UK - Iain Duncan Smith resigns from cabinet over disability cuts

[Sean]

Rats. Sinking ships. Arse covering. Etc.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...ith-resigns-from-cabinet-over-disability-cuts

 

[snowathlete]

This obviously has more to do with personal disagreements and saving face than it does IDS giving a damn about those who are disadvantaged being screwed yet again. I thoroughly dislike the man and I'm pleased he's gone. Shame the rest of the government is still there though.

 

[Chrisb]

Cameroon should have paid more attention to the soothsayer who really said "Beware of IDS in March".

 

[Snow Leopard]

I'm not convinced he quit 'over disability cuts going too far'. He was the spearhead for other cuts and says he was proud of them in his resignation letter! People are suggesting the real reason for the resignation is to do with brexit.

 

[worldbackwards]

I'm not convinced he quit 'over disability cuts going too far'. He was the spearhead for other cuts and says he was proud of them in his resignation letter! People are suggesting the real reason for the resignation is to do with brexit.

IDS is a scumbag, but he like's having people on a string (sanctions, etc). You can't have people on a string if you stop their money entirely. He's a zealot, but that doesn't necessarily mean he supports every cut.

 

[slysaint]

I'm not convinced he quit 'over disability cuts going too far'. He was the spearhead for other cuts and says he was proud of them in his resignation letter! People are suggesting the real reason for the resignation is to do with brexit.

I'm with you on this. Where's he been over the last few years? Suddenly he gets a concience? I don't buy it.

 

[Sean]

I don't buy it.

Me either.

He hasn't suddenly found a conscience.

 

[worldbackwards]

Me either.

He hasn't suddenly found a conscience.

Ah, the point isn't that he's suddenly found a conscience. I think you have to follow UK politics pretty closely to understand the true horror of IDS, which is that he believes all his bullshit. He really thinks that he's doing good by grinding people into the dirt.

In such a warped mindset, it's entirely possible that one cut may not be perceived to be equivalent to another, because some of the cuts are "work incentives"(!), whilst he can't really say that about PIP, which isn't work based or means tested. IDS has a conscience and, on his terms, it is clean!

That isn't to say he isn't a complete hypocrite, but I do think it's perfectly possible that in his mind all of this makes sense. On top of which, he hates George Osborne and is probably sick of getting the blame for his cuts.

 

[Chrisb]

....and I thought it had been suggested that he was likely to be removed from the post. Always get your retaliation in first.

 

[Marco]

He struck me as quite genuine (and genuinely upset) on the Marr show this morning and for someone with 'no conscience' - co-founding the Centre for Social Justice some 12 years ago is some pretty deep cover.

 

[bertiedog]

He struck me as quite genuine (and genuinely upset) on the Marr show this morning and for someone with 'no conscience' - co-founding the Centre for Social Justice some 12 years ago is some pretty deep cover.

I didn't see it that way at all. He just struck me what a good actor he was and I am minded to remember it's not what you say that counts but what you DO.

Pam

 

[Marco]

I didn't see it that way at all. He just struck me what a good actor he was and I am minded to remember it's not what you say that counts but what you DO.

Pam

While he may have a genuine commitment to 'social justice' he is also a conservative and will have conservative views of how social justice is best delivered which includes the notion that a life spent on benefits isn't good for society, individuals or for the life chances of their children (which I would hope we all agree on). Ergo he would be keen to incentivise work over benefits.

He also stated this morning that he deplored the binary choice offered between being judged able to work or unable to work and that there should be more flexibility and fluidity that allowed for individual circumstances and the ability to transition from one to the other. This is also reasonable and probably explains the changes from IB to ESA with the 'transitional' category of ESA 'preparation for work' element. Problem is that the devil is in the detail and objectively determining who absolutely can't work isn't easy and isn't helped where those charged with making the judgment are probably also incentivised to minimise this number. Hence the high proportion of successful challenges on appeal.

Another telling comment this morning was the admission that welfare claimants are not likely to be conservative voters. IDS claimed to not want to abandon these people regardless. The treasury may have taken a different view seeing welfare cuts as an easy source of deficit reduction with little political cost.

The impression I got was that IDS felt his dept was continually bounced by the treasury into delivering more and deeper cuts which undermined his goals of encouraging a move of benefits but greater support there this isn't possible.

This is what he does (with some strange bedfellows) :

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/23/iain-duncan-smith-intervi_n_8633136.html

 

[slysaint]

....and I thought it had been suggested that he was likely to be removed from the post. Always get your retaliation in first.

Quite a clever move if you think about it; he washes his hands of the whole sorry mess and points the finger at Osborne

 

[worldbackwards]

Excellent dismantling of the rhetoric of welfare "reform":

http://www.newstatesman.com/politic...m-how-rhetoric-helped-dismantle-welfare-state