Iain Duncan Smith: Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

So with a wearying predictability Iain Duncan Smith has had another epiphany and resigned.

We are now invited to believe that he has developed a conscience about what the Tories are doing to the unemployed, the sick and the disabled. Does the man think we are all fools?

We shouldn’t be surprised that IDS has had such an abrupt change of heart. He was arguing angrily in the commons with Tory MP Nadine Dorries in favour of cuts that would hurt disabled people – then resigned because of similar cuts outlined by George Osborne a few hours later!

Let’s remind ourselves of a few highlights from the man and his department.

Benefits Sanctions

Who could forget Sarah’s story (above) – one of a number of ‘job seekers’ delighted to have her benefit stopped.  

It was all lies of course, a lie which his department defended as “illustrative”  and were then forced to withdraw. A man with any integrity would have resigned over this clear attempt to deceive the public  – but this was IDS, a man untroubled by the demands of the truth.

Far from being pleased with their CV’s and boosted job chances – those sanctioned and losing their only means of support were forced to turn to foodbanks or starve.

When confronted by the Trussel Trust (and others) about this real world evidence of shocking hunger – he attacked the charity, accusing them of “emotionally manipulative publicity seeking” and “effectively running a business”. 

In truth, benefit sanctions were not just driving people to food banks, they were killing people too.

When reports of tragic deaths related to benefit sanctions began to circulate, the DWP responded with typical deceit,  first denying that it was happening and then repeatedly blocking the release of figures that would prove they were lying. 

It became clear that Job Centre managers and staff were being put under enormous pressure to  sanction claimants by any means possible.  Naturally the DWP denied this, even as staff  blew the whistle and documentary evidence was being presented to parliament.

After denying it in February 2015 they then had to launch an ‘inquiry’ in March as they were forced to admit that jobcentres had been setting targets and league tables to sanction benefit claimants despite assurances to parliament that no such targets were being set.

Here is IDS lying about benefit cap statistics.

Here he is repeatedly misrepresenting government statistics to smear benefit claimants and the disabled.

Universal Credit

In December 2013 Iain Duncan Smith insisted the Universal Credit programme would be “essentially” complete by 2017.

In truth, it’s now unlikely the system will  EVER be fully introduced and certainly not before 2021. A report published by the public accounts committee accused the DWP of blocking parliament from finding out what was causing the delays.

In 2012 Iain Duncan Smith boasted that the roll out of Universal Credit would improve the lives of millions of claimants by “incentivising work and making work pay.”  But a report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that although the policy would encourage some people into work this wasn’t the case for everyone. In fact some groups, like single parents, will have even less of an incentive to work under Universal Credit than under the old system. Crucially it also noted the changes would leave working families worse off , with 2.1 million families facing an average loss of £1,600 a year.

Bedroom Tax

One of Duncan Smith’s key defences of the Bedroom Tax was that it would help free up social housing for those most in need. But a shortage of smaller properties meant that the overwhelming majority of people affected by the bedroom tax stayed put. A recent government study into the impact of the changes found that 76% of those affected have been forced to cut back on food, with thousands more claimants being driven into taking on payday loans. Only a small fraction of those affected moved into alternative accommodation.

IDS claimed that the Bedroom Tax was a fair and reasonable policy, but judges have ruled that the policy was discriminatory and unlawful in two headline cases of a domestic violence survivor and the family of disabled teenager.

The United Nations special reporter Raquel Rolnik called for the abolition of the Bedroom Tax back in September 2013  

“I was very shocked to hear how people really feel abused in their human rights by this decision and why – being so vulnerable – they should pay for the cost of the economic downturn, which was brought about by the financial crisis. People in testimonies were crying, saying ‘I have nowhere to go’, ‘I will commit suicide’.”

Iain’s DWP were quick to rubbish her concerns:

“This report is based on anecdotal evidence and the conclusion was clearly written before any research was actually completed,”

This was (of course) a smear and a lie – in fact Rolnik (a housing expert) had met dozens of council house tenants during her visit, when – at the formal invitation of the UK government – she travelled to Belfast, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London and visited council estates, food banks, homelessness crisis centres, Traveller sites and new housing association developments. She also reviewed hundreds of written testimonies.

IDS and the DWP never bother with the truth when a smear will do.

ATOS et al

IDS has repeatedly claimed that face-to-face assessments of disability benefit claimants would mean payments would only go to those who most need them

In fact many people with serious disabilities and even life-threatening conditions have been judged as fit-for-work under the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) scheme.

In 2013 Linda Wootton died in hospital just nine days after the government stopped her benefits and ordered her to go back to work.

Amid growing criticism of the assessments, ATOS, the private company contracted to carry out the assessments, were dumped by the government a year before the end of their contract.

Horror stories continue to emerge on an almost daily basis of the harassment and humiliation of the disabled, the sick and the terminally ill under the latest company Maximus.

ESA & PIP’s

IDS claimed that Personal Independence Payments would “better reflect today’s understanding of disability” than the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 

In fact the switch from DLA to PIP has been a disaster with thousands of people waiting months for their applications to be assessed. The Mandatory Reconsideration stage resulted in many of those who had already waited long periods for a decision to be made being left waiting even longer to have the opportunity to challenge it.

IDS claimed that cutting benefits of the sick and disabled would spur more people into work. The DWP proposed to slash Employment Support Allowance (ESA) by £30 per week. The House of Lords saw through this bullshit, with opposition peers coming together to argue that the plans would result in making it harder for claimants to find work. 

IDS remained 100% commited to this plan and to further cuts outlined by George Osborne in the last budget – right up to the moment when he decided he needed to resign over them.

A liar, a bully and a coward

Everything that Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP go near is both a perversion of the purpose of a welfare state and an organisational disaster – hidden behind regular flurries of lies and smears.

Iain Duncan Smith has no integrity whatsoever.  He is a liar, a coward, a bully and an incompetent opportunist. People like IDS should have no place in public life. His resignation is tactical – part of the ongoing tory civil war over Brexit. He thinks that by resigning now, his political position will be strengthened in the future.

IDS weeps crocodile tears for vulnerable and disabled people (the same ones he has spent years trampling on) in the hope of gaining political capital. It is perhaps his most obvious and disgusting trick of all.

Don’t let him get away with it.