There has been considerable controversy in the press about who the VAT increase will hit hardest, yet Chancellor George Osborne himself made it clear in his statement defending the rise exactly who the increase is targeted against. Osbourne said:
“I think that a VAT increase is a tough but necessary step to dealing with Britain’s economic problems.
The alternatives are an income tax rise or a national insurance tax rise which is what the Labour Party is proposing today.
I think that would damage working incentives for some low income earners in our country.
We want to get people off welfare into work.”
Or in other words: “I deliberately targeted those people on benefit, because taking money away from them will drive them into work.” Nothing to do with fixing the deficit, everything to do with Tory Ideology.
So, Chancellor, which part of that money you have taken away from disabled people in the ESA Support Group, the group even the harshest ATOS assessment criteria categorise as completely unable to work due to their disabilities, will miraculously lead to them becoming suddenly employable?
Campaigning against the government's distressing war on disabled benefit claimants. All posts represent the opinions of their respective authors and not WtB as a whole.
I'm fucking infuriated. This is nothing short of WAR against the disabled of Britain.
ReplyDeletePut the VAT up to 50%, stop what little benefit I get (IB, LRC+LRM, no heating or cold weather money) and I STILL won't be able to get back into work! I have brain damage, nerve damage, can't get around without assistance, my illness is real and it is horrible - visible in tests and on scans. I'm not faking, I'm not lazy, I want to work but I can't. Hell, even if I could, there are NO JOBS, they're making cuts and laying people off in their thousands on a daily basis!
I'm not scum. Why do the govt. insist on acting like we've ruined the economy? They're spending billions to stop £500m in fraud, they're crying poverty and doom while letting the likes of phillip Green, vodafone and HSBC off the hook with BILLIONS.
Why?
Why does nobody care? Why are the mainstream media ignoring this? Why are the usual protesters who'll rage against anything leaving the disabled of Britain literally out in the cold?
I'm so scared, I feel so alone. I'll kill myself before ending up homeless again, because I know there is zero help out there. Time to start stashing pills.
I agree with colder. I am scared, and alot of us are hoarding pills. I am sure the government don't care though as they will decrease the people they deem useless scum. I just want to live, my life is very small, I want to be 'normal' again but my illness took that from me. I would say put the VSAT up - Put Income tax up, but attacking the disabled just shows you have ZERO humanity - And that takes Great Britain into a far less than ''Great'' state!
ReplyDeleteIf they sacked ATOS they would save 100million a year - They wanna save money - start where its blatantly obvious you are wasting it!
ConservaSACUM and Smeggy Cleggy - and Scumeron - They don't care about us - They are pathetic and sCUMERON SHOULD BE A BETTER MAN - hAD HIS SON LIVED HE WOULD HAVE SEEN HOW HARD IT IS - bUT NOW - hE CARES FOR NOBODY - He will stamp on everyone for his ridiculous and money wasting ideas.
Government are evil. They will stop at nothing to acheive their targets.
ReplyDeleteThey're not evil, they just have different priorities and have decided that disabled people are expendable whilst they've promised pensioners complete protection. It sounds logical on the surface (we're a much smaller minority) but I'll be interested to see if in another ten years time pensioners will be similarly cut adrift (I'm willing to put money on it. We already know the pensions system is "unsustainable").
ReplyDeleteThey're out and out lying about the economic savings though. If saving money was REALLY their sole priority they would end the couples penalty (a fully costed Tory policy pre-coalition) to reduce the housing benefit bill, raise the tax-free threshold to £10,000 (as promised by the LibDems) to incentivise work for those economically inactive people able to do it and scrap the entire Tax Credit bureaucracy (over £20 billion's worth) to pay for it. No need for IDS's delusions of adequacy surrounding the "Universal Credit" just alter the common means testing rules to address effective marginal tax-rates.