Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday March 15 March 2011
The Morning Star
Government ministers came under fire today after they admitted that three in 10 families from ethnic minority backgrounds will be hit by the coalition's benefit cap.
The coalition plans to limit the amount of available household benefits to about £26,000 a year, with a single universal credit replacing the various benefits that families can claim.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said that 30 per cent of households affected by the cap will have at least one family member from an ethnic minority, which make up 20 per cent of the country's population as a whole.
The figures were obtained following an equality impact assessment (EIA), which also accepted that the changes would lead to some families facing homelessness.
Equality Minister Chris Grayling attempted to excuse the greater impact of the benefit cap on ethnic minority families by claiming that it was "because they tended to have more children."
He was answering a written parliamentary question from Labour's Kate Green who accused coalition ministers of presiding over "punitive" policies.
The Stretford and Urmston MP, who had asked the question back in January, said: "The EIA result is not very encouraging. It clearly shows that the Welfare Reform Bill has a disproportionate impact on large families - 80 per cent of those hit will be families with three or more children.
"They will be losing £93 a week, which is a huge amount for people who rely on benefits. Ethnic minority families will be hit at a greater extent than their composition of the population."
Ms Green, who is backing several amendments to mitigate the worst impacts of the Bill as it goes through Parliament, said: "The government must rethink its punitive policy."
Zacchaeus 2000 Trust chairman Paul Nicolson said that everyone who was poor would be hit hard by the welfare changes.
"The caps on benefits will be a big squeeze on big families, disabled people and the unemployed, whose numbers are on the rise.
"Their income support is already on a downward trend because of rise in food and fuel costs as well as plans to switch the uprating of benefits from retail price index to the lower consumer price index."
Mr Nicolson also questioned government claims that working families will be better off because of the changes.
'Shameful' BA back in the spotlight
Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday March 15, 2011
The Morning Star
The Unite union is seeking legal advice on whether British Airways is breaching sex discrimination laws after the airline forced a pregnant cabin crew to take unpaid leave.
The union revealed on Monday that BA bosses had put one of its members on unpaid leave because she lived too far to travel to London's Heathrow or Gatwick airports to perform ground duties.
It claimed that management had scrapped a long-standing agreement which offered some protection to pregnant women employees who had to be grounded from flying duties to reduce the risk of miscarriage and complications.
Cabin crew members are banned from flying as soon as they fall pregnant. Those living within 50 miles of Heathrow or Gatwick are expected to work at check-in desks or as admin staff.
Unite national officer Brendan Gold explained that over the years BA had recruited staff from all parts of Britain and Europe while closing its regional bases, forcing workers to travel hundreds of miles to their place of work.
"Yet it now intends to stop payment to pregnant crew staff members who are unable to commute to BA's last two hubs, Heathrow and Gatwick," he said.
"This is a shameful attack on pregnant women and a further example of a macho-management culture which is out of date and now seriously out of line."
The majority of BA cabin crew are women and will receive around £25,000 per year.
The loss of pay throughout a pregnancy will make having a child at BA prohibitively expensive for many women.
"Unite is taking legal advice on whether BA is breaking sex discrimination laws," Mr Gold added.
A BA spokesman insisted: "The company's policy for pregnant cabin crew fully complies with UK law."
London marks women's day
Louise Nousratpour
Sunday March 13, 2011
The Morning Star
Leading communist women gathered in London this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day as an important day for the working class to assess the achievements of the past year and prepare for challenges ahead.
An international panel of women representing several countries' Communist Parties brought greetings to a packed meeting at Marx Memorial Library on Saturday.
Their tales of struggle against gender-specific discrimination and violence were remarkably similar and their enemies the same - imperialism and neoliberal policies.
But a positive tone was struck by new Cuban ambassador Esther Armenteros, who told the audience that she was proof that gender and race equality could be achieved in a socialist system.
"I was born into a very poor black family living in a society where discrimination was rife and opportunities scarce," she explained.
"I was 12 when the revolution swept Cuba and it changed everything. Suddenly all possibilities were open to people like me. Today, there is equal pay and equal rights in our country. In some areas we have excelled compared to men to a point that the government has had to put quotas in in favour of men."
Ms Armenteros condemned the decades-long US economic blockade on Cuba, adding: "Can you imagine how much better women's situations could have been?"
Chairing the event Communist Party of Britain women's organiser Liz Payne highlighted the significant achievements women have made in capitalist countries.
But she dismissed claims by sections of the bourgeoisie that women should now hang up their marching boots.
"Recent reports from the UN and Unicef show that women's lives everywhere are still alarmingly bleak - they suffer violence and face economic and social discrimination," Ms Payne said.
Representatives from Sudan, Iraq and Iran all condemned their country's Islamic laws restricting women's rights.
Azar Sepehr of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women said: "Discrimination against women is enshrined in law in Iran."
Iraqi Women's League speaker Nora Mohammed Ali warned that the puppet regime in her country had pushed women's rights back decades by introducing regressive marriage and other anti-women laws.
"Girls as young as seven are forced to wear the hijab, though the government denies this is happening," Ms Mohammed Ali said.
Amal Gabrala of Communist Party of Sudan called for the women's struggle to be linked to the wider working class struggle: "Let us remember Rosa Luxemburg and the likes of her, whose memory and work continue to inspire us."
Representatives from the Bangladeshi and Indian communist parties also took part.
Sunday March 13, 2011
The Morning Star
Leading communist women gathered in London this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day as an important day for the working class to assess the achievements of the past year and prepare for challenges ahead.
An international panel of women representing several countries' Communist Parties brought greetings to a packed meeting at Marx Memorial Library on Saturday.
Their tales of struggle against gender-specific discrimination and violence were remarkably similar and their enemies the same - imperialism and neoliberal policies.
But a positive tone was struck by new Cuban ambassador Esther Armenteros, who told the audience that she was proof that gender and race equality could be achieved in a socialist system.
"I was born into a very poor black family living in a society where discrimination was rife and opportunities scarce," she explained.
"I was 12 when the revolution swept Cuba and it changed everything. Suddenly all possibilities were open to people like me. Today, there is equal pay and equal rights in our country. In some areas we have excelled compared to men to a point that the government has had to put quotas in in favour of men."
Ms Armenteros condemned the decades-long US economic blockade on Cuba, adding: "Can you imagine how much better women's situations could have been?"
Chairing the event Communist Party of Britain women's organiser Liz Payne highlighted the significant achievements women have made in capitalist countries.
But she dismissed claims by sections of the bourgeoisie that women should now hang up their marching boots.
"Recent reports from the UN and Unicef show that women's lives everywhere are still alarmingly bleak - they suffer violence and face economic and social discrimination," Ms Payne said.
Representatives from Sudan, Iraq and Iran all condemned their country's Islamic laws restricting women's rights.
Azar Sepehr of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women said: "Discrimination against women is enshrined in law in Iran."
Iraqi Women's League speaker Nora Mohammed Ali warned that the puppet regime in her country had pushed women's rights back decades by introducing regressive marriage and other anti-women laws.
"Girls as young as seven are forced to wear the hijab, though the government denies this is happening," Ms Mohammed Ali said.
Amal Gabrala of Communist Party of Sudan called for the women's struggle to be linked to the wider working class struggle: "Let us remember Rosa Luxemburg and the likes of her, whose memory and work continue to inspire us."
Representatives from the Bangladeshi and Indian communist parties also took part.
Coalition's NHS attack 'worse than Thatcher'
Louise Nousratpour in Eastbourne
Friday March 11, 2011
The Morning Star
Women trade unionists warned that the Con-Dems are planning an assault on the NHS worse than anything tried by Margaret Thatcher.
Delegates at the TUC women's conference in Eastbourne said the coalition's planned "reforms" would put lives at risk and turn the health service into nothing more than a corporate logo slapped on a privately run system.
"Even Margaret Thatcher didn't dare do to the NHS what this government is trying to do," Chartered Society of Physiotherapists speaker Kim Gainsborough said.
Conference heard that the Health and Social Care Bill, estimated to slash £3 billion on top of the existing £20bn "efficiency" savings, represented yet more Con-Dem cuts that will hurt women and children most.
Most of the 50,000 job losses forecast at the NHS will be women.
Pregnant women, new mothers and their babies are particularly vulnerable to the reorganisation, which is already causing cuts to maternity and family planning services, midwives and health visitors
Moving a motion on the NHS, Ms Gainsborough said: "Lack of safe maternity care in developing countries is one of the cause of high infant mortality rates. We can't let that happen here."
She warned that the proposals would create "unacceptable postcode lottery services.
"Promoting competition runs through the pages of the Bill, with private companies including US health profiteers poised to take over our NHS."
Ms Gainsborough said there was still time to influence the Bill as union-backed MPs were tabling amendments to mitigate some of the worst aspects of the legislation.
"Pressure your local MP to sign up to these amendments and support my union's day of action on April 1 coinciding with the Bill's return to the Commons," she added.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: "Clegg and Cameron have unleashed a wrecking ball to the founding ethos of the NHS and want to reduce the logo to a corporate one like Nike."
Usdaw delegate Pat Buttle called on delegates to "knock on every door and take the message out there. These bastards are ruining our NHS and we won't have it."
On the final day of conference today, chairwoman Lesley Mercer informed delegates that a maternity unit down the road from the venue was facing closure for the second time in four years.
Friday March 11, 2011
The Morning Star
Women trade unionists warned that the Con-Dems are planning an assault on the NHS worse than anything tried by Margaret Thatcher.
Delegates at the TUC women's conference in Eastbourne said the coalition's planned "reforms" would put lives at risk and turn the health service into nothing more than a corporate logo slapped on a privately run system.
"Even Margaret Thatcher didn't dare do to the NHS what this government is trying to do," Chartered Society of Physiotherapists speaker Kim Gainsborough said.
Conference heard that the Health and Social Care Bill, estimated to slash £3 billion on top of the existing £20bn "efficiency" savings, represented yet more Con-Dem cuts that will hurt women and children most.
Most of the 50,000 job losses forecast at the NHS will be women.
Pregnant women, new mothers and their babies are particularly vulnerable to the reorganisation, which is already causing cuts to maternity and family planning services, midwives and health visitors
Moving a motion on the NHS, Ms Gainsborough said: "Lack of safe maternity care in developing countries is one of the cause of high infant mortality rates. We can't let that happen here."
She warned that the proposals would create "unacceptable postcode lottery services.
"Promoting competition runs through the pages of the Bill, with private companies including US health profiteers poised to take over our NHS."
Ms Gainsborough said there was still time to influence the Bill as union-backed MPs were tabling amendments to mitigate some of the worst aspects of the legislation.
"Pressure your local MP to sign up to these amendments and support my union's day of action on April 1 coinciding with the Bill's return to the Commons," she added.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: "Clegg and Cameron have unleashed a wrecking ball to the founding ethos of the NHS and want to reduce the logo to a corporate one like Nike."
Usdaw delegate Pat Buttle called on delegates to "knock on every door and take the message out there. These bastards are ruining our NHS and we won't have it."
On the final day of conference today, chairwoman Lesley Mercer informed delegates that a maternity unit down the road from the venue was facing closure for the second time in four years.
Delegates: 'Go out like Wisconsin'
Louise Nousratpour in Eastbourne
Thursday March 10, 2011
The Morning Star
Women trade unionists vowed today to go out "Wisconsin style" in defence of public-sector pensions after Lord Hutton spelled out government plans to raid them.
As the major unions were considering co-ordinated strike action, speakers at TUC women's conference declared themselves ready to fight plans to make teachers, nurses, firefighters and local government workers pay more and work longer for a smaller pension.
Most public-sector workers are women and they already face smaller pensions and unequal pay.
The Usdaw union reported that nearly a million women would have their state pension delayed by more than a year because of the rise in the retirement age, costing them between £5,000 and £9,700.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy delegate Kate Moran said: "Two-thirds of pensioners living in poverty are women and Lord Hutton's proposals will mean some women losing up to £15,000 of their income."
Conference heard that, far from being "gold plated," average local government and NHS pensions were just £4,000 a year - falling to £2,600 for women.
UCU speaker Jennifer Dods reported that her union was fighting back against the attacks on pension with a series of rolling strikes, starting next week in Scotland and Wales, followed by strikes in Northern Ireland and England the following week.
She also urged support for the union's day of action on March 24.
And the NUT's Sally Kincaid called on Britain's trade union movement to "take a leaf" out of the struggles in Wisconsin and Egypt.
"We all agree that we should be on the TUC March 26 demonstration but we must also organise for March 27 and beyond.
"Call it general strike, call it co-ordinated action, but let us do something to show the government that we in the public and private sector will take no more.
"Let us go out Egyptian style, Wisconsin style," she said to cheers.
Addressing a fringe meeting on Wednesday night, NUT general secretary Christine Blower described the increase in pension contributions and the switch from the RPI inflation index to CPI is "straightforward theft."
PCS national officer Chris Cuthbert added: "Co-ordinated action is now a matter of priority. If we don't stand together, we will be defeated."
Thursday March 10, 2011
The Morning Star
Women trade unionists vowed today to go out "Wisconsin style" in defence of public-sector pensions after Lord Hutton spelled out government plans to raid them.
As the major unions were considering co-ordinated strike action, speakers at TUC women's conference declared themselves ready to fight plans to make teachers, nurses, firefighters and local government workers pay more and work longer for a smaller pension.
Most public-sector workers are women and they already face smaller pensions and unequal pay.
The Usdaw union reported that nearly a million women would have their state pension delayed by more than a year because of the rise in the retirement age, costing them between £5,000 and £9,700.
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy delegate Kate Moran said: "Two-thirds of pensioners living in poverty are women and Lord Hutton's proposals will mean some women losing up to £15,000 of their income."
Conference heard that, far from being "gold plated," average local government and NHS pensions were just £4,000 a year - falling to £2,600 for women.
UCU speaker Jennifer Dods reported that her union was fighting back against the attacks on pension with a series of rolling strikes, starting next week in Scotland and Wales, followed by strikes in Northern Ireland and England the following week.
She also urged support for the union's day of action on March 24.
And the NUT's Sally Kincaid called on Britain's trade union movement to "take a leaf" out of the struggles in Wisconsin and Egypt.
"We all agree that we should be on the TUC March 26 demonstration but we must also organise for March 27 and beyond.
"Call it general strike, call it co-ordinated action, but let us do something to show the government that we in the public and private sector will take no more.
"Let us go out Egyptian style, Wisconsin style," she said to cheers.
Addressing a fringe meeting on Wednesday night, NUT general secretary Christine Blower described the increase in pension contributions and the switch from the RPI inflation index to CPI is "straightforward theft."
PCS national officer Chris Cuthbert added: "Co-ordinated action is now a matter of priority. If we don't stand together, we will be defeated."
'Our fight starts here and now'
Louise Nousratpour in Eastbourne
Wednesday March 9, 2011
The Morning Star
TUC women's conference chair Lesley Mercer opened this year's event with a rallying call for delegates to take leadership of the fight against the cuts in their communities.
Women trade unionists from across the country gathered in Eastbourne for their 81st annual parliament - aptly dubbed Women Against The Cuts - for three days of debates on cuts to jobs, services, benefits and resources for domestic violence victims.
They will also show solidarity with their sisters across the world with a series of motions on international issues.
"The timing of the conference couldn't be better," Ms Mercer told over 300 delegates.
"We have got three days of quality time to develop a shared view of what is going on and what we are going to do about it."
"Women are at the sharp end of these cuts and motion after motion tabled this week demonstrates that.
"The attacks are on so many of the ingredients that make up a decent, civilised society."
A TUC report launched at the conference warned ministers of a "crisis" in female unemployment after it found that the number of women out of work rose by 71,000 last year.
The congress's analysis also showed that in some parts of the country as many as one in five women aged between 16 and 24 are currently unemployed.
Ms Mercer called on delegates to ensure women are "out in force" for the TUC March 26 rally, expressing confidence that hundreds of thousands would descend on London to show support for TUC's alternative to the cuts.
"The TUC has laid out a better way forward through the introduction of a Robin Hood tax, closing tax havens and investing in growth," she said.
The Robin Hood tax, a 0.05 per cent tax on bank transactions, would raise £20 billion on its own, more than enough to cover the welfare cuts.
One delegate summed up the mood of the conference during a debate on public-sector cutbacks: "These boots are made for marching and one day these boots - men's, women's, blacks', whites', lesbians', gays', disabled or not - will walk all over you."
Wednesday March 9, 2011
The Morning Star
TUC women's conference chair Lesley Mercer opened this year's event with a rallying call for delegates to take leadership of the fight against the cuts in their communities.
Women trade unionists from across the country gathered in Eastbourne for their 81st annual parliament - aptly dubbed Women Against The Cuts - for three days of debates on cuts to jobs, services, benefits and resources for domestic violence victims.
They will also show solidarity with their sisters across the world with a series of motions on international issues.
"The timing of the conference couldn't be better," Ms Mercer told over 300 delegates.
"We have got three days of quality time to develop a shared view of what is going on and what we are going to do about it."
"Women are at the sharp end of these cuts and motion after motion tabled this week demonstrates that.
"The attacks are on so many of the ingredients that make up a decent, civilised society."
A TUC report launched at the conference warned ministers of a "crisis" in female unemployment after it found that the number of women out of work rose by 71,000 last year.
The congress's analysis also showed that in some parts of the country as many as one in five women aged between 16 and 24 are currently unemployed.
Ms Mercer called on delegates to ensure women are "out in force" for the TUC March 26 rally, expressing confidence that hundreds of thousands would descend on London to show support for TUC's alternative to the cuts.
"The TUC has laid out a better way forward through the introduction of a Robin Hood tax, closing tax havens and investing in growth," she said.
The Robin Hood tax, a 0.05 per cent tax on bank transactions, would raise £20 billion on its own, more than enough to cover the welfare cuts.
One delegate summed up the mood of the conference during a debate on public-sector cutbacks: "These boots are made for marching and one day these boots - men's, women's, blacks', whites', lesbians', gays', disabled or not - will walk all over you."
Following in the footsteps of female fighters
Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday March 9, 2011
The Morning Star
Women kicked off the French Revolution when they marched on Versailles to demand bread.
They formed the victorious suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th century in Britain.
They are playing an active role in the popular uprisings which have sent dictators packing across north Africa and the Middle East.
And today representatives of working-class women from across England will take centre stage in Eastbourne for their annual parliament, the TUC women's conference, to mobilise and organise a united front against government attacks on every aspect of their lives.
The snail's-pace progress made towards gender equality over recent years is being pushed back with lightning speed as Con-Dem ministers roll up their sleeves to butcher the country's welfare system and dilute equality laws.
With a record 1.4 million women out of work and thousands more expected to join the dole queue once the axe falls on the female-dominated public sector, we haven't had it this bad since Britain's only female prime minister Margaret Thatcher ruled the roost.
More than 70 per cent of the cuts will affect women because they make up two-thirds of the public-sector workforce, twice as many women rely on benefits as men, and women are the main users of local services.
Switching the measure for benefits and public-sector pension increases from the retail price index to the lower consumer price index represents a further blow.
Economics expert Sue Himmelweit of UK Women's Budget Group describes Chancellor George Osborne's spending review as a "stealth tax" on women's work, arguing that their unpaid labour as carers will inevitably be called upon to replace public-service cuts.
"Cuts to local government services and job loss in the public sector equate to less service, fewer jobs and more domestic burden for women," she says.
"The biggest overall cut is in local government at a cumulative 27 per cent by 2014-15.
"Local government provides many of the essential personal services that women and their families need.
"Women are the ones most likely to make up the shortfall in these services by their own unpaid efforts in the home, in some cases reducing their own employment and income to make that possible."
Research by the TUC shows that a two-child family with both parents in minimum-wage jobs earning around £15,000 a year will lose £2,700 annually by April 2013.
Single mothers will be among the worst off, with an estimated loss of £3,121 to their net income - almost a fifth.
Single mum Bernadette, who has two children, worries that the Con-Dem plans will wreck her fragile finances.
She works full time, but like many she relies on benefits to top up her low pay.
She is particularly anxious about the three-year freeze on child benefit from April - worth around £24 a week for two children.
With inflation running at 5.1 per cent, this is a big cut in real terms.
"I cannot live without this benefit," she says.
"My whole budget would just go out of the window."
And Bernadette has another fear - one which will affect thousands of others up and down the country.
"Not only do I worry about losing my benefits because of the recession, I'm nervous about whether the children's father can continue to pay the full maintenance allowance I currently rely on," she says.
"He's a civil servant whose pay is being frozen for two years and his shift allowance has been cut - so you see my entire budget is being threatened."
From January 2013 child benefit will be abolished for families where at least one parent is a higher rate taxpayer.
This change won't affect her personally, but Bernadette believes that it is plain wrong to means test child benefit.
"I think we should retain the universal benefits and claw it back from the better off through a progressive tax system," she says.
"Universal benefits also make the system much simpler and cheaper to administer."
And like many parents she will be affected by the abolition of the education maintenance allowance (EMA), which is worth £30 a week for low-income students aged 16-18 who stay in education.
It's set to be axed from this September.
"This was a big shock," Bernadette says.
"A year ago we agreed that my daughter, now 16, should study dancing full-time through a BTEC national diploma - a course in Chichester, 30 miles from where we live and the only place that does a full-time dance course that is funded.
"To get there, my daughter will be travelling on the train and I was relying on the EMA to help pay for that.
"It was frustrating to see ministers and the media depict EMA as pocket money for teenagers. It's not. Low-paid parents like myself rely on that money to keep their kids in school."
Bernadette also has the prospect of university fees to worry about.
"I'm thinking of selling our family home to pay for my children's university because I don't want them to start their adult life with a massive debt hanging around their neck," she says.
"My house is my pension and now it has to pay for my kids' education too."
Delegates in Eastbourne today will be determined to fight back for the sake of Bernadette and hundreds and thousands like her.
If Cameron thought women were an easy target, he'd better think again.
Wednesday March 9, 2011
The Morning Star
Women kicked off the French Revolution when they marched on Versailles to demand bread.
They formed the victorious suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th century in Britain.
They are playing an active role in the popular uprisings which have sent dictators packing across north Africa and the Middle East.
And today representatives of working-class women from across England will take centre stage in Eastbourne for their annual parliament, the TUC women's conference, to mobilise and organise a united front against government attacks on every aspect of their lives.
The snail's-pace progress made towards gender equality over recent years is being pushed back with lightning speed as Con-Dem ministers roll up their sleeves to butcher the country's welfare system and dilute equality laws.
With a record 1.4 million women out of work and thousands more expected to join the dole queue once the axe falls on the female-dominated public sector, we haven't had it this bad since Britain's only female prime minister Margaret Thatcher ruled the roost.
More than 70 per cent of the cuts will affect women because they make up two-thirds of the public-sector workforce, twice as many women rely on benefits as men, and women are the main users of local services.
Switching the measure for benefits and public-sector pension increases from the retail price index to the lower consumer price index represents a further blow.
Economics expert Sue Himmelweit of UK Women's Budget Group describes Chancellor George Osborne's spending review as a "stealth tax" on women's work, arguing that their unpaid labour as carers will inevitably be called upon to replace public-service cuts.
"Cuts to local government services and job loss in the public sector equate to less service, fewer jobs and more domestic burden for women," she says.
"The biggest overall cut is in local government at a cumulative 27 per cent by 2014-15.
"Local government provides many of the essential personal services that women and their families need.
"Women are the ones most likely to make up the shortfall in these services by their own unpaid efforts in the home, in some cases reducing their own employment and income to make that possible."
Research by the TUC shows that a two-child family with both parents in minimum-wage jobs earning around £15,000 a year will lose £2,700 annually by April 2013.
Single mothers will be among the worst off, with an estimated loss of £3,121 to their net income - almost a fifth.
Single mum Bernadette, who has two children, worries that the Con-Dem plans will wreck her fragile finances.
She works full time, but like many she relies on benefits to top up her low pay.
She is particularly anxious about the three-year freeze on child benefit from April - worth around £24 a week for two children.
With inflation running at 5.1 per cent, this is a big cut in real terms.
"I cannot live without this benefit," she says.
"My whole budget would just go out of the window."
And Bernadette has another fear - one which will affect thousands of others up and down the country.
"Not only do I worry about losing my benefits because of the recession, I'm nervous about whether the children's father can continue to pay the full maintenance allowance I currently rely on," she says.
"He's a civil servant whose pay is being frozen for two years and his shift allowance has been cut - so you see my entire budget is being threatened."
From January 2013 child benefit will be abolished for families where at least one parent is a higher rate taxpayer.
This change won't affect her personally, but Bernadette believes that it is plain wrong to means test child benefit.
"I think we should retain the universal benefits and claw it back from the better off through a progressive tax system," she says.
"Universal benefits also make the system much simpler and cheaper to administer."
And like many parents she will be affected by the abolition of the education maintenance allowance (EMA), which is worth £30 a week for low-income students aged 16-18 who stay in education.
It's set to be axed from this September.
"This was a big shock," Bernadette says.
"A year ago we agreed that my daughter, now 16, should study dancing full-time through a BTEC national diploma - a course in Chichester, 30 miles from where we live and the only place that does a full-time dance course that is funded.
"To get there, my daughter will be travelling on the train and I was relying on the EMA to help pay for that.
"It was frustrating to see ministers and the media depict EMA as pocket money for teenagers. It's not. Low-paid parents like myself rely on that money to keep their kids in school."
Bernadette also has the prospect of university fees to worry about.
"I'm thinking of selling our family home to pay for my children's university because I don't want them to start their adult life with a massive debt hanging around their neck," she says.
"My house is my pension and now it has to pay for my kids' education too."
Delegates in Eastbourne today will be determined to fight back for the sake of Bernadette and hundreds and thousands like her.
If Cameron thought women were an easy target, he'd better think again.
Sure Start fightback kicks off
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Monday February 28, 2011
The Morning Star
The mother of an autistic child vowed today to lead a campaign to save her local Sure Start centre after Hampshire County Council announced plans to close more than a third of its 81 centres.
Becci Frost has helped to organise a protest this Sunday outside the Oakmeadow Sure Start Centre in Fareham - one of 28 centres earmarked for closure in the council's newly agreed budget for the next financial year.
She told the Portmouth News today that the centre had been "very important" in helping her deal with her three-year-old son Zac's condition.
"They've got a sensory room at Oakmeadow which is fantastic for Zac. If he's having a bad day he can go in there and scream as loud as he likes and throw himself around knowing that he won't hurt himself," she said.
"It's a place where I know we won't be judged because he's disabled, which has happened when we've been to some mainstream clubs and groups."
Unions and campaigners warned today that the next few weeks would be "make or break" for Sure Start centres as England's councils agree their budget for 2011-12 amid pressure from central government to make cuts.
Figures released in January by 4Children and Daycare Trust showed that some 86 per cent of centres faced budget cuts from April and around 250 centres expected to close in the next year.
Christina McAnea of public-sector union Unison said: "We are getting daily reports of Sure Start centre closures and outsourcing, which will have a devastating impact on deprived communities.
"Sure Start centres are a lifeline for families and provide health, social care, childcare and outreach services under one roof.
"Without these vital services thousands of children will not get a fair chance in life."
4Children chief executive Anne Longfield added: "Parents don't want to hear central and local government playing pass the political parcel. They just want to know that their Children's Centre is here to stay.
"The next few weeks are make or break for Sure Start."
• More than 300 Mancunians - mainly mothers and children - staged a protest on Saturday after the city council announced its decision to cut £8m from its early intervention grant which funds the centres.
London shows solid support for Iraq protests
Louise Nousratpour
Friday February 25, 2011
The Morning Star
More than a 100 protesters descended on the US embassy in London today to show their solidarity for anti-government demonstrations across Iraq.
The noisy protest was organised by a coalition of British-based Kurdish and Iraqi groups to coincide with "a day of rage" in cities across Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region against the US-backed dictatorship, corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services.
Freedom Umbrella spokesman Dashty Jamal said that the mass demonstrations in Iraq had been inspired by the popular uprisings across the rest of the Middle East.
Speaking from the protest in London, Iraqi-born Mr Jamal described the government in Iraq as a farce and said that "the so-called 'war on terror' has stripped us off our basic rights, stolen our freedom and robbed our lives.
"Like Egypt and Tunisia, Iraqi people are rising up to demand an end to dictatorship and corruption in their country.
"We want unemployment benefits, jobs and basic services like electricity and running water. Our country is run by militiamen, with a minority controlling power and the oil. Workers and women have no rights."
Referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein, Mr Jamal said: "This time the people of Iraq will remove their own dictator and decide their own fate."
Behind him, protesters chanted slogans calling on the US to stop supporting the "murderers" in the Iraqi regime and the Kurdistan regional government.
Friday February 25, 2011
The Morning Star
More than a 100 protesters descended on the US embassy in London today to show their solidarity for anti-government demonstrations across Iraq.
The noisy protest was organised by a coalition of British-based Kurdish and Iraqi groups to coincide with "a day of rage" in cities across Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region against the US-backed dictatorship, corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services.
Freedom Umbrella spokesman Dashty Jamal said that the mass demonstrations in Iraq had been inspired by the popular uprisings across the rest of the Middle East.
Speaking from the protest in London, Iraqi-born Mr Jamal described the government in Iraq as a farce and said that "the so-called 'war on terror' has stripped us off our basic rights, stolen our freedom and robbed our lives.
"Like Egypt and Tunisia, Iraqi people are rising up to demand an end to dictatorship and corruption in their country.
"We want unemployment benefits, jobs and basic services like electricity and running water. Our country is run by militiamen, with a minority controlling power and the oil. Workers and women have no rights."
Referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein, Mr Jamal said: "This time the people of Iraq will remove their own dictator and decide their own fate."
Behind him, protesters chanted slogans calling on the US to stop supporting the "murderers" in the Iraqi regime and the Kurdistan regional government.
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