British Tories attack dead soldier’s mother

This video from the USA says about itself:

British Politician Tony Benn Condemns Escalation of War in Afghanistan & Defends Britain’s Socialized Healthcare System.

About the British Conservative (with a few Liberal Democrat hangers on) government; from the conservative Daily Mail:

Grieving mother has income support stopped on Remembrance Day… because she got compensation for the death of soldier son

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 3:39 PM on 12th November 2010

The mother of the youngest British soldier killed in Afghanistan has condemned officials for using a death-in-service payment to stop her income support allowance.

Lucy Aldridge, 42, returned from an Armistice Day ceremony – in which her son William’s name was unveiled on her village war memorial – to find a Jobcentre Plus letter warning that her £307.80-a-month income support had been suspended.

When she queried the ruling an official said she was under investigation over a ‘capital sum’ she was suspected of holding.

To open that letter, on Armistice Day of all days, after watching William’s sacrifice honoured on our local memorial, was insensitive beyond belief,’ said Miss Aldridge a single mother with two other children – George, seven, and Archie, five.

‘The letter was dated November 9th. It was timed to arrive on the 11th. Have they no shred of compassion? ‘I received £66,000 as a death-in-service payment for Will. I didn’t want it – I’d rather have my son back than the government’s blood money.

‘None of it is for me. I’ve put it in a savings account for Will’s brothers to give them the future he never had. No one ever said I had to declare it to anyone.

Youngest British death: Rifleman William Aldridge, from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, who was killed on July 10 by an explosion near Sangin in Helmand Province, Afghanistan

‘Since my son’s death I’ve raised thousands of pounds for the William Aldridge Foundation, which provides support for bereaved service families and injured veterans.

‘Every penny raised is absolutely transparent. These are clearly not my personal funds.’ …

Will was serving with The 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, in July last year when the fatal Taliban attack took place.

His troop was hit by two roadside bombs in a ‘daisy-chain’ attack near their Forward Operating Base at Wishtan, near Sangin, in Helmand province.

The courageous teenager, then just seven weeks past his 18th birthday, spent his last moments helping the injured and comforting his badly-wounded commanding officer, Major Alistair Field. In all, five Riflemen died.

Former printer Miss Aldridge, of Bredenbury, Herefordshire, is unable to work because she suffers from a degenerative and incurable tissue disease called Hypermobility syndrome.

She has now been awarded full disability allowance for life.

When she explained Will’s death payment to a Jobcentre Plus official she was told she would have to supply documentation proving where the money came from.

‘This means I now have to sift through extremely painful paperwork sent to me by the MoD with reference to my son’s death and any money which would be payable to his estate,’ she said. …

‘I am persecuted for having a son who gave his life, by a government department on the most emotional of days, when the rest of this country stood silent to remember the fallen.

‘I am outraged at the level of disrespect shown to our Armed Forces and their families by a Government that has zero compassion for the suffering endured – targeting at every opportunity the most vulnerable.

‘It is an utter disgrace. William would be turning in his grave if he for one minute thought that his sacrifice would create greater suffering for his own family.’

Downing Street rejected calls to protect war widows and injured soldiers from the coalition’s pension cuts today, insisting “tough decisions” were necessary to rebuild the public finances: here.

Britain: A broad array of activists expressed their solidarity today with the students who occupied the Tory headquarters earlier this week: here.