Q: Sick and disabled peopled are hardest hit by the cuts. Are you reluctant to defend the disabled because the public have been convinced they are scroungers?
Ed re-iterates that being hard on disability benefits is a "Labour thing to do".
Miliband says he is not afraid to use the word disability.
You have to separate ill health and disability from a decision not to work.
He knows about the concerns about the Atos tests. (Atos is the firm that assesses people for employment and support allowance, the new disability benefit.)
A questioner asks about an anecdote Miliband told about someone who should not have been on disability benefit.
Miliband says he should have said in his speech that Labour should defend people with genuine disabilities.
But being tough on the benefit system is not a un-Labour thing to do.
It is fundamentally a Labour thing to do, he says.
www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/sep/28/labour-conference-2011
2 Responses
yeh right?
“Miliband is engaging with his audience well. He is using people’s names, and complimenting them on their questions. The woman who asked about disability benefits was hostile, but generally he seems to be making a good impression.” What a barrel of shit!