For centuries a prejudice has prevailed. First religious leaders and then politicians promoted a myth of an undeserving underclass. These leaders claim to be good, honest, upstanding, charitable folk. They always claim to be fair-minded and supportive of those deemed deserving. But when disadvantaged minorities are classed as undeserving, they suffer from the cruelest penalties of hatred.

There is one word that is common throughout this history, one word that marks a person as undeserving. That word is lazy. Today it may be more politely phrased as unwilling to work.

Today's politicians will claim that they are different to leaders of the past. These politicians will laugh at accusations of prejudice. They state that welfare is broken and too many people claim dishonestly. Yet no evidence-base of mass laziness or dishonesty is ever provided, just anicdotes.

Today, disability claimants, in particular those with mental health problems, are the victims of the malignant disease that is this lingering centuries-old prejudice. The language may have mellowed but the mechanics are the same. This prejudice may now be pushed into the subconscious but the suffering caused is all too real.

This site shows the history of this prejudice. It shows the common themes. And it exposes the untruths told by today's politicians and economists, using evidence-based statistics taken from reliable national and international sources.

What next?

As the new Coalition Government looks to cut the public deficit, we have already forgotten the cause of our new austerity - the financial crash. The people who caused the huge public debt, those who work in the city of London, continue to earn huge salaries and bonuses.

Yet public spending cuts are falling hardest on the poorest. This would be completely unacceptable to the public if they recognised the poor and vulnerable have little or no freedom to change their circumstances. There is proportionately more chance that, if you're born poor in Britain, you'll stay poor. But the public are baying for blood and the Government are all too happy to oblige by targeting disability benefits.

By promoting prejudice, politicians and the media can enure the most vulnerable people can be scapegoated and forced to suffer for the economic mistakes of others. This is perhaps the greatest struggle facing those challenging discrimination against mental health sufferers.

Irreparable Damage

Surveys of suicide show that rates rise under Conservative Governments due to market-orientated non-interventionist policy. If we return to the suicide rates as that as under the last ideologically-driven government, the Thatcher Government, then up to 18,360 extra people will die unnecessarily at a cost of £24 billion to the economy. This is equivilant to a 9/11 every year for five years.

These potential figures are unacceptable and any Government that allows suicide figures to rise by any amount must be brought to account.

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