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Two women have spoken out after one of them was beaten by thugs for supporting Labour and another endured a crippling childhood under Tory rule.

Jade Unal and Mia Alexis Warren from Lancashire know more than most how a decade under the Conservatives has impacted communities.

Many have abandoned hope and turned to anger - and reject Labour too.

Jade, 28, and Mia, 35, set up the viral charity challenge - 'Corbyn Christmas Challenge' - which sees people donate £5 to a local food bank before nominating others to do the same.

It spread across the country thanks to social media, with kind-hearted Brits sending in hundreds of pictures of piles of food being donated and thousands being raised for a homelessness charity, according to the Mirror.

More than 14,000 people have joined the Facebook group.

And it's this which has given Jade and Mia hope after they both saw how people left behind in their northern communities were bitter and angry - seeking someone to blame.

The irony is that their hopelessness has seen them turn to the very same Tory Party which has squeezed their living standards and placed them under immense pressure.

The towns in which Jade and Mia have lived all turned their backs on Labour and voted in Conservative MPs in the General Election.

Jade, from Accrington, in Lancashire, has been beaten up for being a Labour supporter, suffered PTSD, domestic violence and the tragedy of losing a child.

Mia, from Rossendale, endured a "crippled childhood" in Blackpool during the harsh Tory rein of Margaret Thatcher, experiencing homelessness while only a little girl as her family moved from hostel to hostel.

Anger

In October 2018, Jade was kicked in the head, needed stitches and was left with an ugly lump after thugs cornered her and her mum in a working men’s club in Wakefield. This was after a Labour talk to discuss Brexit.

Jade, who moved to Accrington from Wakefield after the attack, said: "The people who attacked me were angry themselves, they were hurting, people are struggling. They were angry with what I stood for."

As a teenager, Jade endured an abusive relationship and the devastation of losing a child through two ectopic pregnancies.

More recently, after a break-up, she was forced to apply for Universal Credit and turn to foodbanks to help feed her daughter, Amelia, 4.

Jade said: "Having to apply for Universal Credit after a break-up was demoralising, something you never thought you would do in your life.

"There's not a face to using foodbanks, people who work use foodbanks. People look good on the outside, but are just getting by, just struggling."

Jade has seen first hand how groups designed to support people like her are struggling behind the scenes after funding has been slashed during 10 years of government cuts.

"I didn't leave the house for around eight months after the attack. I thought the world was a really bad place," she said.

"But going to support groups, speaking to women who have gone through similar things, you really develop that empathy for other people, and you realise they are not all that bad.

"But these groups are really struggling behind the scenes."

Five more years of Tory rule

Mia, who grew up under the rule of Margaret Thatcher whose policies decimated northern communities, says people she speaks to fear things could get even worse this time around.

"There was more community back t

hen," said Mia. "Kids would knock on your door, you'd go round for dinner, there was places you could hang out, there were play schemes. That's all been taken away. All that funding has been stripped.

"It blows my mind that people have voted them back in."

(Image: Facebook)

Mia, who is a mum-of-one to son Arley, aged five, and married to sheet metal fabricator David, feels people have become "brainwashed" into believing a narrative that their taxes go to fund "lazy people."

She said: "I think the media has brainwashed people a bit, especially programmes like Jeremy Kyle and Benefits Britain.

"You hear people say 'Why should I have to work just to pay for lazy people?'.

"I say to them 'you do realise that it's just 1% going to unemployment?'

"They are just fixated on that 1%, they don't think about the disabled people or the elderly that need benefits.

"They sit in their nice houses thinking 'this is where our taxes go'."

Searching for someone to blame

Jade said she feels some people have lost their empathy.

She said: "People need to start working together, rather than pointing the finger and finding people to blame, like benefit cheats.

"A lot of people have lost empathy for others. For people who are homeless.

"I have been ignored at my lowest, laughed and kicked.

"People don't like people being happy, or people helping, they always think there is a motive behind it, it's sad.

"Under the Tory Rule, the people who have been running the show this whole time, it's been a bitter grind.

"It's become acceptable to be racist.

"It's become acceptable to tell people who have come here and worked for our NHS to 'eff off back to their own country.

"It's become acceptable to see no justice for the victims of Grenfell, and still vote Tory."

And she feels people in her communities have blamed Labour councils for the lack of funding - despite cuts coming from central Government during 10 years of austerity.

She added: "The Tories are the Tories, and they always have been, they have never represented the working class, they betrayed the North.

"It's sad that people in the North are not getting that it's cuts from central Government that's causing this. Labour councils have been blamed for lack of funding.

"The Tories have done this - and yet we've voted them back in. What have you done England?"

Mia agrees, adding: "The whole of the UK and the world feels like it has become less human, people spend more time on social media and not in the real world.

"It's all 'Not in my back yard' now.

"It's a shame that it's taken two p***ed off people and an internet fad to get people to realise this is going on."

A spark of hope

(Image: Facebook)

Mia is inspired by her granddad, respected and admired mayor of Blackpool, Les Kersh, a Labour councillor described as a "champion of ordinary people" by former Labour MP for Blackpool South, Gordon Marsden.

Both she and Jade were determined to turn the disappointment of the election into hope and compassion and have been blown away by the response to their 'Corbyn Christmas Challenge' drive.

The Corbyn Christmas challenge sees people donate £5 to a local food bank before nominating others to do the same, to combat the cruelty of foodbanks after 10 harsh years of Tory rule.

And it's received a huge response since being launched by the two self-described "working class girls".

Both agree they have been "blown away" by the response and it has given them hope.

(Image: Facebook)

They were determined to "do something positive, to channel the anger and frustration" of the election result, said Mia.

There is a JustGiving page which has already raised more than £6,500 - smashing its initial target of £5,000. The money will go to the homeless charity Centrepoint.

Mia said she is determined to carry on the charity drive in the New Year, when it will be renamed.

How to take part in the Corbyn's Christmas Challenge

Tag three friends in a post

Spend £5

Take a pic and tag #CorbynsChristmasChallenge

Take your donation to a local food bank

Nominate 5 more people

You can find the JustGiving page by following this link

And visit the Facebook page to see more