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Anti-Green Paper Lobby
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| Well it happened! This was probably not the first time - because ECT-Anon, perhaps the UK's most successful campaigning group have done it before - but this was one of the first times the survivor movement has descended on Parliament and lobbied MP's. It was a horrible, cold and rainy day. About forty of us queued for ages alongside the public keen to see Tony Blair at PM Question Time, tourists, also alongside a lobby of newsagents and another of student nurses who want their derisory bursary turned into a living wage. Survivors who came from outside London - who may not have even seen their MP are to be thanked profusely for their support. Police though polite were less than helpful and suggested that we would not get into the lobby at all. Did they hope that we would go away? One lobby which turned up after us were let in before us. Truth to tell a few of us left shivering, just before we were suddenly let in much earlier than expected. BBC2's From the Edge had given the lobby a big plug the night before. We were firmly against the Government's horrible Green Paper - the Reform of the Mental Health Act 1983. And especially the hated Compulsory Treatment in the Community idea. It was probably a good move having a lobby on a Wednesday because so many MP's (Members) are in the House to listen to Question Time. Inside the lobby, we filled in our green cards (nasty colour considering) and officials called names over the microphone. Few could make out the names and people with even slight hearing impairments were at a loss. Officials did not know what names had been called out - so it was a complete zoo. Accessibility to the lobby system is a real problem. One group went in to see their MP (Conservative) who was a former committee member of National MIND - and knew some of the issues. Another group went into see a Lib Dem MP from an outer London suburb and got an hour with him. Three of us went into see our North East London MP (Labour, but not all that New) and had half an hour with him in the Members café. Three mugs of tea/coffee for £1.20 and he paid. My fellow survivors were a former Metropolitan Police Officer and an Approved Social Worker. We were encouraged by his knowledge of the issues and he did say he had asked a question in the House about the need for safeguards when the "root and branch" review had first been announced by Frank Dobson in the Autumn of 1998. He agreed that the reforms were being driven by public safety, but he thought this was rather overblown. Locally the worry was about people being in crisis and causing a nuisance in their flats and round about - BUT that is not really a safety issue he conceded. We felt that this MP was really on our side and that the Green Paper was an over-reaction generally. He doubted whether legislation would be introduced by government this side of the Election and agreed that May 2001 was the sort of timescale for that. "What should we do now?" we asked. And we were advised to keep plugging away. Make MP's aware of the facts. Eventually they will take things on board. Meanwhile in Parliament Square the statue of Winston Churchill (Cons, Manic Depressive) was given an injection with the Big Needle. And just as that happened who should walk past but former Home Secretary Michael Howard. So he was injected too and photographed. He was lobbied on CTO's and asked what he thought of them. "I am against them….er…in exceptional circumstances" he said. Note that this is official Conservative Party policy as briefed, we believe by Marjorie Wallace of SANE. When questioned further, Mr Howard said, "Excuse me, I have got to go and see a pig." And sure enough as part of the farmers' protest who have been camped out in Parliament Square for weeks, a pig indeed was present on that day. One of the highspots of the day was when we went to a quiet pub (the Speaker) and Eddie, a magnificent Irish singer, sung accapella to us. Single-handedly he raised morale. No, this wasn't an enjoyable day out really. But it was important that we were there. |
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About Reclaim Bedlam
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| Reclaim Bedlam is a campaigning wing of the UK mental health user/survivor movement. Previously it has co-ordinated a protest on the steps of St Pauls Cathedral against a tasteless "thanksgiving service" for 750 years of alleged caring of the Bethlem Royal (Bedlam). And a rally at the Imperial War Museum at which lib dem health spokesperson Simon Hughes spoke. Now thanks to opposition to a new mental health Act throughout the survivor movement and also almost the entire mental health world, user/survivors are making their views known to their MP's. The consultation period to the Green Paper - ended on March 31s 2000. Here is an extract from a Statement by eleven National survivor groups: National, regional and local mental health user/survivor groups are extremely concerned about many of the proposals contained in the Government's Green Paper: Reform of the Mental Health Act. We see these proposals as discriminatory, unfair and so coercive that they will severely limit the freedom of many people who experience mental distress, and will introduce a threatening, intimidatory cloud into the lives not only of service users but of all UK citizens. We call upon the Government to think again about these proposals, and to consult properly among people whose lives will be affected by such laws. As the proposals stand, they are: •unsafe - because so many people will be frightened away from services, •unsound - because they provide for arbitrary injustice, •and unsupportive - since they pave the way for no treatments being available for mental distress other than compulsory electro-shock and neuroleptics. |
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