I am glad the government is withdrawing its disability payment cuts. I lobbied against them as did other MPs.
I am sad Iain Duncan Smith has had to leave the government, as he is so committed to a better deal for those on benefits.
It also means the loss of one of the major Brexit figures from the government, which makes the Cabinet even less representative of the modern Conservative party
March 18, 2016
Such a shame IDS has felt the need to resign, but not really surprised.
I thought him an honest politician, who was trying very hard to get some sort of balance back into the welfare system.
Clearly those with a less sensitive mind than him, to those who cannot help themselves, have won for the time being.
Let us hope it will be a very short term victory.
At least IDS will now be free and able to speak out loud and clear.
One thing is getting clearer by the Day, Osbourne will never be accepted by the people as a future Prime Minister.
March 19, 2016
Indeed Osborne would-be even worse than Cameron
Far too wooden, too disliked and above all a hugely misguided and failed Chancellor.
March 19, 2016
Unfortunately, even though not intended, I feel that Mr Osborne gives the impression of being slightly aloof from the everyday person. How can such an allegedly intelligent person make such a mess of two budgets? What sort of advisers does he have? Are they playing for the other side?
As regards his boss, Mr Cameron, I don’t really think he cares that much. I read that he wanted to be PM because he thought that he would be good at it, not out of any great sense of conviction. I would certainly not dispute that he is very good on his feet, very intelligent and articulate, but I don’t think that that is enough. He certainly is not a conviction politician as was Mrs Thatcher.
I expect some degree of both conviction and integrity from our politicians. I find it interesting to list the politicians whom I rate highly, irrespective of party, and they almost all appear to be Brexiteers.
March 20, 2016
Like his partner in crime Cameron, a feather bedded chancer from a elite tax avoiding family is a more accurate description and easily explains their world view and attitude.
March 19, 2016
It sounds like a complete mess. I hope this referendum is not going to mean the Tory party starts to tear itself apart as in the 1990s. Then we might get Corbyn & McDonnell and their gang of terrorist sympathising hard leftists. That would be a huge threat to the prosperity of the U.K. And probably to democracy also.
March 18, 2016
Yes what a shame IDS has gone, more time for him to focus on BREXIT
I think the country will see that we have a great future without the paralysis of Europe
March 19, 2016
I saw Farage speak last night. Very good logical arguments to leave the EU. Cameron is trying to declare some sort of victory for getting the EU to change tax on tampons. The idiot misses the point that he should not have to ask unelected foreign power for permission in the first place. Our elected reps should be the only ones to raise or spend tax and we th e right to boot them if we do not like it.
March 19, 2016
I thought Osborne was supposed to be ultra politically astute, somewhere between a mystic and a guru. Maybe not. Speaking as someone who has long despised both him and Cameron I hope they both have to go and the sooner the better. Surely the reaction to the CGT changes cannot have come as a surprise but apparently it did because there hasn’t been even a pretence by the government at defending them, despite a strong defence being there to be made. If nothing else, at least the two posh boys might now have to show a little less conceit. With a bit of luck whatever happens should benefit Brexit.
March 19, 2016
Cameron and Osborne get away with it just in the same way Blair and Brown got away with it due to an inept opposition. There is nothing in Osborne’s CV to show that he was astute at anything.
March 19, 2016
Certainly little in his budgets to show much competence, honesty or numeracy. The one positive thing he did, about 8 years back, was to promise £1m IHT thresholds. Thus giving a boost in the polls and making the foolish Gordon Brown bottle his early election plans. Without that we would not have the referendum, so thanks for that at least.
Needless to say he has ratted on that promise in the Cameron Osborne manner. Continuing on tax until the peep squeak way while raising far less than he wastes.
March 19, 2016
Well we have a chancellor driven by political gimmicks, bonkers sugar tax distractions, IHT ratting, pension and landlord/tenant theiving, dividend grabbing, stamp duty and insurance tax increasing and endless borrowing. Rather than one who does the right things for the long term benefit of jobs, the economy, housing, the deficit and long term sustainable growth.
One who set up a tax simplification body, but who has doubled the length and complexity of the tax laws. One who continues to borrow to waste hand over fist.
One who thinks the loss of jobs caused by his damaging minimum wage laws is a price worth paying for the political benefits. He is wrong.
March 19, 2016
My friend who is keen to sell his one BTL pension nest egg, but can’t because he would pay £100k which would otherwise go to his kids and grandchildren, watched the budget speech and was very happy when I met him next day. I had to tell him that Oz had really decided to have four CGT rate and his house would be singled out for 28% and no inflation relief. Now he will have to keep letting it to his students but half empty.
March 19, 2016
As pointed out to you before if the job is not worth paying minimum wage for then it is of only use to the employer. You think that putting the poor in competition to earn the least is a good thing or the market will correct is just wilful ignorance or your part. Why do you think these laws were necessary and introduced>
March 20, 2016
There should be one rate of income tax.
This would eliminate the need for tax avoidance schemes.
The tax free threshold should be set at the level of the minimum wage.
Priority should be given to reduce wasteful squandering by government and local authorities, like the unnecessary public works that take place at the end of the year in order to get rid of surplus cash so the the budgets don’t get trimmed back in the following years.
March 25, 2016
Big hit for the middle and that is just by simple maths. OK with that are we?
March 19, 2016
What a terrible potential waste of all the work that IDS has put in. Hopefully he can have some time to rest and reflect before being reinstated as part of a reformed cabinet post referendum.
March 19, 2016
I see that Matthew Parris has described himself as an Osbornite, it rather confirms my opinion of both Osborne and Paris.
Gimmicks, tinsel, a bloated state and silly damaging stunts over substance, jobs, prudence continuity and sustainable growth.
These people are not Conservatives, they are not even numerate or rational.
March 19, 2016
Mr Duncan Smith is an honorable and capable man, who has worked hard to make the welfare system work. In the case of a Leave win, I hope he will come back to a cabinet cleansed of the present EU stooges.
The refusal by Mz Homer to release the figures for NI and tax returns from EU migrants, for reasons of cost, is clearly spurious, though no doubt ordered by the inhabitants of Downing Street. Surely, such maladministration and lies should be challenged in law. Perhaps there are some lawyers on the Leave side who could slap in an injunction, which would at least show how desperate Cameron and May are to cover up their incompetence.
March 19, 2016
Indeed ask voters for their opinion on the EU but deprive them of the facts to make a valid judgement, such as the extent of EU immigration or the average wages earned by them and tax/ NI paid. Is it anything like sufficient for the schools, NHS, housing, police, benefits….
March 19, 2016
Deprive them of the facts? As exemplified by the government’s apparent intention to delay further the Chilcot report on the spurious argument that by delaying the report the electorate will fail to realise how dishonest many of our establishment politicians have been over the years and (completely coincidentally, I am sure) what a remarkable alignment there has been between dodgy politicians and those who would be advocating we remain in the EU (if they only dared put their heads above the parapet).
March 19, 2016
Well done IDS
March 19, 2016
IDS appeared to be doing a good job at DWP a pity to see him go. No doubt rolling back on making changes to this benefit was influenced by not wanting to rock the boat prior to the referendum which it appears the stayers will go to any lengths to win. It also points to the fact that welfare reform that is so desperately needed is going to be fought tooth and nail by the public goaded on by the left and the MSM. The left because of the gimme culture they so enviously believe in and the MSM because appealing to peoples emotions makes for good juicy sensationalist stories that sells well.
March 19, 2016
The MSM is packed with Lefty wordsmiths who are generally too woolly headed to study STEM subjects at university.
March 19, 2016
Antisthenes; “IDS appeared to be doing a good job at DWP a pity to see him go.”
IDS was correct in resigning, as indeed should some other cabinet ministers do (or at least threaten to do) on the same matter of principle. The Chancellor should not be making policy decisions and announcements for them, he should just set their budget and then allow the departmental Minister make the judgement calls as to how the money is spent and what policies should be followed – even if it has all been agreed in cabinet it should be for the various Ministers to make those policy announcements and not the Chancellor as it is the Ministers who will have to defend and ultimately fall on their swords if policies go wrong.
As for IDS and Brexit, because he has (rightly or wrongly) not made himself popular with certain politicos and sections of the public I would hope that some on the eurosceptic right do try and make him the Brexit figure-head as otherwise much Brexit support and many votes from the left might be lost -even if people merely sit on their hands- especially from those who have have found solace in UKIPs scapegoating of migrants as a cause for their unemployment or under-employment. Also, I suspect that IDS is far more dangerous to the BSE group (and perhaps also Cameron/Osborne…) if he doesn’t feel inhibited by ‘position’.
I have not been a fan of IDS, but if his resignation letter is from the heart then I might have misjudged him, I and now wondering how much he might have had to play others tune rather than his own. Time will tell.
March 19, 2016
@Jerry; Oops, that should have read ‘…do not try and make him the Brexit figure-head as otherwise much Brexit support and many votes from the left might be lost….’
March 19, 2016
I also was not a fan of IDS a year ago, simply because ATOS were disgustingly rude to both me and my ‘client’. Since Maximus took over from ATOS, they have understood and made things considerably better for my ‘client’. I therefore wish IDS all the best, especially as he supports Vote Leave!
Incidently, Vote Leave have been campaigning here this morning and it has given me the impetus to join in and leaflet!
March 20, 2016
@Mercia
Indeed the default position of the MSM appears to fall into line with Lib Dem ideology. While LBC Radio tolerate Nick Ferrari due to his popularity with listeners, they avoid taking on new presenters that don’t subscribe to bland PC orthodoxy.
March 19, 2016
Sorry but IDS was never up to being either party leader or of being left in charge of the handouts machine. Unfortunately he and Jeremy Hunt are not realists. Hunt remains in trouble and IDS has gone, because they have failed to point out that if you keep increasing demand for the services of their departments, without coming up with the matching resources, the government will continue to accrue egg on its face.
Its noticeable that neither Corbyn nor Cameron have ever said at what point the borders must be shut because we no longer have the ability to absorb anyone else from overseas. It will be interesting to see what happens at the Home Office when the police can no longer maintain law and order.
March 19, 2016
Plus 1, DRW
March 19, 2016
The decline does not end until our country is as poor and unstable as the third world.
The bad news will just keep coming and coming.
They should be honest with the people about what is happening because sooner, rather than later, even the most ill informed is going to work it out for themselves.
March 19, 2016
It is hard to tell who is telling the truth here, but IF these benefits are being cut for those who cannot do the basic things without help ie: dressing, toileting, eating, then that is not acceptable. If Ian Duncan Smith feels that this what will happen, then, in my opinion, he is right to disagree with Government policy, and resign if he feels strongly enough not to be able to go along with it.
March 19, 2016
Could both be right ?
Cameron saying that IDS had agreed to the cuts in some form, and IDS saying that he never knew these benefit cuts were being used to give tax cuts to higher rate tax payers, for I doubt he would have been informed about all the details of the Osborne budget.
March 19, 2016
Yes, CG.
I’d prefer to see much abused diagnoses such as ADHD, dyslexia, depression, phobia and addiction being tackled as these are the most likely to be used to extract benefits.
I do understand the issue of wealthy pensioners being denied benefits they’ve paid for.
How long before the averagely wealthy is targetted ?
How long before a lifetime of graft and prudence results in equality with those who didn’t make an effort ?
Gah !
All academic. European civilisation is on the precipice and we debate as though it’s not happening.
March 19, 2016
Benefits are being cut the rise in spending is to fund the companies doing the dirty work.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/firm-doing-tories-dirty-work-7182545
March 20, 2016
@Bazman
Maybe the answer is much stringent penalties for benefits fraud.
It’s these fraudsters that effectively steal money from those in genuine need.
The much abused motability scheme is one such area of abuse.
March 21, 2016
The fraud is 0.5% by the governments own figures the fraud lies with the government and the companies they are paying. Did you not understand the article or just want the blame to lie where you want it. ie the benefit claimants?
March 19, 2016
Well done IDS at least you have the whatits to leave the cabinet, so now Cameron will put another pro European in place, I think this is just the start and that the conservatives are going to implode before the referendum then we’re going to see a split in them,
Now IDS can concentrate on leaving the dreaded eu,
March 19, 2016
There are going to be difficult times for the Conservative party after the referendum. Therefore the right person as leader will be needed to stop what will be a fractious and recrimination period that may tear the party apart. David Cameron I do not believe is the right leader whichever side wins to hold the party together. He has a tendency to alienate not as bad as Obama another alienator he does not do it at world level. Perhaps a bit at EU level but I have my suspicion that is all staged managed.
I see him as being at the centre of the political fall out as is George Osborn that will come with the result. A unifying figure will be needed at the top. Difficult as all have taken one side or the other.
March 19, 2016
Antisthenes – The basic point remains that Cameron is NOT a Conservative. He lied and lied and has basically hi-jacked the party. He is a Blairite in every sense and also possesses the worst judgement I have ever seen in any leader anywhere.
He has to go.
March 19, 2016
Every time Cameron or Osborne repeats the mantra that “Britain will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed Europe” I am reminded how readily it comes to these characters to deceive the public.
Mandelson also has that straight-faced ability when he claims he has never advocated that we should join the Euro.
And Blair of course had it honed to perfection when he was interrogated during the Iraq inquiry.
March 19, 2016
Just looks to me like more Cameron/Osborne deceit and incompetence. We need the drains up. What can we believe, we had the tax credits reforms withdrawn almost immediately, and now PIPs are being back-tracked, and Mr Duncan-Smith has felt the need to resign, it wouldn’t have been easy for him. What can of leadership have we got?
I know Mr Redwood can’t bring himself to admit that his leader Cameron tell lies, just that he looks at things in a different way apparently. Others think he spends his entire political life doing so, carrying on where such as Blair left off. As I have said, Cameron betrays everyone in the end.
All of this stupidity brings the nightmare of Corbyn and Sturgeon that bit closer. They won’t have to do anything, they just need sit and wait for the day.
Let us hope that the EU vote to leave is successful and we can then get rid of Cameron and his clique in double quick time afterwards. The worry is that the Conservative party has been denuded of conservatives long ago, and those who remain will need to grow stronger backbones. At least IDS seems to have one.
And of course I dread the day when we see Osborne playing outside in the sandpit again in a high viz jacket, pretending to be a man.
March 19, 2016
There are areas of the disability allowances that need to be reigned in but in this case IDS is right to resign. Cameron and Osborne are doing a great job of repeating the debacle we had with Blair and Brown and look what a mess that turned out to be! The Conservative party looks like it is heading down the road to ruin.
March 19, 2016
A couple of days ago I commented here on the ever growing list of responsibilities Osborne was accruing to himself, for I was surprised it was being tolerated especially as he isn’t on top of his own Treasury brief .
From the IDS resignation it looks like Osborne’s interfering has reached its limit .
March 19, 2016
Osborn seems concerned about his future career, nothing else.
I know there are people claiming with ‘pretend’ disabilities and others abusing the system in some way, but the real abuse, and the real money, is by numerous companies and high earning individuals. I read that even MPs are having their salaries paid into a ‘service company’ to cut their personal tax as are most of the senior BBC employees and now some doctors. These are the areas that the Chancellor should have addressed, the benefits to the exchequer could be far more than catting payments to the disabled.
March 19, 2016
I hear that Mr Cameron is “puzzled” by the resignation. Perhaps that is because he is unable to understand the difference between principle and expediency. IDS was and is principled about his advocacy of Brexit.
I am unfamiliar with the inner machinations of Mr Osborn’s budgets but his outward intent is clear enough – it is to make life difficult or, if he can, impossible for his opponents. While these often are in other political parties he also targets opponents in his own party be they opponents to the policies he is pushing (eg to Remain in the EU) or to his own obvious leadership ambitions. Mr Osborn is a contemporary example of Bilderburg man (he is a regular attendee of the cosy corporatist cabals) scheming in pursuit of the Bilderburg agenda; no doubt it informs his belief in the EU. He is not the man to replace Mr Cameron.
March 19, 2016
perhaps then you could explain your thinking behind your voting for ESA disability benefit cuts then John? That somehow anyone with a debilitating condition incentivised to find work by having their money cut is real Tory thinking. The idle rich are only incentivised by more money one presumes?
In many cases the disabled do work and all this PIP cutting is for idealogical reasons and certainly not to save money for the state as 100’s of millions have been spend on employing American companies to do the dirty work of carrying out the assessments necessary to justify these cuts. Its well documented so no Osborne denialist nonsense please.
I have to declare an interest here though. These cuts have cost my family over five thousand pounds a year the assessment being a hatchet job which I witnessed. Harassment by on the weak and vulnerable by bureaucracy no less in the guise of ‘helping ‘ Can we ‘help’ you and other Tories in any what John? Fortunately I was there and audio recorded the assessment. The tribunal takes place next month as I said it would. The DWP saw no handwriting only typed words, so no extra information. Yes its like that. The recipient works full time so is not disabled, but if they do not work need harassing into work to remove their disability. Kicking the ball both ways in effect.
This is on top of the child tax credit cut to zero due to the shrinking of the threshold.
In total Tory help has cost my family in excess of six grand all to put money into the pockets of the rich, their companies and for idealogical populist gain.
It will not end well and this is why the Tories are jumping ship.
What crackpot ides will we see if we leave Europe and the Tories are in charge with no effective opposition. Everyone a Ragged trousered Philanthropists. Thats what.
Reply I was unhappy about the ESA proposals and discussed them with the government. They assured me that no one currently in receipt would lose any cash over these changes, and that for new claimants it would all be based on need and ability to work. As you should know by now, my mantra is Tax cuts for all.
March 19, 2016
John,
Very interesting that IDS has decided to resign now. My estimation of this man has gone up twelve rungs in the last few weeks. I sincerely hope that the last remaining Conservatives can stage a coup d’etat and regain control of the party. Stephen Crabb has replaced IDS I see. Give me a break!!!
I think Peter Hitchens is correct when he states that Cameron/Osborne and their sycophants are nothing more than Blairites. Action is needed by brave patriotic men/women.
March 19, 2016
JR I am glad the government is withdrawing its disability payment cuts. I lobbied against them as did other MPs.
That was foolish. If you pay people to be sick and disabled..guess what ?…You get a society with more sick and disabled people. Tony Blair showed us this but obviously JR wasn’t paying attention.
Mr Redwood does needs to recognise the costs of disability benefits have escalated despite improvements in health. What is ‘compassionate’ about a system that is unsustainable and often encourages a sense of victimhood in those that it seeks to help?.
If spending is a barometer of ‘compassion’ as Mr Redwood seems to agree with fashionable opinion on this ..presumably we were a much nastier and less compassionate country in the 80’s and 90’s. ..Quite the opposite I would argue… I don’t remember so many homeless people on the streets and drug addicts littering the streets.
Why would a disabled person choose to look to what they can rather they cannot do and find the satisfaction of work ….when the state is so ready to offer decent money and a disability label that can only make an individual feel worse ?.
It’s just a big patronising pat on the head from nanny state. ..ooh you poor thing here is a free car and lots of money you cannot possibly do anything in your state etc. is the message. We need to grow up.
Why have drug abusers, the obese and alcoholics been labelled as ‘disabled’. ?. Whatever happened to personal responsibility of the individual and their family ?.
March 19, 2016
@Ken Moore; Sorry to say but the only person being patronising is you Ken. Do you actually know any disabled people, your utterly crass comments suggest not, for example;.
“Mr Redwood does needs to recognise the costs of disability benefits have escalated despite improvements in health.”
Yes, probably because more people survive their disabling illnesses or accidents, or are simple living longer due to such improvements in health care!
Also, Mr Moore, remember this before posting any more self righteous clap-trap, only for the grace of god goes you and I, both of us are only ever a moment away from being disabled, due to illness, accident or crime.
March 20, 2016
@Ken Moore; Sorry to say but the only person being patronising is you Ken. Do you actually know any disabled people, your utterly crass comments suggest not, for example;.
Relatives that have been disabled were looked after by family members who quietly got on with the task. They didn’t demand new cars be supplied by someone else or incomes over and above the basic pension. Basic home care and nursing help was all that was needed in the latter years.
I’m not being patronising just commentating on the naivety of the current system and the perverse incentives it offers. Also upon a culture that seeks to infantilise debate to the point were ever more spending is seen as a universal good and any reform of the system an ‘attack on disabled people’.
My view is spending is going up chiefly because more and more medical conditions are being dragged into the net by the modern religion of ‘compassion’ and being ‘non judgemental’
Diabetes and obesity are self inflicted disorders – why do I have to pay for other peoples poor lifestyle choices?.
Of course the GENUINELY disabled (not drunks or alcoholics or those with a slightly bad back) should be given all the help they need.
There is also a large amount of what I would call ‘swinging the lead’.
Mr A ….. claimed to suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome ME that ‘comes and goes’. It didn’t seem to stop him clipping his hedge or weeding his garden but he quit his short haul lorry driving job anyway and never worked again. He received higher rate disability living allowance with a brand new car every coupe of years….
Mr Y comes ………..in his brand new motability car.
He uses his sticks to manoeuvre out of the car in public view ..then strangely has no trouble loading his vehicle with heavy pieces of construction equipment and other awkward items unaided.
‘Also, Mr Moore, remember this before posting any more self righteous clap-trap, only for the grace of god goes you and I, both of us are only ever a moment away from being disabled, due to illness, accident or crime’.
Well my advice is don’t smoke, drink and eat sensibly, drive carefully and you should be fine..if more people did this we would have a system that was sustainable and affordable.
March 20, 2016
@Ken Moore: “[../rant/..] Well my advice is don’t smoke, drink and eat sensibly, drive carefully and you should be fine. [../rant/..]”
More utterly crass comments, illness, accidents and crime can affect anyone how ever careful and pure their life. Might I just remind you that entertainer Roy Castle never smoked but he died of a smoking related cancer [1], you don’t need to be a motorist, cyclist or pedestrian to be injured by someone else’s out of control motor vehicle (or an “act of God” such as a falling tree, you can be stone cold sober but be a victim of another’s drink induced crime spree, whilst illness has no respect of lifestyle or age.
Also the way you keep going on about the mobility scheme and their new cars just smacks of jealousy! There will always be people who play the system, by your logic all and every tax relief scheme should be scrapped because there will no doubt be some clever tax lawyers/payers finding ways to abuse the system.
Sorry Mr Moore but if you are typical of either the Conservative Party or UKIP membership/voter then no wonder some still dub both as the “Nasty” parties, try actually thinking the issue through before having a another rant…
[1] due to his time spent in smoke filled clubs, before the health risks of tobacco were (fully) known, how many others have survived their illnesses but have been left disabled and in need of care and extra help?
March 20, 2016
Many disabled work Ken, so how do you square that off? No doubt if they can work they are not disabled and if they do not should then be harassed into work so then can be classed as not disabled.
The self inflicted angle is being fought by the DWP via the assessors, but when this is clearly not a option any fact and arguments presented to them are just ignored and the ‘looks OK’ argument is used. Despite many ailment being chronic and debilitating most of the time. The Tory government sneakily brought in without consultation a 20 meter rule saying that if a disabled person can walk 20 meters they are not allowed any mobility payments. 20 meters is a walk to a car and little else. Cuts to bus services mean no transport even if they can walk to a bus stop.
Yours is a classic right wing dentist argument that all disability is fraud to enable cuts to be made on that basis, but the governments own figures put fraud down to 0.5% 0f claims.
Roll back the state nonsense as long as it does not effect me effect me. Same old same old. We ken you and the likes of you.
March 19, 2016
John off subject a little but have you ever read “Spitfire into Battle” by Group Captain WGG Duncan-Smith. It is about Duncan-Smith Senior’s exploits flying a Spitfire in WW2. Great read! (and possibly an insight into the heroic person who raised IDS)
March 19, 2016
Refreshing to read that IDS has made a stance on a point of morality. It obviously runs in his DNA. Something sadly lacking in that of many of his cabinet colleagues. It never ceases to amaze me how lacking in perception our PR trained PM is. Come Brexit we can no longer afford the luxury of such faux people to lead us into a new relationship with the EU and the rest of the World.
March 19, 2016
The witch finder general most probably left because the computer will not work and will have to be thrown away.
March 19, 2016
The witch finder general most probably left because the computer will not work and will have to be thrown away.
No wonder with all cuts coming year on year.
March 20, 2016
The truth is he wanted to cut rich people pensions which is them, so they throw him out.
March 21, 2016
PIP, PIP ………………… disarray