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James Purnell is a coming man at Westminster, and doubtless, following the resounding acclaim for his Green Paper on welfare, he must think he's arrived. On the face of it there's nothing that unreasonable about these measures: the Government will give with one kindly hand, while taking away with its stern other. The aim is to lift 200,000 households out of child poverty.
Sterner still is a rationalisation of benefits that will see claimants offered an "employment support allowance" if they're sick. The stage is thus set to eliminate the so-called "hidden unemployed", those sturdy beggars who've been claiming sickness benefit. In the longer term, the Government intends to force those who claim Jobseeker's Allowance to work for their dole. Sternest of all are Purnell's proposals that drug addicts won't receive benefits at all if they don't seek treatment.
Rousing stuff, isn't it? Until you realise that even once these plans are implemented, only about 5,000 of these long-term claimants will actually be required to graft. As for the junkies, the sad fact is that the treatment simply isn't available - without enormous spending - to make this an effective way of addressing their illness. Besides, while addicts may be a drain on the social security budget, their biggest social cost lies in the petty crime they commit to fuel their habits and the NHS resources they consume.
But beyond that, what a colossal irony it is that these measures - which would have been workable if the economy were still expanding - are in fact being rolled out on the brink of a serious recession. A senior economist on the Bank of England's interest-rate committee warned yesterday that we should brace ourselves for seven per cent unemployment in the next year, so all the rationalisation in the world will do little to mitigate the benefits bill.
More grotesque than ironic is the way that New Labour was so comfortable, for so long, to hide the true level of long-term unemployment by continuing to fund those on delusory "incapacity benefit". Now that it looks as these ministers won't be around for much longer, they gird themselves to come clean about the real social cost of their enthusiasm for a free market economy.
Don't get me wrong: I have no great liking for a dependency culture but any society that believes disparities in income are only justified insofar as they contribute to improving the lot of the least well-off must accept that a stern hand applied to the poor must be accompanied by an equivalent restraint applied to the rich. Blair was always "seriously comfortable" with the seriously rich: it's his legacy of a laissez- faire approach to taxing them that makes Purnell's proposals seem punitive rather than effective.
Reader views (5)
Just another hair-brained idea by the government. It seems to me, if the recession in the UK does turn truly bad, that this will only be a smoke and mirrors exercise for the government who'll say something akin to: "yes, unemployment is high, but the real unemployment level is much lower because those on benefits are working, see, SEE!". I really don't know what sort of work those on benefits can do to earn their allowance in the tempest of a recession - any even-marginally paid labour or work experience will be snapped up by part-time workers or students; people, I'm sure, that appeal to employers more than those on benefits, due to their denigration until this point. It's less of an economic initiative than a social experiment, and one that is poorly timed and with a paucity of achievability.
- John Bracken, Dublin, Ireland
James Purnell is not even 40, a rookie by political standard, and he is clamouring he has got a spectacular proposal. He is just trying to prove himself that he is tough on welfare. However in a civilised society welfare is a necessity, not an option, and part of welfare actually is mental welfare which cannot happen if people are not healthily occupied, if they can do it through a job, and turn around money the better, but if they cannot, they have the right not to starve, live in the streets or be cared for medically, this is what makes me proud to be British...
If you deny these basic rights to your own citizens, you are the barbarian...
- Nabil H, London, UK
As with all Labour policies:' tough on the causes...; immigration; knife crime etc it is always trumpeted as a ground breaking change but always fails to materialise. Haven't they already announced similar plans before? It is only when they actually do something concrete rather than announcing the same thing again and again that they will be believed ( if ever ). It is quite clear that something needs to be done - witness the recent case of the incapacitated assistant referee dancing on the touchlines to realise there are many out there who think they will simply never be caught because labour is all talk and spin.
- Andy Davids, London
The proposed welfare reforms are just another New Labour smoke screen,a desperate attempt to get voters back on their bus.
After years of importing cheap labour(no pun intended)and encouraging the indigenous population to take early retirement on benefit,they are now saying "naughty skiivers,back to work you go".
All this as we face the biggest downturn in 20 years.
I am presently in the job market, every vacancy has scores of applicants, great for employers, I suppose, but very disheartening for the genuine jobseeker.
- Eric.A.Smith, London SW2
I am worried about the effects of these changes will have on the people who have serious mental health problems, as we know psychiatry/psychology is not an exact science and diagnosis of mental illness is a complex and difficult one. However I do not believe that anyone would would really want to live on the breadline for life...this accusation by James Purnell is ludicrous, there may be a hardy few and believe me it can be done at a stretch...a long stretch, but if you have a think about it you will realise it will cost more to implement the changes than will be gained by enforcing these draconian rules, what about the workhouse for the real workless lazy people. Will Self is right about the on-coming recession, yes it will be impossible to implement such a change in the near future, lets leave it on the back boiler until full-employment can be seen to be offered somewhere in the future plans of this government, the hypocrisy of it, we have kids leaving school that cannot read are innumerate, cannot write, have learned to drive on a Playstation and have no prospects at all and he wants to deprive them of a glum future by putting the mentally ill to work where they might be better placed to perform these demeaning tasks, like what are mentaly ill people to do on low incomes when they cannot afford prescription charges, get ill and what! So think again Parnell, get a grip, review other money making options...
- Molly, london uk
