Tory plans for the sick and unemployed are dangerous and crazy

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

It must be loony Tuesday. The Tories have announced plans to have all 2.64 million incapacity benefit claimants reassessed by doctors and, if passed fit for work, placed on Jobseekers’ Allowance, which would mean a benefit cut of £20 a week. That is, if they win the next General Election. Presumably they’ll all be lined up in grey overalls, have their heads shaved, and be forced to file through a gate so they can all get examined by men in white coats in time for the following General Election? Insane!

I recall how long it took me last time I needed to get my passport renewed. Whichever colour of UK government we have, they are all to date notorious for being slow-moving behemoths; the ‘wind of change’ politicians love to talk up usually turns out to be just slow-release flatulence.

The Tories also intend to stop unemployment benefit payments after two years, be that two continuous years or two years in terms of total time periods claimed for. This might seem entirely reasonable to you if you’re the sort of person who likes to dub all unemployed people as ‘timewasters’ and ‘bone idle’–but in the event of a recession, that kind of attitude may not be as prevalent in society as it is today. My father was a child during the Great Depression, but he well remembers the near-universal poverty and desperation of the time. Remember, even the biggest earners can and do lose their jobs.

As for Tory plans to force the long-term unemployed to work full-time for their benefits, as in some parts of the US, this is just a ploy to obtain cheap labour for far less than the minimum wage; if the work is there, why not give them jobs and pay them decent salaries as well?

categories: in the news