While he - who said he was in Rhodesia, but I never saw him there - offers solutions, his penny pinching colleagues eat subsidised food and quaff subsidised beer. No wonder the Kensington Clanger wanted the job.
There was a chorus of "Thank you very much tralaalaa for not sending us all to prison tralaalaa" that famous Scaffolds' hit resounding round Westminster and most Town Halls.
There are benefit cheats in every corner from Parliament to the hard up spouse in the Chip Shop, but for goodness sake, start with the immigants, the Romany gypsy shoplifter and the Nigerian fraudster.
IDS Secures a Ring-Fenced £3 Billion for Welfare Reform
The recent stand up shouting match between Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Chancellor George Osborne, in the presence of startled officials, centred on the Treasury’s unwillingness to fund the plans IDS has for welfare reform.
IDS argues that if work is to be incentivised there will be some initial up-front costs incurred, as claimants who find jobs are allowed to keep a significant chunk of their benefits so that work is clearly seen to pay. The Treasury, tasked with slashing the deficit, is highly skeptical and not keen on anything that involves spending more. IDS had threatened to resign if he didn’t get his way.
Under the proposals, if IDS can deliver the multi-billion savings that the Treasury demands, close to £3 billion of the savings will then be ring-fenced for him to use for his welfare reform programme. The figures have been agreed in principle although it remains to be decided precisely the design of the taper which determines how much of their benefit a claimant in work can keep.
Read more at blogs.wsj.com
They were arguing whose turn it was to buy the next round in the heavily subsidised House of Commons bar: probably served by an illegal immigrant referred by Baroness Scotland.
ReplyDelete