit price has gone up by around a penny but the daily standard charge has gone up from 28 p to 54p.. Imagine if your bill goes up from fifty pound a quarter to eighty pound, will you receive any help with that two hundred pound from the chancellor? Will you have that two hundred pound added to your future bills even if you don't receive any help? If a person is using a lot of electricity and the bill runs into hundreds of pounds ii's straightforward,  your bill is reduced by two hundred pounds and you pay the difference. Wouldn't it be awful if the unemployed had to pay two hundred pounds that they never received. The chancellor wouldn't be able to stop laughing, the saddest part would be the leader of the Labour party would be laughing with him.

Remember in2015 when Rachel Reeves was in Ed Milibands team, she said Labour would be tougher on benefits than the Tories. If Labour win a general election under Starmer I don't think the poor will have anyone to represent them.  Starmer refused to ask a single question on behalf of legacy claimants, one of his main words was equality but sadly it appears that legacy claimants are not deemed deserving of equality. If you believe in true Labour values and have friends or relatives on legacy benefits it must be difficult to support Starmer. In 2017 Corbyn said he would honour the referendum result and Labour won seats and Theresa May lost her majority. The next two years people like Starmer were demanding a second refendum and almost every night hecwas on the news as shadow Brexit secretary stating that he would get a better deal and actively campaign to remain. This left Corbyn having to state he would be neutral leaving him weak and the red wall seats voted Tory. Still to this day Starmer refuses to take responsibility for his part in that disastrous 2019 election.

I have now had my say on Starmer. Boris and Rishi don't care about ordinary people but neither does Starmer. Starmer refused to accept the democratic vote regarding Brexit and once he became leader he made sure that the MPs would have power to select the next leader regardless of how the rank and file vote. I wish Labour had a leader who really cared about ordinary people.