‘Poor and jobless Scots are grateful when the Con-Dems punish them by cutting their benefits.
That was the astonishing claim yesterday from the Whitehall mandarin behind the hated sanctions regime.
Neil Couling, a top civil servant at Iain Duncan Smith’s Department for Work and Pensions, told outraged MSPs: “My experience is that many benefit recipients welcome the jolt that the sanctions can give to them.
“Some people will no doubt react very badly. But others recognise that it is the wake-up call they needed, and it helps them get back into work.”
Jamie Hepburn of the SNP asked sarcastically if JobCentres got lots of thank you cards from sanction victims.
But Couling replied: “Yes, that is not unremarkable.”’
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