Is Ed Miliband ‘coming out’ ? “I would have cut benefits bill, not benefits themselves” he tells the FT

Sunny Hundal
Sunny Hundal

 

Coming out as the love that dare not speak its name?

The ‘S’ word?

A SOCIALIST?

Aye, RIGHT THEN, PAL! 

By Sunny Hundal Liberal Conspiracy 3:22 pm – January 17th 2013

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In an interview with the Financial Times today, Ed Miliband takes the correct position on welfare changes writes Sunny Hundal

He told the FT that “universal benefits are part of the badge of citizenship”, otherwise it undermines the welfare state.

I think there is a sort of little truth here lurking in this which I don’t think has properly been exposed which is, probably is part of the long-term strategy of the Tory right to undermine the welfare state,” he told us. “They think we need to turn it into a service just for the poorest. And, then, as part of that strategy, we can undermine support for it?

But if you are trying to maintain universal benefits, says the FT’s Jim Pickard, then your welfare bill balloons because you have to pay them out for the relatively wealthier as well as the poorest.

So how would you cut welfare, asks the FT?

I don’t want to be cutting benefits, I want to be cutting the benefit bill.

Good, and an important point to make.

The best way to cut the benefits bill is to focus on lowering unemployment rather than focusing on austerity.

The bizarre thing is, the FT’s Jim Pickard seems to believe there was nothing in the government’s power to influence employment. But this can be refuted.

1) The government could have resisted axing hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs.

2) The government could have considered a stimulus (Obama’s stimulus created over a million jobs) too.

3) It could have stopped hyping austerity, which led to a steep drop in consumer confidence.

4) As some have pointed out on Twitter, building housing would have also helped: it would have stimulated economy while reducing housing benefits bill.

All these measures would have reduced the welfare bill much more than the current punitive cuts, which have been mostly aimed at disabled people and the unemployed.

See also: Jan 16th 2013 Len McCluskey’s of UNITE’s finest speech ~ The Ralph Miliband Lecture London School of Economics

http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/01/17/ed-miliband-i-would-have-cut-benefits-bill-not-benefits-themselves/

 

7 thoughts on “Is Ed Miliband ‘coming out’ ? “I would have cut benefits bill, not benefits themselves” he tells the FT

  1. jeffery davies says:

    no when i emailed a little while back his reply no changes atos doing a wonderfull job so no change there ,but will he do anyhting about it i wonder and while he thinks whot to do about it more die daily yep how many of us to go bfor they do something jeff3

  2. Humanity2012 says:

    We Need the Opposition to Actually be an Opposition

    There are Paid More than Enough After All

    It is their Duty

    Yes to Compassionate Socialist Labour No to Not Capitalist Inspired Suffering

  3. Humanity2012 says:

    I would Hope that the Leader of the Opposition Provides the Opposition to the Regime
    to Improve Welfare Benefit Policy so it is More Caring and Compassionate

  4. K Peake says:

    73 of us dying each week of Atos (DWP)

    https://twitter.com/SoniaPoulton/status/254887806516740096

    No record of the 43% of us found fit for work who aren’t working or receiving benefits the following year which will mean nothing to the gangster squad but be of terrible concern to anyone with a beating heart

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/17/atos-attack-emotional-commons-debate

    494 of us dying each week of cold

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/22/fuel-poverty-protestors-die-in-winter-deaths

    1 in 500 of us currently being kept alive by responsible taxpayers at foodbanks leaping impressively to 1 in 250 of us by April

    http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/food-banks-is-cameron-on-the-money/12486

    The blame for these deaths lies squarely with the terrorists who launched this vicious and cowardly attack.

    Sign this petition to show the gangster squad what happens when they defame, illegitimise and abandon disabled people:

    http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33327

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