The Tories have published their manifesto, and Mike yesterday put up a piece spelling out precisely what it means for people on benefits – the unemployed, the sick, the disabled and the working poor: too bad! It’s all going to carry on as normal. Universal Credit, which is pushing people into even more grinding poverty, is not going to be abolished. Rather there’s a vague promise to do something to make sure it works. And we know how good the Tories are at honouring promises. In short, they will do absolutely nothing about a cruel, murderous benefits system that killed tens of thousands of disabled people. One man with a heart condition died a few days ago while queuing at his local jobcentre because – you guessed it – they’d found him ‘fit for work’. A quarter of million people have to use food banks. As Mike points out, the Tories just love them, except when they blame Labour for their rise. And something like 14 million people are now in poverty. And Mike points out that their promise to do something about Universal Credit is almost the same as the song they sing every time some poor soul dies from their policies: ‘we promise to learn lessons’. Except they don’t. Mike concludes that they have no intention of reforming or repealing UC. And he spells out in very clear detail what else the Tories aren’t going to do for people on benefits.
The Conservatives with NOT end the cruelty of the Bedroom Tax, nor do they have any intention of increasing the Local Housing Allowance to protect people against the threat of eviction.
The Conservatives will NOT end the so-called “digital barrier” that obstructs people who have trouble coping with computers and the internet from claiming benefits. They like putting obstacles before the poor.
The Conservatives will NOT end the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments.
The Conservatives will NOT end Work Capability Assessments, or PIP assessments.
The Conservatives will NOT end their cruel sanction regime.
The Conservatives will NOT scrap the benefit cap.
The Conservatives will NOT end the two-child limit on benefits and scrap the so-called ‘rape clause’. They like humiliating women who have already been violated.
The Conservatives will NOT try to ensure that women are no longer forced to stay in abusive relationships by the system by paying the child element of benefits to the primary carer.
Mike goes also goes on to attack the Lib Dems empty promises as well.
But Labour can be trusted to carry out their welfare reforms.
Labour is going to end Universal Credit and replace it with a system that works for ordinary people. And he’s going to reform the DWP, replacing it with a Department of Social Security, which won’t have the suspicion and hostility to claimants that Iain Duncan Smith introduced as an integral element.
Mike’s article concludes
Boris Johnson’s manifesto shows an intention to continue the cruel Conservatism we’ve endured for nearly 10 years.
Let’s take this opportunity to tell him where he can stuff it.
If you have any doubt what the Tories intend for people on benefits, go and read this article, and then read all the others by Mike, Zelo Street, The Void, Another Angry Voice, and so on describing the hardship, misery, starvation and death they have caused and mean to continue.
And then vote Labour.
Tags: Abusive Relationships, Another Angry Voice, Bedroom Tax, Benefit Sanctions, Boris Johnson, Computers, Deaths, Department of Health and Social Security, DWP, Food Banks, Ian Duncan Smith, Labour Party, Local Housing Allowance, Rape, the Disabled, the Poor, The Void, Universal Credit, Vox Political, Work Capability Assessment, Zelo Street
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
December 2, 2019 at 10:45 pm |
Murderous is the right word. Here’s something that represents a bit of hope, the case for the Prosecution of Iain Duncan Smith and Co.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwp-the-case-for-the-prosecution/
December 3, 2019 at 8:44 am |
Thanks, Trev – it would be great if they could haul Smith and co into court for this. But I think that it won’t happen, like all the attempts to prosecute Bush and Blair for war crimes in Iraq.