I could hardly believe my eyes when I read this, in an article titled (without apparent irony) “To cut with principle is the right approach“:
There will certainly be other cuts to the welfare budget. The guiding principle behind them seems to be the reintroduction of the distinction between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor. This is not meant to be an absolute distinction, still less one which damns those on the wrong side of it as worthless or inadequate. But it is intended to be a way of making decisions about who is entitled to the state’s resources in a time of scarcity. That is why the Coalition is going to target Disability Allowance: the aim is to force 400,000 of those claiming that benefit back into paid employment.
It is not principled to willfully confuse Disability Living Allowance with an out-of-work benefit.
It is not principled to think that “forcing” people back into paid employment is a reasonable thing to do.
And it is not principled to imply that some disabled people may form part of any “undeserving poor”.
(If you prefer your stories with a little more truth and facts in them, you may be interested in 3 posts on the topic of Disability Living Allowance we’ve written previously: 1, 2, 3.)
arbitrary constant 