Mhairi Black MP: speech on Universal Credit, Commons Opposition Day Debate

Mhairi Black MP (Paisley and Renfrewshire South, Scottish National Party). Opposition Day Debate: Pause and fix of roll-out of universal credit. 18/10/2017

[@davidroy5166]

22year old lass with more fire in her belly than most.Go Mhairi!

[@fraser_mr2009]

they are all corrupt. stop the police and criminal gangs harassing me

[@eliwhaley4804]

Shes a disgrace

[@86cornishmaid]

I love this woman and her courage to speak up on a government that is failing its very people. Well done

[@michaelheeheejackson7255]

Im not even Scottish and i Love Mhairi

[@suminshizzles6951]

This is somebody who is looking after their people. Unlike most conservatives MP's who have more than one job

[@j.b.5621]

We need more like her and the world would be a better place.

[@oystergold6521]

True lady with a big heart speaking up for everyday ppl, this government is getting told what and how to rule UK by the elite billionaire's, need more ppl like mhairi Black respect

[@chrisconway8406]

Wish we had more MPs like mhairi at last some common sense.

[@LEE-ty8vq]

I like her. She is Scottish. And she is right about everything she says.

[@shannondalshaug686]

The problem is still going on I wish that these politicians would be put through the same process as a uc claimant or a pip claimant

[@jamesnamo2077]

An absolute firebrand... very compassionate and eloquent.

[@mohammedsajaib1919]

Finally somone who can speak up for everyone in need hats off to you

[@benking9503]

That Scottish lady! Love that accent, fantastic! ( no I'm gonni carry on! Listen to me for a wee second here just now) Love you! Your great!

[@the-elite-firmtiger4881]

Love you mhairi black, you are an inspiration

[@tigu2012]

She is a Light in a house of darkness

[@blessinggoodthings3124]

Mick Robb I simply love her she is fighting for her constituents.

[@terencehennegan1439]

What a great orator.

[@patriciamay3779]

Hear Hear! These are People who care for their Constituents totally different to the Tory Agenda!

[@saraverdi6261]

mhari black fiery and to the point no bs. love her and her colleage there shud be more like her. she has passion and fire god bless she spoke truth.

[@carltonlambert7608]

A real battler. Dennis skinner mark two for me.

[@chrisparnham]

wow respect from England!

[@simoncroft2158]

She should be prime minister!!!

[@neilfoster814]

Wow, what a brilliant speaker! She's absolutely awesome.

[@skip9661]

Mhairi Black should be the PM

[@minnie5301]

She can never be pm, she cares about people

[@robbiespence6504]

The best bit IMO is from 0.20 to 3.40 - explaining what UC is and describing the 42-day delay (longer in 1 in 4 cases) and how the advance payment to tide you over has to be repaid.

[@shieldaigbencher]

Bloody brilliant MP.

[@paulbarker8015]

She is the future and she has no edge to her I like her blunt no messing about she says what she thinks we need some new blood in Yorkshire

[@barryedwards7742]

What an MP -old head on young shoulders-BRILLIANT

[@meenajulka5788]

Keep it up good fight for us please

[@docfloc]

Spot on Mhairi Black.

[@robertlannin2288]

vote for mhairi black to become the next pm.!

[@tinadavies5949]

This country is not being fair

[@aidabirch630]

Well spoken, language that can be understood

[@garyunsworth726]

Well said

[@HasAnyoneSeenMyPipe]

We need a few like her in stormont

[@denisebaines9816]

Mharie should be leading the country replace Teresa May job done . Who ever votes torie should be ashamed of them selves .

[@cabbage681]

after working and paying a lot of tax I beecame ill and claimed UC. its been 5 weeks ive got no food i am to ill to make the 1.5 mile walk to the food bank. I will not recieve any money untill the 2 Dec and Today i have been informed i will not get any help with my rent as i live in a static caravan. i am being forced to attend an interview to disscus what ive been doing to find work with the same adviser that has told me that due to being declaired unfit to work and supplying a fit note that i am not alloud to look for or apply for work. THIS HAS TO STOP. i am waiting for 2 operations and will be homeless before i get the first. Big thankyou to the bastards that have done this i no who you are

[@TheRocktalk]

Scrap Universal Credit now! :O

[@coldshower3719]

aye. it cannae be good for the economy

[@keithoakes375]

I was on ESA because I'm Epileptic & no bastard will employ me due to my condition. Equal rights is bollocks. Then I get a call saying my ESA had been stopped & I should go on JSA (doing all the chasing up myself) until I can get UC. That's a £62 cut on what I was getting on ESA & that was only £204 which is unlivable as it is. When I finally got through to the DWP no one knew what the fuck UC was except that there are two types depending on your area & they gave me another number who sent me back to them! In the end after hours of waiting to talk to another clueless phone jockey they sent me an Email that had PDF documents to print out & fill in. Bit of a bastard if you haven't got a printer! The whole system is fucked & honest people who are unfortunate enough to have to suffer this through no fault of their own, are constantly being arsefucked by the "Government" (see dictatorship). As always, one rule for the rich, another for those without silver spoons & 8 figure bank accounts. The whole system is draconian & more than a little reminiscent of Hitler's view of state economy. If it's like this now, what will our children & theirs thereafter have to deal with? The UK was once a great country, now it's all gone to shit.

[@jazzx251]

I feel for you Keith - this demonisation of ""lazy"" poor people needs to stop. But it won't - because most other peoples's lives are so crap that they resent anyone else being given a "free ride". History has come full circle - we're back in Victorian "it's the poor wot gets the blame" times. Can't get a job? Then you're lazy and not trying hard enough! We need to drop Theresa and her tories like the bad habit they are.

[@allanjohnston1402]

Go girl, you tell them! But did they listen??

[@red.362]

THIS is the kind of people I want running an independent Scotland. #stillyes

[@KateHornby]

I want the whole UK to be run by people like Mhairi.

[@red.362]

Aye it wouldn't be a bad thing would it. Universal Credit still rolling on though despite the poverty and pleas and outcries. Sick bunch of misfits running it the noo.

[@chrisy9174]

Looks like a woman who doesn't take any shit.

[@jazzx251]

I want the whole world to be run by compassionate people like Mhairi. Fortunately - New Zealand has made a start. From out of nowhere, a 30% deficit in the polls 3 months ago, 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern has risen to power and formed a government. I checked out some of her videos from a year or two ago - she is so chill. Equally at home chatting to primary school infants, as she is a roomful of pensioners. And a genuine will to make the world a better place. Basically a surprise package - the female NZ equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn.

[@dannytoots6635]

THESE ARE* but yes I do like Mhairi. She's not ready to run an independent Scotland, however she's a fantastic MP and I'm sure she will be for many years to come.

[@historypoliticsandpower3917]

Fun fact: Eleanor Laing, the Tory MP who is acting as Speaker in this video, is originally from Elderslie, in Mhairi Black's own constituency. Amazing how different Scottish accents can be even in people from the same town.

[@CelticAngel555]

Two words to say here...... She's Brilliant!!!!! GOOOO MHAIRI !!!!! Ok that was two more. ^j^

[@openbabel]

The work and pensions secretary has been asked to resign.The forecast that cutting disability and universal credit would be the downfall of the current incompetent government seems to be coming true. Outsource company capita has sent out application forms to blind people in Surrey UK. They were returned as expected as they had no way of filling them in as they are not in a recognised legal format for a blind person.The courts have pointed out that an independent advocate must be provided to every blind person as a human right and paid for by the DWP to complete such an application process.The problem seems to be is that capita failed to realize this when signing a contract with the government department and now is left with this bill. The capita staff are refusing to allow blind people to apply for PIP and have in some cases threatened the PIP will not be paid until apparently the DWP provides extra cash to pay for the legally required advocates for the blind people in surrey. The charities consider that no appications can be processed until independent advocates can be acquired to complete the process. A group court action under disability discrimination and alledged harrasement on the grounds of disability could cost the DWP an extra billion pounds in compensation as a result of plain incompetence a month before Christmas. This comes after a long legacy of failure within the DWP who collapsed in 2004.

[@jazzx251]

Don't forget "Carillion". Who the fuck is this company I have never heard about? But is apparently going to collapse the infrastructure of the entire country in just a couple of days. With tax-payers stepping in at great expense no-doubt. "The market is much more efficient than nationalised companies" we were told. This uber-company is on its knees, because its share price collapsed - they were always beholding to their shareholders, not really to the tasks they were supposed to complete ... like FUCKING HS2!! I will say it until I'm blue in the face (purple actually, I'm blue right now) ... Nationalise everything you need for all of your country's citizens to survive. That means energy, health, education, food, water, transportation, police, fire, defence, communications Have a government company administer those things - but also allow the free market to compete if they're man enough [only possible with comms, health, education and food]. I'm not against capitalism - but there are some things that should be secured by the government for the good of the country.

[@earlmcraw5606]

Finally someone who talks sense!

[@ironhand9096]

Another two parliament Scot. One parliament for the English, time England sought independence.

[@andrewhall3299]

Do Scotland a favour and fuck off

[@westfalenstadion7325]

Well said love, Fair play to you for Saying the truth.

[@garrieleepeck8753]

They still going ahead when it's getting worse bye the day

[@Don-lw4cb]

An intelligent down to earth woman and not a head in the clouds, nose in the air rotten Tory!

[@skyguardian7770]

mp are fine never struggle so they dont know what it actually is

[@maddrivers1018]

This is the UK today it's not nice

[@jazzx251]

No. It isn't. We're leaving the EU because we were too racist to stay in it. That's it. We are a racist country, and will suffer the consequences of that awful decision. As we should.

[@chrish2359]

Too racist? If it's racist to control immigration then political correctness is going to limit this country enormously

[@storfrassin]

All people deserve food home water and clothes and warm houses whitout mold or mildew and some kind of fun activities sometimes

[@markclinton8681]

Hello how are you doing

[@archieyoung5231]

Just listen to the ignorant Tory side all they can do is make a noise.

[@mistyknight2280]

legend

[@theresawhitmore4932]

I like this woman,,kick May out,,,this lassie would do a far better job.

[@Don-lw4cb]

This girl is brilliant at giving the disgusting Tories home truths.

[@pigeonworld3571]

Mays out next time

[@juliegregory3900]

WOW!

[@staceross83]

Love you ❤

[@marktonylindo4627]

WHAT a woman 👍❤

[@MouYijian]

Why is her name inflected in the vocative? Mhairi means "O Mary!" in Gaelic. Why not just Mairi?

[@sevjafar8518]

Universal Credit = Hunger Games ☠️

[@stevenalderley9036]

For the first few minutes of this video I was trying to put my finger on where I'd heard this voice before..then I realised. Chicken Run.

[@patrickwoodside5998]

Dissolve The UK Union let’s have the other 85% of the welfare state reserved to Westminster #ScotRef #IndyRef2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@SelkentBus]

I'm a tory and always have been due to the unionism but this MP is something else.

[@hafh8283]

They are sitting next to each other where is the distance in the parliament

[@iamshooketh9345]

On ye go Mhairi hen!

[@delboy4407]

I worked zero hour contract one days work no Universal Credit top my money up

[@daviniarobbins9298]

I wish she was my MP.

[@delboy4407]

Stitch you, wee Tezza Mayhem

[@johnalbrighton4569]

If the NATS took on the responsibility for paying benefits they could pay what they wanted but they have declined taking on this responsibility twice

[@minnie5301]

Wow. Wish she was my mp

[@mattstevenson5849]

The problem with socialism is it is a merry-go-round of benefits and taxation. You raise Universal Credit to bring people closer and closer to a nominal average salary. To pay for that, you simultaneously tax people who earn more than that nominal average. Everybody therefore hovers around a nominal average income, which some may be in favour of. The question is though - why would people then accept highly stressed, highly skilled jobs?

[@johnavery3918]

Great speech but funny how Chris Law has her back and is still taller than her lol

[@dontalkt2meboutheros]

I'd like to know what the SNP would do to remedy the situation if they had the chance...

[@Zakian]

UBI

[@dontalkt2meboutheros]

@@Zakian A different name for the same thing. Just a copy of a cleverer person's idea. The best economist the SNP had was Alex Salmond but he was hung, drawn and quartered at the nods and winks of someone who is determined to drag the good name of Scotland through the mud. For the sake of an independence where there isn't anyone clever enough to steer the good ship forward.

[@Zakian]

I don’t see how giving everyone £10,000 annually is in anyway the same as universal credit.

[@dontalkt2meboutheros]

@@Zakian Have they said it 's going to be tax free?

[@jackmorrison7379]

To think my ancestors may have sounded like this back in the early 1800's before boarding the boat to the new world and new life. Is this a particular regional modern accent in Scotland or common in all cities or (not trying to raise a ruckus) an exaggerated nationalist twang (burr??) for political effect? Does this MP use a gender neutral pronoun or would she be offended if called Ms. Black?

[@DB-stuff]

It a west coast accent centred in and around the city of Glasgow

[@birdinthebush]

Universal credit, a Tory six weeks punishment to the poor simply for being poor. I'm not Scottish, but I would wear a kilt just to be on the right side of justice here

[@garrieleepeck8753]

People keep vote this party in disgusting government

[@scottbeatie3307]

Snp leader in waiting

[@Pennyburn1688]

Her petitions may some validity.......but the vast majority of her colleagues can not understand a word she is saying. Maybe just as well she is chucking it😜

[@notommr]

What a speech Mharie its a pity the hierarchy of the SNP are not like you.

[@jazzx251]

I don't believe that's true. The Scottish Nationalist Party is run by Nicola Sturgeon, a compassionate, and intelligent lady. Mhairi would be the same - she comes from a similar place "why should I watch somebody else suffer?" This awesome speech by Mhairi says everything - and yes ... I hope that she becomes First Minister of Scotland one day.

[@hafh8283]

Just pay the benefits to people who are I need it and let them love there lives you lot can talk because you all got tax payer money coming in go back to the old benefit and let people live there lives

[@atakanorgan3386]

Does she have a German accent in her English?

[@mnizammasood]

No. She has pure Scottish accent. She grew in her own constituency , Paisley and South Renfrewshire. The scottish accent is normally being used in american movies about middle age or ancient english man. Historically (but also debateably), modern English originated in Scotland and Newcastle. So yes, this is probably the oldest English accent you can hear today. I study in Newcastle upon Tyne, one hour from Edinburgh, so I dig a little bit of history. Surprisingly, the madam speaker, is also from the same constituency but she spoke with a very different accent. 😊

[@celestialteapot3310]

We need an indepenent north of England, build a fucking wall.

[@jazzx251]

They should turn the M25 into a massive prison wall

[@davidknight8581]

Musketeer Gripweed there already is a wall!

[@cariad123]

I'd love for Northumberland and Cumbria to join Scotland

[@celestialteapot3310]

Al Funcoot Manchester and Lancashire too, even Yorkshire, not sure about Liverpool.

[@jamesohara4295]

There's only one thing wrong with benefits and that's benefit fraud, and the only way to combat benefit fraud is to keep changing the way its paid to keep the fraudsters on a constant learning curve.

[@michellemcmanus2729]

Benefit fraud is a Tory myth, people are just surviving the best they can

[@jamesohara4295]

@@michellemcmanus2729 Hey ye never know, that might just work, I'll alert the fraudsters immediately :)

[@mc-ec3bu]

The snp have had men then women and next children running scotland and each one gets scotland further away from independence.

[@violinstar5948]

I like Mhairi Black’s passion but if debt and hunger can’t motivate someone to get off their arse and get a job I don’t know what will? Discuss.

[@gemzjamieson4430]

Well, guaranteed hours every week and jobs to actually apply for, for a start. there are a great number of manually skilled workers out of work who have been replaced by economic migrants in their droves. Many single parents can't find work because they can't find the hours suitable, people are also working beyond 60-65 respectively and therefore staggering the younger members of society gaining employment...i could go on?...

[@embee1983]

Perhaps because there's not enough jobs that pay to be in work!!!!

[@HaiLsKuNkY]

what type of fringe is she rocking LOL

[@coldshower3719]

a combover

[@jazzx251]

It's a new style - the Edinburgh Fringe

[@GizmoGremlinDog]

Who fucking gives a shit. Can you hear what she’s saying!?

[@idiotsloveboxes]

SNP are silly people. Silly.

[@royf3904]

WTF is she saying, Im embarassed to be Scottish becoming even harder to admit it.Clearly still not the capital of fashion

[@TheRocktalk]

She's perfectly intelligible. Clean your ears out.

[@jazzx251]

OTEX is your best friend - that was easy for anyone to understand.

[@historypoliticsandpower3917]

You're Scottish and the way ordinary Scottish people speak 'embarasses' you? I don't know why you bother to call yourself Scottish at all if that's the case, it doesn't seem to suit you.

[@j.b.5621]

I'm not Scottish but I understood every word. I think someone needs to get his ears checked (just saying!)

[@jazzman1626]

I think you’re just a sour Scottish Tory which means you’re getting rarer than haggis eggs!

[@MyBrycey]

Shes heartless

[@hickorytrickory9944]

She really talks some pish.

[@janetschwartz1790]

I wish she was my MP.