Serious discussions of Social Security policy start from a few fundamental questions. One is the balance between contributions and means-testing as a basis for entitlement, another the balance between vertical redistribution, from richer to poorer, and horizontal redistribution, between different stages in the life cycle. A third is the relationship between the social security welfare […]
Posts under ‘Benefits’
Is George Osborne finished?
Mar 23rd, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.They seek him here, they seek him there. Those lobby hacks seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive … Chancellor of the Exchequer. Okay, so my reworked rhyme lifted from the Scarlet Pimpernel doesn’t work. But neither do Osborne’s sums, so all is balanced in the world. […]
Share:
Can you afford the Tory housing crisis?
Jan 14th, 2016 by Grahame Morris.An entire generation rent has been failed. The aspiration of home ownership is no longer an option for many and has been replaced with a difficult struggle to find properties with affordable rents. Since the Tories came to power in 2010, there are over 200,000 fewer home-owning households, with home ownership falling to its lowest levels […]
Share:
Alternative Autumn statements: continued Tory failure versus Corbynomics
Nov 25th, 2015 by Michael Burke.Having spectacularly failed in his stated goal of eliminating the deficit in the last parliament, George Osborne is repeating his experiment in this one. Both the June 2010 and 2015 Budgets proposed ‘fiscal tightening’ of £37 billion. In the first of these Budgets the main method was cuts in public spending. In the second it […]
Share:
A letter to Andrew Lloyd Webber on Tax Credits
Oct 28th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Dear Andrew, Re: Tax Credits Vote in the House of Lords Never a fan, so this ain’t going to pull lines punning your substantial contributions to musical theatre. Instead, I’ve avoided them and and baked in a healthy dollop of fury and disgust. That is because you sir, with your 650 millions, power to make […]
Share:
The Tories’ tax credit cut will cause problems for them in 2020
Oct 21st, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.It’s proven to be the closest shave of Dave’s second term and would have thrown the government into chaos had the ayes won it. Tonight’s vote in the Commons, brought before the House by Labour, saw the noes (i.e. keep the cuts to working tax credits) win by 317 to 295 – a tiny sliver […]
Share:
Trade Union Bill represents major attack on civil liberties in the UK
Sep 8th, 2015 by Newsdesk.Liberty, the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and Amnesty International UK yesterday published a joint statement condemning proposals in the Government’s forthcoming Trade Union Bill: The government’s plans to significantly restrict trade union rights – set out in the Trade Union Bill – represent a major attack on civil liberties in the UK. By placing […]
Share:
Parliament should have power to force Duncan Smith to resign over WCA deaths
Aug 29th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The report that in just over 2 years up to February last year no less than 2,380 disabled claimants died within 2 weeks of being assessed as fit for work and then having their benefit either reduced or stopped altogether, is beyond shocking. It is arguably the most damning statistic yet of the sheer callousness […]
Share:
Iain Duncan Smith demands as many disabled people work as able-bodied
Aug 28th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.As part of the government’s plan to extract £12bn from social security benefits, IDS has announced his latest target is “the disability employment gap”. According to analysis of official ONS figures, this represents the difference between the number of disabled people who are in employment (48%) and the figure for the general population (73%). The […]
Share:
Cameron-Osborne’s vendetta against the young could prove their downfall
Aug 16th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Osborne really has got it in for young people – unless of course they are poised to inherit their grandparents’ £1 million home or will benefit from a higher inheritance tax threshold. It will be young people who cop it from changes to universal credit that will deduct benefits faster as they earn more. That […]
