Annie Wells – A Most Unlikely Tory Party Member
Carol Ann (‘Annie’) Wells is a Scottish Conservative and Unionist Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP0 for the Glasgow region. She qualified for a seat at Holyrood in 2016, as a list MSP representing Glasgow voters.
Annie was born and raised in Springburn, into a family with strong labour party connections. Her mother cleaned house for the Labour Peer, Michael Martin, former Labour MP for North East Glasgow and Speaker of the Commons at Westminster. Her deceased father Alex (Eck) was a well kent face in Springburn through his associations with local Labour party activists.
Married and divorced, single mother Wells still lives in Springburn. Her Adult son Scott lives nearby. She is currently in a relationship with another woman who identifies herself as a lesbian. Angela Stephen, Irvine resident is also a Tory candidate, for office in Ayrshire
Wells first brush with politics occurred during the referendum on Scottish Independence when she joined the Better Together campaign. She then stood as the Conservative candidate in Glasgow North East in the 2015 general election, finishing 3rd with 4.7% of the vote. She also unsuccessfully contested the Glasgow Provan constituency at the 2016 Scottish Parliament general election, finishing 3rd with 8.6% of the vote, but was elected via the regional list. In the 12 years before taking up a career in politics she worked Marks & Spencers in various locations throughout Glasgow.
Wells is the Scottish Conservative spokesperson for welfare reform and equalities. She sits on the Equal Opportunities Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
Annie Wells – On Lesbian, Gay And Bisexual Representation
“It is pleasing that I get more abuse for being a Tory in Scotland than I do for being a gay woman,” says Annie Wells, one of a batch of new MSPs voted in at the election this month that has made the country’s parliament the most proportionally gay-friendly on earth.
Wells told of her pride at being elected to represent Scotland’s LGBT community and plans to help those who still suffer discrimination come out and get involved in politics.
She is a Conservative, former M&S finance manager who says she never dreamed of going into politics, nor coming out – for fear of upsetting her parents.
Comment: Weird: Her Wikipedia makes no mention of her role within the LGBT community.
Dykey D’ – Annie Wells and the BBC Scotland smear machine kicks in again
The apparatus of the BBC in Scotland is regularly utilised in order to promote (as widely as possible) smear attacks on one or more SNP politicians. The most recent example occurred this week. Annie Wells Tory MSP seeks to make political capital out of satirical comedy sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEEYsHFJZl0 The target was SNP politician Joanna Cherry. Read on: http://indyref2.scot/dykey-d-the-bbc-scotland-smear-machine-kicks-in-again Radio coverage http://indyref2.scot/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/newsdrive_dyke_190916.mp3
Facebook Annie Wells – Reform of Child tax credits – The third child and Rape
In the past week, I have been extremely concerned to hear a number of allegations being made about reforms to child tax credits. I don’t believe a topic of such a highly sensitive nature should be banded about on Twitter with the use of hashtags and this is why I feel it is important to set the record straight on such an important issue.
What I will say is factual. It is said purely in the hope that women who do have children born as a result of rape are not deterred from applying for exemptions to the two child tax credit rule because of misinformation currently in the public domain.
The exemption has been put there to protect women in these circumstances. The UK Government recognised in introducing the two-child limit for receiving tax credits, it still had to recognise highly sensitive circumstances such that when a child is born as a result of rape. In applying for this exemption, women will not be required to either report their rape as a crime, bring new proof of rape or proof of a conviction, or report it directly to HMRC.
In other words, no evidence other than that of a third party professional, such as a health worker or support worker, will be required.
The DWP has made clear that women will be offered support from experienced third party professionals who will be able to support them on their behalf. In other words, once a mother registers for the benefit, it is very much in the hands of professionals to complete the application on her behalf and ensure the right support is given.
This exemption was introduced to protect women from changes to child tax credits in the most sensitive way possible and in going forward, I believe that the situation should continue to be monitored and any improvements to the process made as required. I very much hope this goes some way in reassuring those concerned and brings clarity to the situation. (Annie Wells)
Comment: This is the woman who questioned the sovereignty of the Scottish Parliament, and had the nerve to criticise campaigners against the Tory rape clause, and steals from the mentally disabled including those with Autism. A nasty vindictive Tory, and quite heartless caring only about herself, and her precious party.
Government Rape Clause Leads to Boycott by Leading Charities
Women’s groups in Scotland have joined in condemnation of a so-called rape clause which forces new mothers to prove they were raped to claim tax credits for more than two children.
Leading charities including Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS), Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) and Engender now say they will refuse to “collude” with any scheme to assess entitlement for rape victims.
New laws on tax credit entitlement, which come into effect this week, include a clause restricting claimants to a maximum of two children, with exceptions for multiple births and for women who could show that their third or subsequent child was conceived as a result of rape.
It means women who have been raped must be assessed by a “professional third party” – either health workers, police, social workers or rape charities.
The regulations were put into law through a statutory instrument – little known legislation allowing laws to be changed without the UK parliament’s approval.
Yet despite the regulation coming into force tomorrow, there is no indication of how a woman who has been raped can go about claiming an exemption and no advice, information or training has been given to the women’s groups expecting to be involved. (thirdforcenews.org.uk)
Making Mischief – Tory MSP Annie Wells Complains That Mental Health Treatment Times not Being Met
She said: “The Scottish government set a target in 2014 that 90% of adults and children referred by a GP for treatment for mental health issues should begin this treatment within 18 weeks. But in December last year, NHS Stats revealed that only 77.5%% patients were seen within the time frame.
Selecting one month does not provide a reasonable presentation of the facts. In the 12 months June 2015 – June 2016 performance to target (90%) was as listed below.
Scotland Mean Average: 78.0:
Ayrshire & Arran 65.9:
Borders 77.9:
Dumfries & Galloway: 72.1
Fife: 74.2
Forth Valley: 49.3 (performance now between 74-82%)
Grampian: 66.3 (slight improvement recently)
Greater Glasgow & Clyde: 92.4 (Very large number of patients seen)
Highland 98.0: (large number of patients seen in a region with a widely dispersed population)
Lanarkshire 91.6: (very large number of patients seen
Lothian 65.3: (not much improved)
Tayside 88.3:
Island Boards: 88.9
But what about the Tory controlled NHS in England???
England : Mental Health Treatment Time Targets Are the Same As in Scotland
More than one in ten (12%) people with mental health problems are stuck on waiting lists for over a year before receiving treatment and over half (54%) wait over three months.
The survey of over 1,600 people who have tried to access therapies such as counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy on the NHS in England over the last two years also shows an increasing number are paying for private therapy to get the help they desperately need.
One in ten (11%) said that they had faced costs for private treatment because the therapy they needed was not available on the NHS.
The choice of treatment on offer was also found to be limited even though CBT, the most commonly prescribed talking treatment, doesn’t work for everyone and three in five people (58%) weren’t offered a choice in the type of therapy they received.
Tory MSP Anne Wells complains that The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is failing to meet A&E waiting times.
Scotland’s first super hospital, The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, has not met the Scottish Government’s waiting time target since September of last year and has been the most under-performing hospital over the past 20 weeks when it comes to A&E waiting times.
Latest stats show that only 81.7% of patients are being seen within 4 hours of arriving despite the minimum standard set by the Scottish Government being 95%.
What is the government doing to ensure the hospital meets its accident and emergency waiting times target??????
But first let’s look at the performance of the Tory managed NHS in England in the same month!!!!!
Across the entire NHS in England the average number of patients patients in A&E that were transferred, admitted or discharged within four hours was 82% – rather than the target 95% – (the worst figures on record.)
Trolley dolly’s, 60,000 patients (up from 51,200 in December) waited in corridor’s for a hospital bed between 4-12 hours). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38907492
The Scottish government’s response (remember this is one Scottish hospital)!!!
The Scottish Government’s national unscheduled care team (made up of people with clinical improvement expertise) has been working closely with local teams across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, especially with Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Glasgow Royal Infirmary supporting prompt recovery and sustainable improvements in A and E and the IAU.
The team are supporting implementation of the six essential actions and the implementation of an action plan, which was agreed with the chairman of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in December 2016 for the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. The team leaders meet the chairman of the board regularly to advise on progress.
In September 2007, there were 25 whole-time-equivalent consultants specialising in emergency medicine in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
In December 2016 there were 75 whole-time-equivalent consultants specialising in emergency medicine in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
That is an increase of 50 whole-time-equivalent consultants, or 200 per cent, under this Scottish National Party Government.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/sp/?id=2017-03-30.2.0