Tag Archives: Welfare Reform Bill
David Cameron: We are now in the 1930s
As I noted in The Ideology of Workfare, the ultimate goal of the cheap-work conservatives in Westminster is to roll us back to 1834, the year of the workhouse. But as Cameron says: Today marks an historic step in the … Continue reading
Filed under Benefits, Charles Dickens, Economics, Poverty, Scottish Politics
You will work harder. Cameron is always right.
At the beginning of 2012, a young woman, Cait Reilly, stood up for human rights and natural justice as no one on the front bench of the Labour Party has done yet in this Parliament: she took the Department of … Continue reading
Filed under Benefits, Disability, Healthcare, Poverty, Scottish Politics
These people were living on a shoestring.
Lisa Egan: I get the care component of DLA for supervision because my bones break so easily. There is no mention of needing constant supervision in the proposed PIP criteria. Because I can feed myself, even though I once broke … Continue reading
Filed under Benefits, Disability, Healthcare, Housing, Poverty
Why the Welfare Reform Bill Is Wrong
Today in Parliament MPs vote on the Welfare Reform Bill, which the House of Lords amended in some respects. The goal of the Tory government is to cut payments to people with disabilities and to their carers by 20%. I … Continue reading
Filed under Benefits, Healthcare, Housing, Poverty
Douglas Alexander and Scottish independence
In May 2011, the SNP won a majority in the Scottish Parliament – a victory that was unprecedented for both party and Parliament. Douglas Alexander, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire … Continue reading
Filed under Scottish Politics
Challenge Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith, today: “The question I’d ask these bishops is, over all these years, why have they sat back and watched people being placed in houses they cannot afford? It’s not a kindness. I would like to see their … Continue reading
Filed under Benefits, Healthcare, Human Rights, Poverty
Homes that they can only dream of…
The new welfare system takes for granted that all claimants are scroungers and cheats who need to be penalised. Political Scrapbook: The £1.1 billion cost of fraud (a modest 0.7% of the total benefits spend) averages out to £59 across … Continue reading
