π #ExcludedUK
March 2020
Boris Johnson told the general public to avoid pubs, clubs and restaurants but then after just twelve days in my new job I was asked to stay home, to save lives and to protect the NHS. In return we were told no one would be left behind....
π #ExcludedUK
April 2020
Due to being ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, despite being in full time employment before it was created, Universal Credit was the only option available for me. I was one of the "lucky" ones. I was also Β£1300 a month out of pocket
π #ExcludedUK
May 2020
Debts were quickly mounting up as I had no savings & was reliant on my income, now down to Β£417 a month. I thought I got Covid but it turned out I was just experiencing panic/anxiety attacks which led to me being taken to Royal Cornwall Hospital. Scary!
π #ExcludedUK
June 2020
I was at my wits end tbh. I'd look at my chef knives and wonder how easy they would slice through my veins. I'd sit by the sea and think how far I could swim before giving up to drown. I battled with so many dark thoughts but I just clung on.
π #ExcludedUK
July 2020
Hospitality reopens! Yes! Despite being unable to furlough me, my amazing employer ensured I was one of the first back and I felt save in our Covid secure establishment but crucially, I was back to earning a living! No more UC! Thank God!!
π #ExcludedUK
August 2020
But I've got to be honest, the Eat Out To Help Out scheme that I was cooking for was really starting to alarm me. Swarms of people coming to visit from all corners of the UK....this had the potential to go tits up. I'd argue that it did too tbh.
π #ExcludedUK
September 2020
I returned home to Wales to be with my family but as luck would have it, I returned to an area that was in a localised lockdown and then Wales announced it's firebreak. I lived on the border though so I could still find work in England, right?
π #ExcludedUK
October 2020
Nope. The job I lined up in England was taken away the very next day as England announced that it too would having another lockdown. Now I would need to sign up to Universal Credit again. This time though I was unable to do so....why?!
π #ExcludedUK
November 2020
Because apparently the claim I made earlier in the year was still classed as open despite me returning to work so after nearly THREE weeks back and forth, I returned to the old claim but...last wage in October meant no UC for me until December 9th.
π #ExcludedUK
December 2020
No end in sight to all the Covid aggro but for me the real virus was the govt and Mr Sunak. I'd also been campaigning throughout the year for the 3M who'd been left behind & it was taking it's toll. Inbox flooded with messages from desperate souls
π #ExcludedUK
December 2020 Part II.
Do you have any idea what it is like to be talking to complete strangers and practically begging them not to take their lives? Trying to support in theirs and your own darkest hours? Wanting to help but being unable to. Gut-wrenching it is
π #ExcludedUK
December 2020 Part III
By this point I'd been on TV so many times telling my story, I'd wrote to MP, I'd wrote to Mr Sunak, I'd tweeted relentlessly, I'd helped arrange media, I'd done everything I felt I could but still it wasn't enough. Not for me or the 3M.
π #ExcludedUK
January 2021.
New Year, new start? Not quite. Just the realisation that on the first day of 2021 it had been 287 days of silence from those we entrust to support us and our country. I didn't just feel let down, I felt I was no longer a citizen of my country.
π #ExcludedUK
January 2021 Part II
I also turned 36. I felt robbed of my future. I felt like my life no longer meant anything. I put on a brave face because you know, you gotta init. You just crack on and do your level best but I wouldn't have got here without support.
π #ExcludedUK
January 2021 Part III
....I wouldn't have got here without support......
That's one of the few good things about being excluded, although the circumstances are unjust, it did however restore my faith in human kindness. So many amazing people. It was beautiful.
π #ExcludedUK
February 2021
But here we are still. We've been on TV, on radio, online, in the papers, in Parliament, debate after debate, story after story, struggle after struggle whilst being told lie after lie, given excuse after excuse....
π #ExcludedUK
March 2021
The excuses and lies can stop though in just 13 days as the treasury and Mr Sunak could and should include the 3M UK taxpayers that have always been taxpayers in the next budget. They could save jobs, businesses, homes and lives.
π #ExcludedUK
I'm angry at this govt but not because I was excluded as such, I'm angry because they excluded so many and being excluded opened my eyes up to so many injustices in this country. I also feel guilty that perhaps I was blind for too long. Where have I been?!
π #ExcludedUK
I don't know why I wrote this thread but it's good to get some things off your chest. I'll be the first to admit my mind is so fried these days but despite being excluded, I feel like I gained so much from it. I discovered myself in so many ways. I really did.
π #ExcludedUK
I discovered I was liked. I discovered that I had held myself back. I discovered that I could quite easily jump over hurdles, show character in the face of adversity, lead by example, be #relentless and I discovered what I believe is masses of potential.
π #ExcludedUK
For me being excluded has actually had such a profound affect on my life that I am unsure if I would actually change it if I could turn back time but that doesn't make this gross injustice right or any easier to swallow. It just makes me want to create change.
π #ExcludedUK
So irrespective of what happens on Budget Day, regardless as to what lies or excuses that Mr Sunak may give on 3rd March. I believe there are so many who mean it when they say #WeWIllNotGoAway so I urge the Chancellor to do the right thing. You know what it is.
π #ExcludedUK
Leave no one behind. Be in this together. Do whatever it takes.
That is simply all Mr Sunak has to do. Stop hiding from a challenge, stop telling mistruths and misleading the general public and simply do what you should have done from day one.
Your job.
