What's wrong at Westminster?

I spent a couple of mind numbing hours today watching the BBC Parliament feed covering the Backbench business debate brought by the Labour MP Michael Meacher.

Mind numbing? Yes, here were about twenty seven MPs from a variety of political parties, the majority standing up for those that cannot stand.  A lot of sad tales, I can't bear to use the word story, about disabled people some expected to travel overnight and sleep on a railway station platform for a connecting train.  People expected to go to meetings to prepare them for a return to a job that they had been invalided out of on health grounds!

All the stuff about the damage done by the incorrect reports that AtoS sent to the DWP and errors in judgement by the DWP Decision Makers, going on and on.  It was getting depressing, hearing so many bad news tales.  It was difficult listening through the accents of the various MPs, but I persevered.

Then with about ten minutes to go, having been hidden for the first half of the debate, the Minister for Work and Pensions, Mark Hoban, gets up and says, in effect, "I don't believe what you say, there's no way people can have been so depressed that they killed themselves.  Oh and there's nothing wrong with the Work Capability Assessments or AtoS."

He goes on to say that Decision Makers were able to take variability into account, so that if you are good today but bad tomorrow, you would be able to claim ESA.  I have it, in writing from a Decision Maker that he was NOT allowed to take into account variations in my condition caused by climate!

What a flaming plonker the Minister sounded!  Had he even been in the House for the first half when MPs were telling of people in my situation where AtoS got it totally wrong, passed on their report to the Decision Maker who, working on incorrect information gaily decides that the claimant doesn't need money and that they are fit for work.

Michael Meacher in his summary said he had never seen a debate where such cross party agreement occurred.  If Mark Hoban came out into the real world and looked at a few diverse blogs, fora (forums, for those that like incorrect plurals) and information websites, he'd realise that every lie he has been fed by his master was another nail in the coffins of disabled people.

Mr Hoban, Ms McVey (at some conference today), Ms Amber Rudd (my MP), if you've got a chance, look at:

http://calumslist.org/
http://wearespartacus.org.uk/
http://thehardesthit.wordpress.com/
http://fullfact.org/

And then there's blogs like:
http://benefitscroungingscum.blogspot.co.uk/
http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.co.uk/

[Addition: I am running low on energy today and forgot the main point I wanted to make]

I believe that the method of debating in the House of Commons is flawed, two to three hours of questioning and then the Minister has five minutes to reply to all questions asked.  It should be more like Prime Minister's Questions:

The MP for Someplace asks a question, with others asking to add in, and sits.
The Minister/Secretary of State/Prime Minister answers the question and we move on to the next question.

That to me is a debate, not ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, answer.