Liberals - just fanning the flames?

[nickd]

Man sets himself on fire in Torquay
Town Hall office

Liberal MP Adrian Sanders more concerned for

"vulnerability of the people who work
in the office"

How out of touch are our MPs?


I have to confess to being quite taken back by Liberal MP for Torbay - Adrian Sander's comments relating to an article in my local paper the Herald Express. The paper ran the following harrowing headline:

"Man sets himself on fire in Torquay Town Hall office"

It happened here:

The incident was at the Town Hall's 'connections' office which is a port of call for those who have an enquiry involving Torbay Council, in this case it involved an '18-year-old man who was in an agitated state' who apparently ended up - as staff waited for an ambulance - reaching into his pocket, pulling out a can of lighter fluid which he poured over his legs and then set fire to himself with a lighter.


There have been calls for an inquiry into the circumstances behind the incident by councillor Darren Cowell. It is understood a security officer tried to take the lighter away from the homeless man before having to drag the man from the office and rolling him on the floor, before extinguishing the flames.


Police, Fire and and ambulance attended the scene and the man was subsequently taken Torbay Hospital where he was treated for his injuries before being put in the care of social services due to his mental state. The incident happened in the Connections office at the side of the Town Hall building on Friday, December 7.



"It is believed the man walked into Connections and discussed a benefit application. He is then said to have become unwell, prompting staff to call an ambulance."


"Torbay Council could not confirm whether a dispute had taken place."



You can read the full story in 'this is South Devon here. Sanders was quick to identify what he saw as the 'real issue' in his statement he said this was more to do with the "vulnerability of the people who work in the office" whereas others understandably relate it more closely to the plight of an 18 year man with mental health difficulties facing what would appear to be quite obvious problems whilst in the council's 'connections' office. It is noteworthy that an ambulance was seemingly called before the man set light to himself.


Views expressed on Twitter include one by 'rattlecans' " "The comment by Torbay MP Adrian Sanders is stunning"; to which the MP retorted "Report has no quotes from anyone directly in the know or eye-witness reports. I'd wait for some hard facts B4 commenting on causes". It is noteworthy that Sanders hadn't waited for the hard facts before concluding it was the vulnerability of the office staff which went to the core of the issue rather than those of the man concerned.


Constituent MP for Torbay Sanders will be only too familiar with Torbay being an 'unemployment blackspot' with its Tormohun ward, covering much of Torquay town centre, having one in eight of 16 to 24 year olds on the dole (13.5 per cent) — roughly double the national average.


Sanders is known to be a critic of his own government's policies. In 2010 he warned over the impending effect of benefit cuts:



“As the debate continues more of the impact on low income working and non working households will come to light and more measures to lessen the damage will have to be considered.”



An earlier article reveals how Sanders didn't think his government had 'thought benefit changes through. Given the problems which exist in the area and the fact a young man - for whatever reason - was desperate enough to set fire to himself, isn't it time that politicians stopped springing to the defence of any one other than the all too often condemned benefit claimant?


Government has a clear duty to accept their welfare reforms will result in real casualties, stories are increasingly emerging over the very serious situations which are arising. This is not the first time a claimant has been driven to an attempt like this and I'm sure it won't be the last. Government has to accept that some people just cannot cope with the frustration of not being able to get anywhere with their enquiries with authorities who are under - resourced and over laden with adherence to procedure; the lack of adequate advice services only makes situations such as this much worse than they need be. When it ends in people setting themselves on fire, government has a clear duty to get the extinguisher out rather than just carry on fanning the flames until they can be smothered in yet another rarely seen report.


It's time the Liberals stood up squarely to their Conservative partners and told them 'enough is enough' when people end up getting hurt. The Liberals have a track record in gaining publicity in all that they 'intend' to oppose but when it comes to the vote time and time again it is with the Conservatives rather than with their conscience.


The Liberal party must start to show how its 'values' extends to representing those on benefits as well as everyone else - after all they form a proportion of any parliamentary constituency and therefore deserve to be listened to rather than instantly condemned as 'the problem'.