“There’s a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us – the nasty party.” Theresa May, October 8th 2002.
February 17th 2015, David Cameron announces plans to make 50,000 youths spend 30 hours a week on community service schemes to keep their “Youth Allowance” benefits. The Youth Allowance, by the way, is £57 a week. And today’s announcement follows suggestions that fat people should lose access to benefits unless they lose weight.
Look, it’s not the goal that’s the problem here. When Cameron says there is a moral quality to reducing the benefits bill he is not wrong. When he says there are people who could work – and with the right assistance can work – he is not wrong. When he says that there’s nothing compassionate about being stranded on benefits he is right.
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