Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 17:51:07 -0800
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: MPs plan revolt on benefit reforms
The Independent Feb. 11, 1999
MPs plan revolt on benefit reforms
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
FURIOUS Labour MPs last night threatened to mount the biggest
backbench rebellion since the general election over the Government's
plans to force all social security claimants to attend regular back-
to-work interviews under the threat of losing their benefits.
The Government's crackdown was condemned bygroups representing the
disabled, mentally ill and sole parents, and even some ministers
privately expressed their hostility to the sweeping changes unveiled
yesterday in the Welfare Reform Bill. They accused Tony Blair of
"pandering to middle England" by "taking a stick to beat benefit
claimants".
One cabinet minister warned the moves could alienate traditional
Labour supporters and would harm Labour's prospects in this spring's
elections of local authorities, the European Parliament and the
Scottish and Welsh assemblies.
The drive to end the "something for nothing culture" of Britain's
£98bn-a-year benefits system, disclosed in The Independent yesterday,
will involve regular interviews for claimants of income support,
housing benefit, council tax benefit, widow's benefit, severe
disablement allowance and invalid care allowance. Although the Bill
allows benefit reductions for claimants refusing a work-focused
interview without good reason, Alistair Darling, the Secretary of
State for Social Securityy, made it clear that all, rather than part,
of their state handouts would be stopped.
He said that a severely disabled person might have to attend an
interview every three years, while a young jobless person would be
called in "far more often" - probably after intervals of only some
months.
In a departure from his previous "softly, softly" approach in which
welfare reforms applied only to new claimants, Mr Darling said the
new changes would be gradually extended to those already receiving
benefits. He described his proposals as "harsh but justifiable",
adding: "There is no automatic right to benefit."
But Diane Abbott, the left-wing MP, accused ministers of "harassing"
single mothers and predicted a bigger rebellion than the 1997 revolt
over cuts in benefits for lone parents, when 47 Labour MPs voted
against the Government and many others abstained. "It will be even
more taken aback by the response to this," she said.
John Marek, Labour MP for Wrexham, said he would not vote for the
"anti-family" Bill.
The Liberal Democrats accused the Government of subjecting 100,000 of
the most vulnerable people to benefit cuts totalling £1bn. But the
Tories said Labour had not gone far enough, claiming it had backed
away from compulsory work requirements because the jobs were not
available.
Mind, the mental health charity, said: "Many people with mental
health problems will be worried sick by the prospect of having their
benefits threatened if they don't attend these interviews."
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