Iain Duncan Smith’s mass use of benefit sanctions is driving people to their deaths. But it began under Labour, and was not opposed by most trade unions or charities established to support people living in poverty.
In 2008 the Labour government published a green paper entitled ‘No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility’ (PDF). Gordon Brown himself wrote the forward to the document pledging “tough responsibilities that respect tax payers” for all of those on some form of out of work benefit.
Even for a Government which had already introduced workfare and the despised Work Capability Assessment, some of the measures proposed were shocking. These included mandatory work related activity – a vague term that often means workfare – for both sick and disabled claimants and lone parents with children over 5. Other proposals included a policy that long term unemployed people should be sent on workfare for “as long as needed”. Those with a drug problem would be required to undertake mandatory treatment regimes and possibly even drug testing. Benefit sanctions would be strengthened. A new and privatised ‘Fit For Work’ service would be introduced to encourage people to go back to work quickly if they became ill. And all those currently claiming sickness or disability benefits would be ‘frequently’ re-assessed at the notorious Work Capability Assessments which were being run by French IT company Atos.
Atos were far from the only private company set to rake in huge sums from Labour’s savage attack on the poor. The green paper proposed that private providers would be able to bid for any welfare-to-work service. This was based on a recommendation from David Freud, now better known as Lord Fraud, the current Tory Minister for Welfare Reform.
Except for mandatory treatment for drug users, all of these measure were eventually introduced, some by Labour and some by the Tories. Many of Iain Duncan Smith’s most vicious policies were actually first proposed by Labour.
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