⏰ If only! Many of the #ExcludedUK inc in #Chatham & #Aylesford remain in a #Sunak crisis: poverty, homelessness, debt with 40+ suicides inc 3 since @UKLabour took office. Join @APPGGapsSupport, attend the EGM, demand @andyburnham honours his words of restitution @IainDale

📢 #IsItOK to campaign alongside 3.8 million excluded UK taxpayers for over SIX YEARS, promise them justice, then fall silent when you become Prime Minister? @andyburnham, we are still waiting for answers. #IsItOK that another #ExcludedUK member was made homeless last Friday... the fourth house last in the last SIX weeks!!! We thought you were trying to end homelessness?!?!!! For well over six years, Andy Burnham was one of the most vocal and passionate political supporters of #ExcludedUK, campaigning WITH us for the millions of hardworking UK taxpayers who were wholly or partially excluded from meaningful Covid-19 financial support. These included freelancers, the self-employed, small business owners, company directors and thousands of people, including those working in the TV and film industries, many of whom saw their livelihoods disappear overnight. Andy did not simply offer a few words of sympathy. He actively campaigned alongside us, co-hosting several events with Jennifer Griffiths, Head of ExcludedUK, speaking directly to our members, listening to their devastating experiences and repeatedly pledging his support. 🎥 WATCH THE ATTACHED VIDEO In this recording, Andy Burnham promises to pursue financial remedy AND a public apology for those so appallingly let down. He knew the human cost of exclusion. He knew that at least 40 people had taken their own lives, with their deaths reported to ExcludedUK in connection with the devastating consequences of being denied support. He has described the exclusion as "indefensible" and said a solution was "fair, proportionate and doable". Yet since becoming Prime Minister, the man who stood beside us for well over six years appears to have fallen silent. 📩 Our emails and messages to Andy Burnham have gone unanswered. 📩 Our correspondence to Chancellor @JohnHealey_MP has also failed to secure the answers and action we have been seeking. 💔 Families are still grieving. Lives and livelihoods remain shattered. People are still living with the financial and psychological consequences of decisions made more than six years ago. Attemtped suicides are still a regular occurence! Not even the promised apology has materialised. 💥 An apology costs NOTHING! No Treasury funding. No Budget allocation. No complicated financial calculations. An apology is FREE, and that is something we can ALL afford! So, Andy, we ask you: ❓ #IsItOK to promise hope to millions of people and then leave them waiting when you finally have the power to deliver? ❓ #IsItOK to acknowledge the devastating human cost of exclusion but still fail to provide even a public apology? ❓ #IsItOK for those who dutifully paid into the system, but were deliberately left out, to still be fighting for justice more than SIX YEARS later? Andy, you stood with us when you were campaigning. We need you to stand with us now that you are in power. 3.8 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN. We are not going away. #ExcludedUK #IsItOK #TheLastLeg #AndyBurnham #JohnHealey #Channel4 #AdamHills #JoshWiddicombe #AlexBrooker #TVandFilm #Freelancers #SelfEmployed #Covid19 #CovidSupport #ExcludedFighter #WeAreNotGoingAway #Relentless

👇 Highlights from the #ExcludedUK Pre Budget Event on Wednesday. Mr Sunak must surely be able to spare the two minutes to listen. The Chancellor would be doing the country a complete disservice if he ignores those left behind on March 3rd. It's time to bring us in from the cold.

🚨EXCLUDEDUK... ON THE MAP!!!🚨 A quick media heads-up for Wednesday 28 October, Budget Day. ExcludedUK has booked a digital video and audio advertising van which will be driving around Parliament Square and Westminster from 9am to 5pm, broadcasting campaign material throughout the day. The van will feature: • video clips of Andy Burnham speaking publicly about ExcludedUK and the injustice faced by those excluded from meaningful Covid-19 financial support • testimony from ExcludedUK members about the continuing financial, personal and mental health consequences of exclusion • ExcludedUK campaign messaging and calls for recognition, accountability and redress Our most prolific campaigner, Tim Pravda, also known as @ExcludedFighter, will be around Parliament Square throughout the day, together with other ExcludedUK members, and will be available to speak to journalists and broadcasters. So, if you or any of your colleagues are in Westminster covering the Budget, please keep an eye out for the van and for Tim and our members. We would be very grateful if you could also flag this with your political, Westminster, economics or newsdesk colleagues. After more than six years, the 3.8 million taxpayers who were excluded from meaningful Covid-19 financial support are still campaigning to be heard. If you would like interviews, background information, member case studies, video footage or briefing material in advance, please contact me. Jennifer Griffiths Head of ExcludedUK Secretariat Secretary, Gaps in Covid-19 Financial Support APPG 📧 [email protected] 🌐 excludeduk.org Dutifully paid in. Deliberately left out. @BBC @BBCNews @BBCBreaking @BBCPolitics @BBCWorld @BBCR1 @BBCRadio2 @BBCRadio3 @BBCr4today @bbc5live @bbclookeast @bbclondonnews @BBCScotland @bbcwalesnews @BBCnireland @ITV @itvnews @itvanglia @itvcentral @itvmeridian @granadatv @itvtynetees @sky @SkyNews @SkyNewsBiz @Channel4 @Channel4News @E4Tweets @More4 @channel5_tv @5_News @GBNEWS @TalkTV @LBC @TimesRadio @talkSPORT @VirginRadioUK @ClassicFM @thisisheart @CapitalOfficial @KissFMUK @magicfm @guardian @thetimes @Telegraph @FT @mailonline @Independent @DailyMirror

Huge thanks to the amazing @CarolineLucas for lending us her support yesterday. Her passion and desire is something that the #Excludeduk community have really cherished. Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou. #wearenotgoingaway

ANDY IS FOR US. NOW, AS PRIME MINISTER, HE CAN DELIVER JUSTICE. Andy Burnham has been the loudest and most consistent political champion of ExcludedUK since the beginning of our campaign. In his own words, which you can watch in the video below: “The support for you is strong and it will always be there, the reason being because the level of injustice that you have faced is indefensible.” He listened when others would not. He gave our members a platform. He publicly recognised the devastating injustice inflicted on 3.8 million UK taxpayers who dutifully paid into the system, but were deliberately left without parity of Covid-19 financial support when they needed it most. During his first speech as Labour leader, Andy spoke about putting political power at the service of people and places that had been waiting too long to hope again. He promised to bring back the hope. He also spoke about the Hillsborough Law and the importance of ensuring that people who have suffered institutional injustice are finally given truth, accountability and justice. The ExcludedUK community is one of those communities. More than six years later, thousands remain trapped by debt, lost businesses, lost homes, damaged health and severe mental distress. More than 40 people connected with our campaign saw no other way out than to take their own lives. Towards the end of his leadership speech, Andy also spoke about supporting British business and rebuilding the economy. That promise must include the company directors, freelancers, sole traders, newly self-employed people and small business owners who were legally prevented from trading, denied fair and equal support and forced to carry the financial consequences personally. These businesses did not fail because they were unviable. They were failed by government policy. Andy has taken part in ExcludedUK livestream events, listened directly to our members and repeatedly highlighted the need to secure justice for the excluded. During our livestream on 24 June 2024, he told us: “The public see you and the public support you.” He also promised: “We will work with you to make sure that the excluded is recognised as one of the injustices that this country needs to rectify.” Andy made his commitment unmistakably clear: “I supported you back in the pandemic, and we support you now. The passage of time doesn’t change that.” And he recognised the strength of our case: “The support for you is strong and it will always be there, the reason being because the level of injustice that you have faced is indefensible.” Today, Andy Burnham is no longer simply one of our strongest supporters. He is our Prime Minister. He now has the power to turn those commitments into meaningful action. For the 3.8 million, bringing back hope must mean recognition, accountability, parity and justice. Prime Minister, you have always stood with us. Now is the time to come through on your promise. Bring back the hope. Deliver justice for the excluded. excludeduk.org #ExcludedUK #WeAreNotGoingAway #Relentless

Yesterday I spoke in the Westminster Hall debate on Gaps in COVID support, highlighting the ideas brought up by the Metro Mayors and telling the harrowing story of Nicola who has been refused support. #ExcludedDebate

👇 Highlights from the #ExcludedUK Pre Budget Event on Wednesday. Mr Sunak must surely be able to spare the two minutes to listen. The Chancellor would be doing the country a complete disservice if he ignores those left behind on March 3rd. It's time to bring us in from the cold.

If you are one of 3.8 Million taxpayers hung out to dry by this Tory Gov with no meaningful Covid-19 financial support 👇 @AndyBurnhamGM talking to @ExcludedUK today. 1: Financial restitution from the next @UKLabour Gov 2: Clawed back fraud money should go to the #ExcludedUK!

WE ARE STILL GRIEVING! THIS COULD AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED! This week is #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek and this feels so poignant as the #ExcludedUK community were devasted by losing one of our members to suicide last Bank Holiday Monday. This time last week, two children came home after a day out with their grandparents, to find their excluded parent had taken their own life. Just think about that for a second... what had been a lovely day out at the seaside had turned into the worst day of these children's lives. This #ExcludedUK suicide, and the other 37 that we know of, could have been avoided if @RishiSunak and the @Conservatives had not made the policy decision to exclude 3.8 million UK taxpayers from equal Covid-19 Financial Support. The excluded were told that they were forbidden from opening their businesses and those employed who were affected, were denied the CJRS offered due to various circumstances, all no fault of their own! MPs... PLEASE show your constituents you care by joining the 'Gaps in Covid-19 Financial Support' APPG. For those interested in joining the APPG as an ordinary member, Labour MP Steve Witherden (Mongomeryshire and Glyndŵr) @switherdenMP, set up and is Chair of the ‘Gaps in Covid-19 Financial Support APPG’ and your excluded constituents would really appreciate you register to join. All officer positions have been taken, so you are invited to be an ordinary member. If you are unable to attend the meetings in person, for whatever reason, this is not an issue as we will email all progress directly to you after each meeting. Our previous APPG had over 260 cross-party MPs and we are hoping to match that with our new APPG. To join, please DM us on here, or email [email protected] If you are not aware of us, please read on…. ExcludedUK represent the 3.8 million UK taxpayers excluded from parity of Covid-19 financial support, yet they were told they could not work or open their businesses. That 10% of the UK workforce is equivalent to the population of Wales! Also, there were only an average of 500,000 job vacancies during the pandemic, (source data from the ONS) , so what were the other 3.3 million of us supposed to do?!?! YES! This WAS 5 years ago… but the devastation is still being felt by businesses and individuals, YOUR CONSTITUENTS, even now! 1 SUCCESSFUL SUICIDE AND 10 ATTEMPTED SUICIDES RECENTLY OVER BOUNCE BACK LOANS! YOUR #EXCLUDEDUK CONSTITUENTS NEED YOU AND ARE ASKING WHERE YOU ARE… PLEASE SHOW THEM YOUR SUPPORT BY JOINING OUR APPG We have sadly had at least 38 suicides and hundreds of attempted suicides, 10 in the last few months. We dutifully paid in but were deliberately left out! Lives & livelihoods ruined! Website: excludeduk.org There are over 20 categories of exclusions including: ·New starters ·New Businesses ·PAYE freelancers ·Newly self-employed ·Those denied furlough ·Directors paid in Dividends ·Directors paid PAYE Annually ·Made redundant before 19 Mar 2020 ·Directors of Companies not in Profit ·Self-employed with +£50k trading profits ·Businesses ineligible for Business Grants ·Those in maternity/parental/adoption leave ·Those earning less than 50% income from self-employment ·Those whose personal circumstances have affected entitlement to support e.g. pensions, bereavement allowance, carer’s allowance, students, armed forces veterans… and more… ExcludedUK are asking for: (1) An apology from government so this injustice is recognised and assurance that it will never happen again. (2) Parity of support (3) Acknowledgement of loss of earnings/profit and consequential loss. #ExcludedUK

Thank you for your less than constructive feedback about our campaign... maybe you would like to explain to 3.8 million UK taxpayers what is "thick" by calling for @Keir_Starmer to U-turn on a decision after he called for our scandal to be reversed and parity of Covid-19 Financial Support to be awarded. If you watch this video, maybe you might learn something instead of calling people names when it seems it is you who is ignorant... #ExcludedUK

Through the pandemic, the Tory Govt excluded nearly 4 million self-employed people and other workers from financial support. This cost lives and livelihoods.😷😡 Today, I asked the Leader of the House for a debate to seek justice for the @ExcludedUK

In addition to speaking out about @ExcludedUK, I am urging @BorisJohnson and @RishiSunak directly to take action to address this injustice and provide those affected with overdue financial support. It's the right thing to do both morally and politically. #ExcludedUK #CPR📈

Hi @Meg_HillierMP and @HackneyAbbott. Given that so many are now in extreme hardship, can your #ExcludedUK in #Hackney #Shoreditch #StokeNewington rely on you to also call on this gov to meet with the APPG and EUK to finally address this ongoing scandal? xitter.cf/i/status/1306625268229…

Brilliant question from @UKLabour’s @AlexDaviesJones on the plight of those #excluded from Government support. @SteveBarclay says “we’ve covered this” 😱 Tell that to the millions of people left struggling by this Government’s complete inaction. They’re not going away.

Despite years of paying taxes, 3 million people have been left with no support from the government since this pandemic began. It is an injustice on an industrial scale. @RishiSunak – do the right thing and give @ExcludedUK the proper support they need. #ParityNotCharity