Westminster Govt vs social justice — Church of Scotland Leaders

By Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty

WESTMINSTER GOVERNMENT IS NO LONGER CAPABLE OF DELIVERING A SOCIALLY JUST AND EQUITABLE SOCIETY - CHURCH OF SCOTLAND LEADERS.

If the people of Scotland vote

"

yes

"

then the coalition will have done much to encourage that result. The unequal imposition of austerity since 2010 has been noticed by voters north of the border.The Church of Scotland has decided to remain neutral,

but influential members of the Kirk deeply committed to social justice, including  the leader of the Iona Community Peter MacDonald, are expressing the concerns of many of us who work

with 

and for the poorest citizens of England, and voting yes.

He said "I no longer believe the Westminster Government is capable of delivering the socially just and equitable society in which I want to live. The British state no longer serves the needs of all its people. Economic policies have favoured the wealthy who have grown richer, and stigmatised the poor and vulnerable who are paying for the failures of the private financial sector."

If Scotland votes "no" these failings of the Westminster Government will still exist. 

Rev Paul Nicolson

TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE CHURCHES COMPLICIT IN THE POOR BECOMING MUCH POORER IN THE UK?

Letter in The Tablet - 30th August 2014
Promises, promises
28 August 2014

Your leader (23 August) states that “Promises don’t put food on the table.” The uncomfortable question is: to what extent are the Churches complicit in the poor becoming much poorer? The demand for food banks and credit unions can only increase until the Churches apply the preferential option for the poor, understand their circumstances and tackle the cumulative impact of decades of structural injustice.

Perhaps our ineffectiveness is because so many members of Christian congregations do not understand the impact of being made homeless by a local authority, moved into private rented accommodation and being obliged to move eight times since 2002. That happened to a single mother with three young children I have met. Or the impact of having their benefit income capped at £500 a week, which caps housing benefit at 50p and forces them to pay £282 a week of that £500 in rent, like a single mother with seven young children I have also met.


Rev Paul Nicolson
Taxpayers Against Poverty
93 Campbell Road,
Tottenham,
London N17 0BF
0208 3765455
07961 177889
also at www.z2k.org
also at www.prohousingalliance.com
www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk
www.facebook.com/pages/Taxpayers-Against-Poverty/299911526728884
https://twitter.com/taxpayers_a_p

Please sign our petition celbrating Martin Luther King
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/53579
Parliament is asked to debate the speech made by Martin Luther King 50 Years ago in Washington USA on the 28 August 1963 and to note that it can be applied to circumstances in Britain in August 2013. He said “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”