Last week was an important week politically and for anyone who has an illness and is currently on benefits or may need them in the future should the progression of their illness make them unfit for work.
Reflecting on last week. A member of the team forwarded me an article by Polly Toynbee from the Guardian. The article can be found by clicking here.
Some points I found interesting.
"Purnell could have reminded Mail readers of that strong work ethic among the battalions of cleaners and carers, while scroungers are surprisingly few. Instead he inflamed prejudices drawn from eye-popping cases in shockumentaries about Shameless estates. It was Bill Clinton who said you can never ever be too tough on welfare, they will always cry for more. So do you go on turning the screw for ever? That becomes self-defeating, feeding the appetite for more loathing and less understanding of the poor."
"The plans are good: four benefits have been simplified into two. Thanks to wiser heads in the Treasury, Purnell was saved from himself when he wanted to cut benefits for existing incapacity claimants. Now, nobody loses out and the sickest will get more - but wait for high-profile cases when the dying get wrongly summoned for work tests......"
However most importantly,
"Purnell's colleagues gnash their teeth at his grandstanding claims of the greatest "revolution" since Beveridge. Since the first new deal, Labour has done well on welfare to work, among the EU's best. Inheriting high numbers parked on incapacity, new cases have fallen every year for the last eight years. But who would know that from Labour's rhetoric? Taxpayers do have strong gut feelings about fairness for all - at the top and the bottom. But the same day Purnell cracked the whip on scroungers, Alistair Darling retreated on closing key tax loopholes on foreign earnings, under pressure from the City. Why is it always more rights for the rich and more responsibilities for the poor?"
This seems, for me, to define the "Social Justice" the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions James Purnell MP, meant when he mentioned it in his speech.
PDF version
I think James Purnell cares
I think James Purnell cares less about the poor, genuinely sick and disabled and is far more interested in appealing to The Daily Mail readers who must be lapping up the proposals outlined last week..especially as most of them were instigated by the Conservative Party. This is more about saving money than directing it to those who need it the most and with the credit crunch hitting everyone hard, fuel bills rising, with more increases to come, will the Labour Party not be happy until the Workhouse of bygone age is back as that is what some of the proposals is tantamount. Labour on the cheap and many forced into taking unsuitable , low paid employment, driving people further into the poverty trap and those that are unwell becoming more ill, placing the NHS under greater strain. This is supposed to be the caring, sharing Government.
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