Multimillionaire Mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith has voted to cut disability benefit by £30 a week despite being a patron of a local disability charity.
According to the Richmond and Twickenham Times, Goldsmith has been a patron of Richmond Aid since March 2011.
Campaigners are asking how he can remain patron of the charity while taking money away from its users.
Andy Greene of Disabled Peoples Agianst the Cuts (DPAC) said:
This move by Zac Goldsmith will no doubt come as no surprise to many disabled Londoners. Goldsmith is an example of the clique of multi millionaires in the Tory who don’t just run the country – they own most of it.
And are the same people whose wealth has doubled since 2008 while the rest of us give up everything we have, individually and collectively, to facilitate this. Goldsmith and his cronies peddle the myth of ‘incentives’ and ‘fairness’ while living off public money, inherited wealth and corporate freebies. For the rest of us it’s food banks and payday lenders.
This will harm tens of thousands of disabled people. It will leave many destitute, isolated and without hope. If there is to be any possibility of change, disabled people must take action together and with others to take on this government and their austerity agenda. We must create our own spaces, tell our own story and build a future where we take our part as equals.
Richmond Aid’s CEO, Lucy Byrne has released the following statement:
Byrne would not comment on Goldsmith’s future with the charity.
Cuts to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) come into force in April 2017.
Zac Goldsmith’s Media Team were not prepared to comment.
A parliamentary petition has been set up to reverse the cuts:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124016
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