Dear Editor
The Tory/Lib government are trying to make scapegoats of people on benefits. They are playing one section of people against others, for example:
- people on housing benefit getting large sums of money, but neglect to say it is the landlords who get the money via the tenants
- people on disability benefits being classed as layabouts, being forced to undergo a work capability assessment test by a private organisation
- people on Working Tax Credit, benefit being cut
- Job Seekers Allowance, benefit being cut.
People on these and other benefits have been slandered and labelled undeserving, and – if these benefits were cut – all would be well.
This divisive campaign by the Tory/Lib government did initially fool some people into supporting benefits cuts, but now the real target can be seen: it is everyone’s income, wages as well as benefits.
The following quote may sound very familiar: a group of unemployed men wrote to the Poor Law Commission in January 1835, asking for help. The Commission responded as follows:
‘the amount of relief, you must be aware, ought not to be as to render the situation of the pauper equal to that of a person living by independent industry: a practice of making allowance for idleness equal or nearly equal to the wages of industry must tend to make pauperism preferable to independence’.
Tony Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens
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Totally agree with this letter. As a divorced parent (not my choice I must add!), I have been in work and out of work, depending on whether jobs are available and whether I can get childcare (one of my daughters isn’t at school yet so have to pay for full days childminder/nursery). If anything this ‘benefits freeze’ would affect me and my kids more the times when I am working, because childcare costs have gone up much more than 1% as have things like bus fares to work and food that’s suitable for pack lunches (e.g. bread has gone up I reckon about 5% at least in the last 6 months alone, every time I go to the supermarket it is more expensive, fruit has gone up). This is not something that only hits people out of work, not that that would be acceptable anyway because hardly anyone is out of work by choice. It may well in fact make it unafforable for single parents or families with a disabled parent who need childcare to stay in work, because childcare costs are one of the biggest and it is going to really hit that if working tax credits and child tax credits are frozen or below inflation.
Furthermore it really upsets me that the government are trying to make out that people are choosing to be out of work. Losing your job is one of the most distressing things that can happen to people, and I think it’s ridiculous to make out that anyone would want it. Most people I know, when they are out of work, get depressed and lose confidence and it is generally a miserable experience, because people want to have the security and ability to support their family. It is some kind of cruel joke to act as though there are people who are happy about being unemployed.