en-gb Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:54:42 GMT 15 Cross community campaigners for social cohesion in Newham have condemned the decision of a government planning inspector to allow Islamic group, Tablighi Jamaat, permission to breach planning laws. http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=383 ../index.php 24th May 2011 UK The Government's planned cuts in housing benefit for 25-34 year-olds will be a false economy that will end up burdening welfare services, according to the Christian Peoples Alliance party. Changes to be introduced in little over six month's time will see an average cut in housing benefit of £47 per week for people receiving the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR). This is because their benefits will only cover the cost of a room in a shared house, instead of a self-contained flat. The CPA says what may appear a small change affecting 88,000 people could have huge consequences for their ability to put and to keep their lives on track. Susan May has managed multi-million pound projects in the social housing sector and is Housing spokeswoman for the CPA, which is the biggest supported party in the capital sitting outside the London Assembly. In a message to the party's National Policy Committee today she said: "People who have been homeless or have lost their jobs need security in their home to focus all the energies they have on finding a job, restoring their confidence, and building relationships – crucially – with the right people, those who will help and support them on the way. Shared accommodation means that you are forced to rub shoulders with strangers who may not be trustworthy, who may steal your belongings or food, who could influence vulnerable people to re-offend, or renew previous additions or patterns of destructive behaviour. It means that your final defence against the outside world, your ability to choose and to block out bad influences is removed, making you powerless. As Crisis, the homelessness charity put it, these changes ‘will be an absolute disaster’." According to the Christian Peoples Alliance, a big gulf is emerging between the ideological theory of the Coalition government and reality. Free market theory says that shared accommodation will be safe, secure, fun even and in sufficient quantity to provide adults with a home from which they can build their lives. But the party says the reality could not be more different for tens of thousands of vulnerable people. Susan May added: "There is a false assumption that multi-occupancy accommodation is already there and available. In many places in Britain it is not, and the result will be further pressure on temporary accommodation and homelessness. If or when such vulnerable people do succumb to pressure and cause harm to themselves or others, much greater costs will be borne by front line services – the police, the NHS and the courts. It can cost up to £50,000 and huge efforts from a number of services to help someone off the streets once they have got there. These measures are a false economy." The Christian Peoples Alliance has been running a campaign during the past year to warn churchgoers who voted Conservative or Liberal Democrat against being soothed over the radical cuts being made to stabilise the economy. The CPA is protesting against how vulnerable people have been singled out for repeated assurances that they will be protected, with the burden of savings falling on ‘the broadest shoulders’, while the reverse is occurring. Susan May told the CPA Federal Policy Committee: "The pain of the budget cuts is being felt most acutely not by those with the ability to tighten their belts but by those who barely had a safety net within the previous system. The government is desperate for short term gain, knowing that any backlash that will be felt cannot easily be traced back to these kinds of decisions and may occur when the politicians have moved on. These changes are a false economy. The CPA wants to see measures which establish a virtuous cycle of savings, rather than vicious and increasingly untenable cuts." http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=382 ../index.php 20th May 2011 UK Responding to the announcement today of proposals to reform the House of Lords, the Christian Peoples Alliance party says that the proposals by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg are an “untimely distraction” given more pressing issues such as the scale and speed of government cuts, the urgency of tackling climate change and the failure to take action on breakdown Britain by measures supporting marriage. In 2009, across Britain a quarter of a million people voted under PR for the 'Christian ticket'. The CPA is linked to Christian Democrats across Europe and says that if the reforms are approved, it would be better for the Anglican bench of bishops to withdraw and for the laity to instead seek a democratic mandate for Christian views. Under the Clegg reforms, the number of Anglican bishops would be cut from 26 to 12. Sixty peers would be appointed to sit as crossbenchers; STV would be used to elect the rest. Alan Craig is the Leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance and commented: “There is no national mood supporting the further dismantling of the Constitution. Even as a White Paper and Draft Bill, these proposals distract from more pressing matters, such as the impact of the Coalition cuts, which are falling on some of Britain’s most vulnerable people. The current House of Lords is a classic British fudge and full of anomalies, but it happens to work very well in doing the job of improving legislation. There is a rich diversity of views expressed by peers experienced in public life, who would be reluctant to be corralled onto party lists to get elected. “In a statement to the House of Commons, Nick Clegg said a draft bill would outline plans for 80% of peers to be elected from 2015 but it would be up to MPs and peers to decide the final balance of the chamber, which could be 100% elected. The planned legislature would have 300 members, one third of them elected by a proportional system each five years. The size of the second chamber would fall from about 750 to 300 under Mr Clegg's plans. Its functions and powers as a revising chamber would remain the same. No bishops were included in the joint House of Lords and House of Commons committee that produced today's proposals. In response, Mr Craig said that rather than a multi-faith mish-mash in the new Lords, or the marginalisation of the bishops, the bishops should withdraw and focus on pastoral work:“If these proposals are approved, then two classes of peer will be created – those with democratic legitimacy and those appointed under the patronage of the Prime Minister. In these circumstances, the best option for the bishops of the Church of England is to withdraw. "If the churches want the voice of Christian teaching to be heard in Parliament, then they must do what Christians across Europe have done for over a century and stand for election as Christian Democrats. The Christian Peoples Alliance will be inviting Christians with experience in public service to become candidates and seek a democratic mandate in future elections to the new House of Lords.” The draft bill and white paper is to be scrutinised by a committee of 13 peers and 13 MPs, with a report due early next year. http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=381 ../index.php 17th May 2011 UK http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=379 ../index.php 2nd May 2011 UK The adoption this week of a new national Constitution by Hungary has beenwelcomed by the Christian Peoples Alliance party in Britain as "a sign ofhope for Europe". It guarantees the right to life from conception,protects the natural family, the holy crown and the place of Christianityin Hungary’s 1000-year history. The new constitution includes clausesdefining marriage as a union between one man and one woman and commits thecountry to protecting Hungary's environment. Proposed by the Fidesz -Christian Democrat government, 262 Hungarian MPs voted in favour with 44against and one abstention - reflecting the two-thirds majority enjoyed by Fidesz. http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=378 ../index.php 22nd April 2011 UK AV First Step Towards Full PR say CPA in KingstonDebate with MPs Ed Davey and Zac Goldsmith http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=377 ../index.php 18th April 2011 UK A long-standing Labour activist is running for the Scottish Parliament for the Christian Peoples Alliance party in May's elections. Michael McGlynnis standing in the Lothian Region where he is asking voters for their 2nd List vote. The party draws its support from across the churches andMichael says he will take his passion for social justice, tackling poverty and homelessness into the Parliament, where he will also confront attemptsby the secular parties to marginalise Christianity from the public square. http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=374 ../index.php 16th April 2011 UK Housing benefit changes that came into force on April 1st 2011 are a betrayal of promises made by parties in the Coalition that they'd support family life in Britain, say the Christian Peoples Alliance party. The Christian Democrats say the measures will have a disproportionate impact upon larger families and are another attack on the poor. In addition to new benefit conditions, "affordable rent" changes will mean Housing Association landlords who want to provide desparately needed homes for those on housing waiting lists will have to part fund them by charging new tenants up to 80 per cent of market rent. Tenancies could also last as little as two years. http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=373 ../index.php 5th April 2011 UK http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=372 ../index.php 4th April 2011 UK A former captain in the British Army Medical Corps says that Britain's driftto secularism is closing down freedom of expression and creating the kind ofclosed society which British forces have been fighting against inAfghanistan. Astrid Willis, 33, is standing as a candidate for theChristian Peoples Alliance party in elections to the Scottish Parliament.She was one of the first serving officers to arrive in the troubled southernwar zone, where she spent 6 months treating combatants and civilians. http://cpaparty.org.uk//index.php?page=news&id=376 ../index.php 2nd April 2011 UK