Here’s why Labour needs to go a lot further to win back our trust

130922unumlabour

Only days after Ed Miliband announced a Labour government would sack Atos, the party’s conference is hosting an event part-funded by the architects of the ‘work capability assessment’ administered by that company – the criminal American insurance giant Unum.

‘New thinking on the welfare state’ is a fringe event taking place at the Labour conference on Monday, September 23, organised by the right-wing thinktank Reform (which has Unum as one of its funders) and sponsored by the Association of British Insurers (which includes Unum among its members). Does anybody doubt that it has been arranged in order to give Unum a chance to influence high-ranking party members? No?

Then consider: This is a private round-table policy seminar, staged by Anne McGuire MP. Rank and file Labour members aren’t invited – attendance is by invitation only. Can you smell a rat? Still no?

The event has already been staged at the Liberal Democrat conference (by Steve Webb MP, whoever he is), and will also be a feature of the Conservative Party conference, courtesy of that turncoat floor-crossing slime Lord Freud. It shouldn’t take a genius to work out that Unum wants to ensure that all three parties have the same social security/welfare policy, going into the next election – and that Unum continues to figure prominently in the formulation of that policy.

If you didn’t smell a rat infestation before, by now you’re probably wondering why pest control hasn’t been called.

Ed Miliband knows that any change of the organisation administering work capability assessments is purely cosmetic; the Conservative-led Coalition itself is bringing in other companies to carry out the work, and Capita has already been taken on to carry it out in some areas.

It is the policy itself that must change.

Unum knows all about that policy. The company came up with it in the 1990s as a way to combat claims on its health insurance policies for ‘subjective’ illnesses such as ‘chronic pain’, ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease and others – by aggressively disputing whether a claimant was ill.

It based its new test on the Biopsychosocial Model of illness developed by the psychiatrist George Engel, which is itself an unproved theory. Unum removed the bio- and -social aspects in order to concentrate on the ‘psycho’ – the claim that a person’s illness is all in their mind; that they are imagining it.

This worked very well for the company until the American people realised that they were being diddled out of their insurance money and very large lawsuits were launched that ended with the company having a criminal record in several US states.

Undaunted by this, Unum branched into the UK and cosied up with then-social security minister Peter Lilley, who wanted to cut the number of people claiming disability benefits. Unum saw an opportunity here, with a long-term goal of making state disability benefits useless to the British citizen and forcing them to pay out for the companies duff health insurance policies – which had already fallen foul of the law in America.

That’s why the work capability assessment takes precedence over any evidence your doctor might provide to support your claim, and it’s also why doctors are being actively discouraged from providing any evidence at all; that’s why UK law currently sees a glowing future for people who may be paralysed, but for one finger, as a button pusher; that’s why people with Parkinson’s Disease or other degenerative conditions are being told they will be able to work again in the future; and that’s why thousands upon thousands of people have died as a result of the current policy – especially since the Conservative-led Coalition came into office in 2010.

Meanwhile, Unum has begun a mass-marketing campaign to encourage able-bodied British citizens to invest in ‘Income Protection Insurance’ and a scheme known as the ‘Back-up Plan’. These are only available via the workplace, and it is understood that it has been designed to ensure that the company can resist paying out if anybody should be unlucky enough to have to make a claim.

So you see, the plan is to leave the sick and disabled of this country with no support whatsoever; they can either take out Unum’s insurance policies, pay the company a fortune in premiums and get nothing in return – or they can throw themselves at the mercy of a state which has no mercy and be refused the benefits for which their taxes have been paying ever since they were old enough to pay taxes in the first place.

Either way, Unum wins. For younger readers, it’s like the plot of the prequel trilogy in the Star Wars saga, where the character who becomes the Emperor engineers a war in which he controls both sides. So you see? Those films weren’t as bad as we all thought.

But of course, any person or organisation that intentionally creates a parallel between itself and the most evil character in recent fiction should absolutely not be anywhere near the real-life political decision-makers of this or any other country.

That’s why Mo Stewart, the retired healthcare professional and disability researcher who has spent four years examining the relationship between Unum and the UK government, has contacted Ms McGuire, demanding to know why she is having anything to do with the firm.

She wrote: “Given the amount of evidence against the practice of the dangerous corporate giant, Unum Insurance, and the fact that Labour MPs have exposed their influence with government during debate, the British disabled community are wondering why you would chose to host a fringe meeting by Unum at the conference on Monday?

“‘New Thinking on the Welfare State’ it seems is the title of the meeting, and they should know since Unum have been helping to systematically destroy the welfare state, as welcomed by various governments, since 1994.

“If you were planning to cause offence, you couldn’t have done a better job.

Keep betraying the British disabled people and you’ll be waiting in the wings for a lot longer before Labour ever return to Government.

“I have spent the past 4 years exposing the links between the DWP, Atos Healthcare & UNUM Insurance. Some of your colleagues are very familiar with my work, which is to be considered by the UN within weeks, and I suggest that if you wish to be taken seriously as the Shadow Minister for Disabled People then you need to be familiar with this evidence.”

This blog wholeheartedly supports Mo Stewart’s position.

If you want to add your support, you can contact Anne McGuire by emailing [email protected] – and you might wish to include Ed Miliband and Liam Byrne (while he’s still there): [email protected] and [email protected]

If you’d like to do more, feel free to broadcast that facts about Unum as widely as you can. There seems to be a media blackout on mention of this criminal organisation’s involvement with the state, so you cannot rely on the national news media. This means word of mouth – viral networking – is the only alternative.

Spread the word.

Oh, and Ed? Mr Miliband? We’ll all be waiting for you to make a slightly more solid commitment to the British people. You know what it is because we’ve made it perfectly clear already:

New policies on sickness, disability and incapacity benefits that are humane to claimants and rely on real medical evidence – not the opinions of an unqualified ‘decision-maker’ at the DWP.

Expel Unum from any position in which it may influence the government – including fringe events at party conferences. This may mean dismantling the DWP altogether as that organisation appears to have been terminally compromised.

End the work capability assessments. Find a different way to assess people’s ability to work – perhaps one that involves knowledge of what jobs are available and whether employers have any intention to take on people with limited abilities… Something practical, rather than the dribble that masquerades as current government policy.

And, for goodness’ sake, get rid of Byrne (and McGuire… and let’s not forget Stephen Timms) and replace them with backbenchers who actually understand and sympathise with the plight of benefit claimants who have been made to suffer under a needlessly brutal system.

You don’t dare betray the British people again.

If you do, you’ll have more than eggs to dodge, whenever you dare show your face in public.

54 thoughts on “Here’s why Labour needs to go a lot further to win back our trust

  1. Adam Clifford

    This really shows how irresponsibly,carelessly out of touch the labour party are as well.They really are a disgusting and treacherous bunch as well.Politics is infested with corporate yes-saying and electorate go f..k yourselves.We need a new system where corrupt,uncaring,incompetent people dont get a chance to foul things up.These a..h..s think they should get votes.They’re just a bad smell-all of them.Wasting everybodys’ time except the rich and corporate.
    [Thanks for the info on Unum]

      1. Adam Clifford

        They have made me feel like I live in a foreign country.They have trashed common decency,divided and alienated the electorate as much as they can,have applied a dubious,wilfully immune to input economic remedy,creating bad conditions for a lot of people,on the back of which and hate-filled media campaigns against the most disadvantaged,they have introduced the most cynical and morally repugnant,bullying policies which their poodle media do not scrutinise.The extent of corruption and the influence of the corporates goes unexamined.The unsought for taxes of the corporates and individuals go unsought.It has been disgusting to see the damage mindlessly and uninformedly inflicted on the poor and disadvantaged,amid flurries of disinformation and media hate campaigns to recoup relatively small sums of money,and all the time the rich and corporates hold on to their untaxed money.[if the same amount of time and energy which has been spent torturing the poor,had been spent recovering unpaid tax,and resolving tax issues-retrospectively,however,I would bet much more money would have been recovered.But the tories have demonstrated what nasty bullying people,devoid of any care,concern or empathy-even decency,they are,graphically.]
        The lib dems just sold out.One morally repugnant failed/failing policy after another.They dont even have the decency to quit.Power corrupts.Libdems I thought were decent just turned out to be self-deceiving,viscious swine-like their masters.
        Nah,British politics is no longer about democracy,representation,reflecting and accommodating the needs and wants of the people/elctorate,working for the benefit of the whole electorate.The mps want your vote to enact their aspirations.
        Trough life.

      2. Gavin MacMillan

        What do I think of the Tories & LibDems. All I can say is that I am a pacifist, but this current clique, busy engaged in screwing the people and environment of Britain, and the world, into the ground sorely tests my ability to maintain such a philisophical outlook towards them. The violence they are committing against people and nature should be classed as crimes against humanity. And should/as conditions in Britain continue to deteriorate, as the state becomes ever more repressive in response to the increasing social discontent & unrest that will manifest from this, the levels of repression, cruelty and potentially naked brutality these people will gradually unleash against the people of Britain can only get worse. And sadly, I do not see Labour under it’s present crop of leaders offering anything very different.

        This, as much as anything, is the major reason why come next September’s referendum in Scotland, I would like to see people vote yes. Sadly, I cannot but help feel that for most people, misunderstood short-term economic interest will win out over any kind of properly analysed long-term view or understanding of just how close to becoming a true fascist state Britain is leaning.

    1. Mike Sivier

      I have a view about what’s happening to politics at the moment which may form the basis of a future article. In brief: None of the political parties have realised that the Internet makes it possible for us to debunk any lies or dissembling that they do – immediately. If we can’t do it already, we will soon be able to track back any corrupt influences on MPs and parties AND WE WILL MAKE OUR VOTING DECISIONS ON THE BASIS OF WHAT WE KNOW, not what they try to tell us.
      This could pave the way for a new golden age of accountability – but it will be up to us to ensure that it does.

      1. Adam Clifford

        It’s party politics,I think.It’s like a closed shop for politicians,where laws can be rewritten,conditions changed.They’re protecting a great set of working conditions,and if you’re ambitious,it can only get better.Too much room for corruption.Donors’ demands,sponsors demands,the revolving door between politics and business/industry-that has to be closed for all time,to shut down unobvious corruption coming from future promises.Manifestos.Parties can only do what they say in their manifestos.They cant come in and rewrite laws and sell off national assets,particularly when they know nothing except what is being whispered in their ears by corporates,who are paying for the privelige.The tories have made a joke of the law.They just write and rewrite what they like to get what their corporate paymasters want,or what they want.It’s been sickening to watch them.Real Animal Farm stuff.Politicians are to close to departments.there should be clear water with extreme protection.It has been dreadful to hear department spokes people sounding like tories.That’s not on.Politicians shouldn’t,because of their ignorance,inexperience,lack of qualifications,be allowed to run anything.No business would put inexperienced,unqualified people in charge of anything,unless they wanted to see their business go down the tubes.
        Lobbying…There’s a lot needs done.It could be done.But the status quo will only deliver the status quo and it is loved by mps/lords.
        There’s a lot there to love and protect.
        Party politics is the number one problem,imo.Then strip out all the sources of corruption and you might get[written constitution vital] electoral representation.

  2. Samwise Gamgee

    The more I see of America, and the toxic effect its companies, foreign policy and military has on the world, the more I believe the USA is a fascist state.

    Who else thinks that way about America?

    1. Joanne Hughes

      I totally agree with you and with the help of our politicians Europe has become contaminated too. Every aspect of our lives is controlled by big business with no regard to our health or happiness – human life is cheap (an estimated £20,000 for the average worker) which is why the likes of Iain Duncan Smith regard us as expendable.

  3. Joanne Hughes

    Anybody who wants to know what is really going on in British Politics should read ‘Captive State’ by George Monbiot -the book which was written in 2000 explains why all three parties are singing from the same hymn sheet I am seriously beginning to wonder if the recession wasn’t deliberately contrived to hasten the new world order – it certainly seems so the way the perpetrators are constantly being rewarded.

  4. Thomas M

    My view on America is decidingly mixed. It’s not evil in the sense that North Korea is evil, and even has one or two freedoms (the right to bear arms, the right to silence) that we don’t have here. But it does not look after its own people properly and it interferes too much with the rest of the world.

  5. Derek Taylor

    I e-mailed all three of them, then forwarded it to my own MP, I think I let them know in no uncertain terms my feelings about UNUM/ATOS and the whole claims denial factory process we are now facing in the same way the American public did when UNUM jad their heyday over there. Schmucks we are not, disabled we may be with possibly bent or broken bodies, but our brains work perfectly well thank you very much.

  6. Big Bill

    Sacking Atos means the Atos assessors will carry on the same work at the same places. The only difference will be that over the door it’ll say Capita or whoever. It’s the WCA itself that has to go and I’m hearing nothng from Labour about that.

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  8. beastrabban

    Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
    Mike here exposes Unum as the real problem behind the British benefits system. They are currently sponsoring an event on British welfare policy organised by the Labour party under Anne McGuire. This is an invitation-only event. They have already sponsored similar events for the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. It is Unum that is behind the privatisation of the British National Insurance system and is currently running an ad campaign to get the British people to take out more insurance. These people are shysters. They were responsible for developing the assessment system that has seen severely disabled people declared ‘fit for work’ by Atos. This was in order to avoid paying out on their customers insurance claims. The company has been prosecuted several times in America because of the fraudulent nature of its policies. Now the Labour party seems intent on feting them too. Right-wing conspiracy theorists, please note: in America the Fabian Society is a source of massive paranoia amongst the extreme Right because of they way it historically acted as a political pressure group, not formally part of any party, as it tried to influence both of the then two main political parties, Liberals and Conservatives, towards Socialism. Eventually the Society gave up this policy and formally entered the Labour Party. Unum, however, and corporations like them are the organisations that now continue that policy, and should arouse the suspicion of conspiracy watchers. Instead of fretting about the Fabians, try worrying about the real dangers posed by multinational capital instead.

    1. Mike Sivier

      It should be noted that Labour has had a working relationship with Unum for a considerable number of years as the company was already in the then-DSS when Labour took office in 1997.

  9. Julia Smith

    I do hope you have sent all this information to The United Nations via Raquel Rolnik at [email protected] copying in is Excellency Mr Ban Ki Moon (UN secretary General) at: [email protected]
    Suffering disabled people want SO much to believe Labour’s promises (It’s all they have to hang on to)…we need to be fully aware of what’s happening behind closed doors…and we need the Labour Party to KNOW that we know !
    Thank you for sharing the information XX

    1. anon

      When I mentioned in passing to my new designer-clad GP (who had just come to replace the previous one who’d moved on) how each and every Atos and WRAG interrogation set off a lupus flare that left me bedridden for six weeks at a time (and permanently deteriorated afterwards)…SHE SNEERINGLY REMARKED THAT I SHOULD GET USED TO IT, BECAUSE IF LABOUR GET IN, THEY WILL CONTINUE WITH ALL THE SAME POLICIES AGAINST THE DISABLED.

      One of her first questions to me as I staggered through the door clutching on to my walking frame, was “oh I expect you’re retired”.

      How can a doctor take one look at a person, immediately see they are unfit for work, and yet STILL BE TOO BONE IDLE TO PRINT OUT JUST ONE PAGE OF A4 (the exceptional circumstances regulations) TO DEFEND THEM FROM THE ABUSE THAT IS KILLING THEM?

  10. Adam Clifford

    Mckinsey and Company are all over the Health and Social Care Bill/Act,with ex-employees in monitor,and were in bed with new labour[spit].Three members of the Monitor Board of Directors are ex-employees of Mckinsey and Company,including the chief executive,another is an ex-member of KPMG,and another is a non-executive director of NMC Healthcare, a FTSE 250 company.

    http://www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk/about-monitor/who-we-are/the-board

    It defies belief,and dissolves any credibility that Monitor will do anything other than look after corporate interests.It is vile and disgusting and treats the electorate like imbeciles.
    No change there then.

  11. bitgit

    I get a horrible feeling that half our so called representatives (MPs) don’t fully understand the nature of the company they’re dealing with, nor the nature of the deal they’re making.

    Some are complicit and knowledgeable of course, but many who vote this thru haven’t a bloody clue.

    It’s as if the corporation has already convinced key players that they’re the way to go now for what used to be our civil service!

    It’s a total failure of what used to be organs of our state, to simply hand the entire budget over to an unscrupulous corporate profit-monster.

    [seething]

  12. ghost whistler

    Steve Webb is the/a liberal democrat pensions minister at the heart of the bedroom tax of which he is a disgustingly avaricious advocate. He is the MP for Thornbury, just north of Bristol. A throughly unlikeable tory qisling.

  13. Andy

    you’ve probably seen it already Mike but Tom Pride has written an article which loosely relates. it’s about the whole UNUM-KPMG-ATOS triumvirate even though they’re not necessarily the same company one can pretty much see them as a united entity

    http://tompride.co.uk/how-atos-is-taking-over-the-nhs-by-stealth-under-a-different-name

    —————–

    which is based on this article by George Kenneth Berger in the Dorset Eye – http://www.dorseteye.com/north/articles/atos-kpmg-and-the-nhs-be-afraid-be-very-afraid

    —————–

    This is the brochure from the APAX conferance back in 2010 in New York… the conferance was a grouping together ofprivate insurance and business global policy with respect to health care and health provision , this is where it’s on record that Mark Britnell says (Mark Britnell?? Head of KPMG in the UK.. KPMG is an arm of ATOS)

    “In future, The NHS will be a state insurance provider not a state deliverer.” In future ‘any willing provider’ from the private sector will be able to sell goods and services to the system. Britnell comments: “The NHS will be shown no mercy and the best time to take advantage of this will be in the next
    couple of years.”

    http://www.powerbase.info/images/f/fe/Apax_Healthcare_conference_2010.pdf

    ——————-

    the manipulations of these companies are Machiavellian of the highest order

  14. jed goodright

    I have to say that right-wing nutter Liam Byrne did not say he would sack ATOs at Labour conference today. What he said was “David Cameron should sack ATOS” – slightly different from the hype of some who perceive Labour as having some credibility when it comes to social security matters. Byrne also said he would rescue the Universal Credit – more proof if any needed of this man’s nazi pretentions.

    The Labour Party is DEAD

    1. Mike Sivier

      You have seen all the news reports with Ed Miliband saying Labour will sack Atos, though? He might be saving it for his end-of-conference leader’s speech yet.

      Byrne does not represent the Labour Party that I joined, and that is why this blog wants him out.

      1. jed goodright

        I listened intently to Byrne and nowhere in his speech did he say he would bar ATOS.
        I then read this in the Guardian:

        Atos
        Liam Byrne has said a Labour government will debar the French firm Atos from running the fitness-for-work assessment contracts. Byrne has said the firm is a disgrace and needs to be sacked. His is to make disability hate crime a specific offence amid fears people are being let down by the criminal justice system.

        The Observer claimed on Sunday that Byrne would put ATOS ‘out of the door’

        Can’t find any source where Miliband has said he would ban ATOS – how can he stop ATOS applying for government contracts – unless social security comes ‘inhouse’ again?????

        Byrne and Miliband would repeal the bedroom tax, that’s all as far as I can see

  15. Mo Stewart

    Thanks for this Mike but a few comments are out of date, as follows:

    Unum no longer provide Income Protection Insurance (IPI) which were removed from access by the public due to ‘negative publicity’. The Backup Plan is the only Unum insurance policy available via the workplace.

    Anne McGuire has responded to my email and claims innocence, claims these types of ‘invitation only’ group meetings are common place at Conference and that she didn’t arrange anything but was invited to attend. No details.

    It’s possible my info was incorrect, and it’s also possible that this Shadow Minister doesn’t want this story to circulate given the so called promises just made by Labour.

    I think you’ll find that Capita are not involved with the ESA assessments using the WCA, as conducted by Atos, but with the new PIP assessments to replace DLA – contract shared between Atos & Capita.

    Sadly, the Labour Party you joined no longer exists.

    1. Mike Sivier

      I stand corrected.

      I had the same email and my response is part of the next article on this site.

      I stand corrected (again).

      I fear you are correct in this also.

  16. Still Saying Nay

    This is my first post here so I don’t want to come over as too snarky or anything. But do you think now you might be willing to apologise to all the “naysayers” who you thought were so ridiculous and contradictory, two posts ago, and who turned out to be absolutely right?

    The thing is, this is how the propaganda machine works, and it’s very important to see that, I think. Labour puts out a public statement as if they’re going to sack Atos, knowing that many people on the left will want to believe them. Meanwhile, they’re going full steam ahead with the exact same neo-liberal policies as the Tories, just with a bit of window-dressing to hide their intentions from the hoodwinked party faithful. Labour voters are busily patting themselves on the back for supporting the “good” official opposition, when in fact it’s a sham (kind of a Stockholm Syndrome, where people want to believe their abusers actually have the best of intentions).

    1. Mike Sivier

      I’d say I’m in two minds about it.

      Firstly, ANY decision acknowledging that people are being treated unfairly and the system must change – that has to be a good thing. It shows that the people making it are prepared to accept that the current way is wrong and start making reparation. It would be wrong to want to discourage that, and this is why I thought that all the people who talked it down were doing the country a disservice.

      Having said that, it occurred to me that Atos – appalling though it is – only carries out the work for which it is contracted by the DWP, and it is notable that this work has only become deeply controversial since the Conservative-led Coalition took over in that government department. That’s what got me writing about the underlying causes of the UK government’s treatment of claimants – whether a Conservative/Liberal Democrat or Labour government – and that’s what led me to the latest article about the “men who would be king”.

      None of that changes the fact that I find the “naysayers” have an extremely unproductive attitude. It seems to me that they do nothing to improve the situation. They just sit at their keyboards pouring scorn on everyone else.

      For example: How do YOU propose to improve the system? It cannot continue as it is, so what are you doing about it?

      1. Justin Thyme

        I don’t know who the ‘naysayers’ here are …..

        The UK government should:

        1. Stop killing people in the name of ideology

        2. Ban the Work Capability Assessment

        3. Take dealing with the social security of the population of the UK back ‘in-house’ and not tendered to the lowest form of life i.e via agreed NHS and Social Care remits

        4. Decriminalise disabled people, unemployed people and the poor

        5.Develop humane systems of support that meet the needs of the population and not the whims of nazis. Needs NOT profits as the basis

        for starters

  17. kittysjones

    I emailed Anne MCGuire about this and here is her response:

    Fear Sue,

    Thank you for your email which I am pleased to acknowledge.

    I don’t know why you have been led to believe that I was hosting an event by Unum. For the record, I was speaking at a round table discussion with organisations which included the European Commission, voluntary organisations, insurance companies amongst others. As it was such a conversation, it was by invitation only as was the event I attended this morning organised though the Shaw Trust and Mencap. It is not unusual to have such events at party conference.

    I also spoke at an open meeting last night on the future of welfare reform and disabled people with many disabled people in attendance and participating.

    I am aware of the strong feelings on Unum and Atos. However I trust that you will appreciate that having discussions with a range of organisations should not be seen as anything other than that and in no way implies an endorsement of any particular company or organisation.

    Anne

      1. kittysjones

        LOL! But I’m really a pussycat, as you well know

        Back to the issue though, I really hope that she IS telling the truth. She does know, after all, how well we scrutinise what’s coming.

  18. Adam Clifford

    ‘ the Conservatives reveal that they raised just £747,000 in membership fees last year – but £4.2m from conferences.

    Labour raked in £3.37m from so called “commercial activities”, including conferences, while even the Liberal Democrats raised £1.4m from events. One senior party official admitted that what was once a forum to debate and decide party policy has now become little more than a “glorified trade fair” with almost as many lobbyists as delegates.’

    ‘The truth is that while big donations to political parties have been cleaned up and made more transparent, the same cannot be said for the money made at party conferences. These companies and lobbyists do not pay for passes or fund events out of the goodness of their hearts: they are buying access and the possibility of influence.’

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/24/labour-conference-ed-milibands-speech-politics-live-blog

  19. asdfe

    The Think-Tank, Policy Exchange favourite of David Cameron was seen at the Labour Party Conference today delivering it message on “Shirkers or Workers”. Its excuse well it wants to “Shape the 2015 Manifesto” and it doesn`t care who does it, as next week they at the conservative party conference.

    At the event organised by the Policy Exchange it was attended by Labour and trade union representatives, with Liam Byrne MP, Shadow Work & Pensions Secretary who was one of the speakers.

    For the rest of this snippet of news you’re going to have to let your imagination take over as I can’t find any reports on it. Personally I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall to any discussions between Byrne and Matthew Oakley who recently took up the position of doing a review on sanctions for IDS. From what I know of both they would seem to share a similar attitude towards the unemployed (Shirkers).

    Shirking or Working: Where next for Welfare Reform? (Labour Conference)

    CHAIR: Jackie Long, Social Affairs Editor, Channel 4 News

    SPEAKERS:

    Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Shadow Work & Pensions Secretary
    Matthew Oakley, Head of Economics & Social Policy, Policy Exchange
    Alison Park, Head of Society and Social Change, NatCen
    Nicola Smith, Head of Economics and Social Affairs Department, TUC

    Source; Policy Exchange
    http://unemploymentmovement.com/forum/chat-a-rap/7063-labour-party-talking-to-policy-exchange-on-shirkers-or-workers#23538

  20. Adam Clifford

    It’s still bizarre,insensitive,uncaring that labour party people are associating themselves with these people.All over the internet there is a dislike for this right-wing reduction of people to shirkers and workers,and it is recognisable as a right-wing put-down.It’s these out-of touch,far-from real people think-tanks that damage politics and alienate people because they simply do not live in the same world,and yet are given such credence.As an ordinary person,labour associating with these people is just more evidence that labour is controlled and cares more for these think-tanks than the voters,significant numbers,if the politicians cared to pay attention,dont like these nihilistic put-downs.
    I’m afraid Jackie Long chairing this meeting puts another nail into the channel 4 coffin of credibility after the recent Jarman debacle.

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