Iain Duncan Smith resigns

[poontang]

IDS has resigned this evening.

 

His resignation letter to Cameron is pretty scathing, and is devastating for Osborne and his disability cuts.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35848687

[shaun4860]

Interesting reading

 

[saddler]

From what I've seen the PIP changes are a cut too far & also seem to be extremely badly administered to boot....which only compounds the problem!

 

Good for IDS

[fortune]

Isn't he trying to get out of Europe also? IS this part of something going on in the background.

[jam1e]

Isn't he trying to get out of Europe also? IS this part of something going on in the background.

I think a bit of both by the looks of it. Either way, it's good news on both counts!

[Chris Bb]

A good bloke, one of the few statesmen left in Westminster.

 

A loss.

[Les*1066]

Fair play to IDS. I was always under the impression that it was him who was responsible for attacking the disabled people of this country, but by the look of things he was just following orders.

 

PIP was introduced to make it more difficult for the chancers to claim disability benefits, and it seems to be having an effect - although unfortunately a large proportion of genuine cases have lost out too. The people who had to jump through hoops to qualify for PIP are now being hit with an extremely large hammer, because it is extremely unlikely that they will re-qualify when they have to be reassessed. However, this doesn't make them any less disabled. It just means that their lives will become even more difficult in the future.

 

The government is only worried about numbers - it doesn't give a damn about the people who are made to suffer, and the chancellor now obviously thinks that he has found an easy way of cutting a few bob off his budget by attacking people who are unable to fight back.

 

.

[clakk]

Aged 65 with a blocked artery in his leg ,a sack of fluid around his heart and osteo arthritus my dad bless him was told to report to The DHSS doctors for a fitness for work interview .Really captin herbal life ,been off work as he couldnt walk 5 foot with breathing like a dead corpse since aged 52 and the Goverment came up with that carp.He,s passed away now bless him so he doesnt have to suffer the insults of civil service morons anymore .I think he,s better off out of it, i dread getting elderly and or infirm as they just want you to drop dead and not claim anything ,u can pay till 67 but no no no u cant have anything back

[Bazooka Joe]

Fair play to IDS. I was always under the impression that it was him who was responsible for attacking the disabled people of this country, but by the look of things he was just following orders.

 

PIP was introduced to make it more difficult for the chancers /people to claim disability benefits, and it seems to be having an effect - although unfortunately a large proportion of genuine cases have lost out too. The people who had to jump through hoops to qualify for PIP are now being hit with an extremely large hammer, because it is extremely unlikely that they will re-qualify when they have to be reassessed. However, this doesn't make them any less disabled. It just means that their lives will become even more difficult in the future.

 

The government is only worried about numbers - it doesn't give a damn about the people who are made to suffer, and the chancellor now obviously thinks that he has found an easy way of cutting a few bob off his budget by attacking people who are unable to fight back.

 

.

 

I don't know if your speaking from experience but your post is spot on.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Bazooka Joe

[norfolk dumpling]

I like IDS even though generally I hate politicians so this is disappointing but the point he is making re inequality is one that all governments, here and abroad, need to tackle. The (genuine) disabled should not have to fight for the next £10 when there are multi-billionaires benefitting from this budget. The wealth gap is absolutely massive and whilst I understand all the arguements re wealth creation this creates mistrust and disappointment for millions. The biggest crime for me is a Premier League footballer earning £500,000 per week (wages and endorsements) when junior doctors earn circa £30k per annum. Osborne has got this budget wrong. I hope DC wakes up and smells the coffee.

[achosenman]

The sad fact of life is, they get paid what the industry can afford. More money made in football than medicine means the wages are higher. Paying a Dr £500,000 a week won't improve the service or the treatment.

 

Atb

[Lampwick]

Oh this is fun!

 

I can't wait to hear the spin on this.

 

Bring on "out" and Boris

[E.w.]

A good bloke, one of the few statesmen left in Westminster.

 

A loss.

+1

[kody]

Ids a scumbag he has pushed a lot of people over the edge and took there lives with his evil benefit sanctions good bloody riddens

[ditchman]

Isn't he trying to get out of Europe also? IS this part of something going on in the background.

 

 

is he going to pin his colours to the mast ?

[panoma1]

Ids a scumbag he has pushed a lot of people over the edge and took there lives with his evil benefit sanctions good bloody riddens

After all the time he has been in post and all the financial cuts which disadvantage the disabled and most vulnerable in our country, he has presided over................it seems rather late for him to develop a social conscience?

 

There is another reason for his resignation..........hidden in there somewhere!

[Vince Green]

I think he has been one of the few politicians who has followed his convictions. He has had a massively difficult job to do in the past and he was never going to be popular for doing it. I have a lot of respect for him.

[rbrowning2]

Now let's just prey Osborne does likewise but I doubt he has the honesty and integrity to do so.

 

PIP is a step to far and should be scraped.

[daveboy]

I think you will find Boris has pulled his pocket out of his trousers and IDS is holding onto it (prison style).

[bruno22rf]

You should hear his wife when she got a parking ticket in Winslow....not very lady like language to a Warden who obviously, no, "didn't know who he was talking to"

[krugerandsmith]

A good bloke, one of the few statesmen left in Westminster.

 

A loss.

 

Agreed.

Osborn a complete idiot .... hit the disabled but look after the higher tax payer... also lets not forget that ... The National debt has more than doubled since the Tories have been in office.

[grrclark]

 

Agreed.

Osborn a complete idiot .... hit the disabled but look after the higher tax payer... also lets not forget that ... The National debt has more than doubled since the Tories have been in office.

 

You forever trot out this line, but fail to see the irony in mentioning it when others are being critical about budget cuts in respect to welfare.

 

In order to not grow the national debt there would have to be no deficit, which would have meant absolutely devastating cuts right from day 1. It would also have had to been coupled with a huge change in the rate of tax for all. The change in revenue/expenditure would have had to be something like £120bn in 1 year.

 

If we didn't want to have any cuts in government spending at all then to put that into numbers the 29.3m UK tax payers would all have to pay an extra £4100/year on average, if you want to be progressive and keep that burden on the higher rate taxpayers only it would mean that 4.9m people would have had to pay an extra £24,500/year on average.

 

I know you don't like the tories and that is your absolute right, but please if you are going to keep harping on about that same line then understand what it means. If the debt has still doubled despite all of the cuts that have taken place across the spectrum then consider how much more we are/were actually spending beyond our income.

 

As for looking after the higher rate taxpayer it is worth understanding that the higher rate taxpayers currently pay around 70% of the UK income tax burden, so around 16% of taxpayers, or 7% of the population, pay 70% of the bills. Under the tories that burden paid by the higher rate tax payers number has grown from just over 50% to just under 70%.

 

I am not defending some of the cuts made within the welfare system, i think that they have botched way too many initiatives and pursued the wrong policies in respect to corporate taxation, but to suggest that the tories are making the poorest pay for the benefit of the wealthier simply isn't true, it is nothing other than typical tired rhetoric that people love to trot out without ever bothering to understand the numbers.

Edited March 19, 2016 by grrclark

[Lloyd90]

 

You forever trot out this line, but fail to see the irony in mentioning it when others are being critical about budget cuts in respect to welfare.

 

In order to not grow the national debt there would have to be no deficit, which would have meant absolutely devastating cuts right from day 1. It would also have had to been coupled with a huge change in the rate of tax for all. The change in revenue/expenditure would have had to be something like £120bn in 1 year.

 

If we didn't want to have any cuts in government spending at all then to put that into numbers the 29.3m UK tax payers would all have to pay an extra £4100/year on average, if you want to be progressive and keep that burden on the higher rate taxpayers only it would mean that 4.9m people would have had to pay an extra £24,500/year on average.

 

I know you don't like the tories and that is your absolute right, but please if you are going to keep harping on about that same line then understand what it means. If the debt has still doubled despite all of the cuts that have taken place across the spectrum then consider how much more we are/were actually spending beyond our income.

 

As for looking after the higher rate taxpayer it is worth understanding that the higher rate taxpayers currently pay around 70% of the UK income tax burden, so around 16% of taxpayers, or 7% of the population, pay 70% of the bills. Under the tories that burden paid by the higher rate tax payers number has grown from just over 50% to just under 70%.

 

I am not defending some of the cuts made within the welfare system, i think that they have botched way too many initiatives and pursued the wrong policies in respect to corporate taxation, but to suggest that the tories are making the poorest pay for the benefit of the wealthier simply isn't true, it is nothing other than typical tired rhetoric that people love to trot out without ever bothering to understand the numbers.

Very good post!

 

No matter who was in office the debt would have doubted, or even more so should the alternative have kept spending without a care in the world as done previously!

 

You simply can not spend more than you earn and we really do need to get out of a deficit IMO.

[panoma1]

It seems to me that If 16% of UK taxpayers are paying 70% of the country's tax bill? Is this not because these 16% are receiving a corresponding amount (70%) of the country's total annual earnings? More of course, if they are avoiding paying all their taxes?

 

Does it then not follow that the remaining 84% of UK taxpayers are only earning enough to pay the remaining 30% of the country's tax bill? Mostly on a PAYE basis, so tax avoidance is much less likely to occur, therefore 84% of the working population of the U.K. are receiving 30% (or maybe less?) of the country's total annual pay bill?

 

A person earning £450 per week on PAYE, without perks, makes pro rata a disproportionate (in terms of hardship and affordability) personal contribution to this country's finances than the person receiving £1,000,000 per annum, plus perks, and able to employ experts to minimise their tax bills does.

 

I am not an economist but if this is the case? Is it acceptable?

[kody]

There's more to this why smith has jacked after all he was a benefit slasher

He had lied time and time again and refused to publish the true cost of his universal credit farce

But now he has lost a court battle over this and now has to come clean and publish it I think the true cost will be staggering good riddens to a bear face lier