EASINGTON MP Grahame Morris launched a blistering attack on the government’s assault on jobseeker benefits … while refusing to crack down on rich tax dodgers.
He accused ministers of abusing their power and claimed that the Department of Work and Pensions is in a “state of chaos.”
During a Commons debate he said: “I did not come into Parliament to penalise and punish the vulnerable and the poor for the mistakes of the Government.
“The DWP is trying to save money by issuing unlawful sanctions for a Work Programme that is not fit for purpose.
“It is making arbitrary cuts to disability living allowance and employment and support allowance, and is seeking to reduce the case load by 20%.
“Through the bedroom tax, it is cutting the incomes of disabled people and families with children. The welfare state under this coalition Government in 2013 is failing at every turn.
He said: “it is unjust and unfair to give millionaires a £2,000 a week tax cut, at the same time as the Government proposes to deprive some of the poorest people, who have been illegally sanctioned, of large chunks of their income.
“It is outrageous, and it is rank hypocrisy for anyone to talk about rights with the emphasis on responsibility when it comes to workfare. If they are willing to undermine the judiciary and the rule of law, and vote for retrospective legislation to cover up ministerial mistakes and failings…”
He pointed out that ministers are breaching legal obligation by withholding £130 million in benefits from some of the poorest families.
“ If the national emergency is such that it is right to deny access to social security to those who are entitled to it in order to safeguard the national economy, why do we not chase the tax exiles—those powerful individuals who own newspapers and luxury hotels, who pay no corporation tax and who have laid siege to a small Channel Island?” he added
But the coalition used its Commons majority to push through the Jobseekers Back to Work legislation.
Grahame Morris MP
