Edwina Currie on UC being cut

[Fizbosshoes]

This week I heard Edwina Currie on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2. (I know I am being unreasonable for listening to proffessional shit stirrer JV but the radio is on at work)

There was a single mum (who's partner had been killed in a car crash.) She worked ft and had 2 kids but was going to struggle without the £20 uplift.

Edwina Currie said she sympathised as she remembered how it was when her kids were small juggling budgeting and childcare...
She was an MP and her husband was an accountant- I doubt they were struggling!

Then she said that people should tell their employer they're looking for a job elsewhere and the employer would probably want to keep them on and give them a payrise...

When challenged that a lot of the jobs available were not suitable for a single parent with childcare to sort out (eg shifts, overnight work in a warehouse etc) she said people needed to be "creative" (wtf does than mean in this instance?) and that most grandparents would love to help.
Then there was a pile on of callers telling people that they were scroungers and "to get a job".

Its literally like they're willfully not listening or sticking their fingers in their ears and saying "la la la la la not listening" and just coming out with patronising BS.

The original caller did work full time and was still struggling.
Not everyone has grandparents...at all ...or nearby, or maybe the GPS are working themselves...or don't want to do full time, or overnight childcare (not unreasonable). And where are all the employers falling over themselves to give people a payrise...? Some businesses pay NMW to cut costs, other businesses won't be able to afford payrises after covid and brexit.

And the assumption that people are sitting around waiting for handouts and that if they could just "upskill" or "better themselves" it would solve the problem....
How can they not hear what people are saying...?

I must admit this is why I’m really not in favour of temporary changes like the £20 boost and the FSMs.

Give it or don’t. Giving it then taking it away creates countless problems.

I have increased my hours but unless I get some of the childcare costs back from Universal Credit I will have less money every month. Two months in a row I have had the costs turned down and then paid through the mandatory reconsideration process. Already paid in arrears, plus an extra month. I dread that I will have to go through this process every month.
Maybe all I need to do is ask my civil service (key worker job) employer to pay me more!!

Agree with the wilful ignorance regarding the fact a lot of claimants are in work ( 40 ish percent I believe ?)

I was reading a thread on Facebook yesterday with comments of the same nature - “get a job” “ there’s jobs out there if u really want one “ etc etc etc literally replying to comments where someone has laid out there situation stating that they do have a job but the income is low 🙈

Here's an article with the link to the interview. Gary Neville did a great job.

www.joe.co.uk/amp/news/social-media-erupts-as-gary-neville-destroys-edwina-currie-in-universal-credit-row-292505

And don’t get me started on “ get a better job/ retrain “ so high and mighty yet to thick to understand how society actually works and that somebody needs to do these lower paid jobs and there aren’t just unlimited jobs open in well paid careers ffs

The uplift was used as a way to force people over from legacy benefits to universal credit thinking they would be better off

I wanted to give back to the community so applied for a few shifts in the local care home.

They were very keen and offered me rolling shifts including nights.

I’m a single parent with SEN primary aged children. How the fuck was that supposed to work?

Even if it was every Thursday night I could’ve planned that (perhaps), but rolling shifts? 🤷‍♀️

Every interview I have ever seen her on, regardless of topic has demonstrated just how out of touch she is with reality and quite a cold hearted bitch.

[quote Windows01]Here's an article with the link to the interview. Gary Neville did a great job.

www.joe.co.uk/amp/news/social-media-erupts-as-gary-neville-destroys-edwina-currie-in-universal-credit-row-292505[/quote]
I saw this too. GN was brilliant. And I thought his spag Bol analogy was hilarious.

I was just watching so shocked at what she was saying! "Oh you are poor? Go ask your employer for a pay rise! Go do some more training!"

Just so detached from reality.

Yeah, she’s a cunt.

I was just watching so shocked at what she was saying! "Oh you are poor? Go ask your employer for a pay rise! Go do some more training!"

I suppose though MPs get a vote to give themselves a payrise...so maybe shes so thick she thinks all jobs are like that...?

Also retraining often involves studying (which would cost money or even if it was free - would not generate any money) or working/training on the job for little or no wages.

And yes I think the figure for UC was 40% of people who get it are in work, 60% not in work. But that 60% will surely include people with disabilities that prevent them from working or carers for family members. I'm not buying the argument that they could all walk into a suitable job tomorrow if they weren't so lazy, or were thinking more creatively.

@Fizbosshoes MPs didn't vote to give themselves a pay rise. MPs' pay is decided by the independent parliamentary standards authority.

There are many people who love the workshy narrative so much that no amount of evidence to the contrary will change their views.

40% in work, but what about the other 60%? They can't all be disabled.

@CorrBlimeyGG

Also "it was only intended to help during a period of high costs" completely disregards that costs are higher than ever, and only going to get higher.

Costs are going to get higher for all including those not on benefits. It’s not limited to just them. Many will have to cut back on expenses, work more hours, take a second job etc.

@roarfeckingroarr

40% in work, but what about the other 60%? They can't all be disabled.

I would imagine that figure of 40% just means in employment, not all the adults in the household working full time hours. Many just do the minimum needed, have a non working parent at home etc.

@roarfeckingroarr

40% in work, but what about the other 60%? They can't all be disabled.

According to this thread - and I didn’t know this previously, UC also now encompasses those who would’ve previously received pension credits. So perhaps those people who didn’t retire with an MPs full salary pension…

There was a Tory mp saying there £82k salary wasn’t enough and needed another £20k, so this is the planet they live on
I agree with Angela Raynor when she decimated the Tory MP at PMQs.
I am surprised that we are sol tolerant as a nation we never seem to stand up for ourselves.
If I went to my boss and said I was leaving they certainly wouldn’t beg me to stay.

@roarfeckingroarr

40% in work, but what about the other 60%? They can't all be disabled.

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/september2021#main-points

There you go.

Thanks for that link.

Good point PP that "working" could mean doing the absolute minimum.

I don’t think much of Currie, but I do think it wrong that taxpayers should have to subsidise rich companies who pay shit wages, by topping up those wages with universal credit.
We need a situation where nobody will take those badly paid jobs, as they cannot make a living on them. Then the employers will have to offer higher wages.
It is already starting to happen, with the labour shortages in agriculture, haulage and hospitality. Farmers offering £30 an hour to pick broccoli, hauliers offering £5000 golden hellos, etc.
The government should increase the legal minimum wage at the same time as removing the extra UC. And then target decent benefits onto people who still need them because they are unable to work, such as the disabled.

Too easy to blame it on companies. We have a minimum wage already in place that they need to abide by.
Adults make their own choices in life, it’s not down to employers to subsidise those. If people want to have children, live in an expensive area, work part time, have one adult not working etc then they need to ensure they can cover the cost themselves. You can’t expect employers to pay for them.

@vickibee

There was a Tory mp saying there £82k salary wasn’t enough and needed another £20k, so this is the planet they live on I agree with Angela Raynor when she decimated the Tory MP at PMQs. I am surprised that we are sol tolerant as a nation we never seem to stand up for ourselves. If I went to my boss and said I was leaving they certainly wouldn’t beg me to stay.

Agree.

I don't even earn the 'extra' £20k a year they want.
Full.Time.+ (for the hard of thinking)
My job has 'odd hours', I get lots of shit (literally and figuratively!), have a lot of responsibility (compared to what I'm paid and what the actual training entails) I might clear £20k this year, because of the weeks of no day off when we were desperately trying to keep the service running while staff went off with covid one after the other, with the extra involved in looking after people that had covid.
There's already a shortfall in the industry, recruitment is dire. But I'll just pop off and ask for a payrise, some extra hours (who needs days off?! Not the poor!) and then 'upskill' out of the industry.
That'll help.

It is consistent with the Conservative 'get on your bike' philosophy. I am not saying its 'right', whatever that is, but different political ideologies will look at problems differently and try to convince us of their 'rightness'. We then decide which we want. No point being surprised that a Conservative is Conservative.

I heard this.

Jeremy Vine is a shit journalist, who is even more shit at hosting a discussion programme. He's bloody dangerous the way he lets this crap go unchallenged.

I'm not sure whether he's thick, lazy or thinks he's being clever and controversial. I think it is probably all three. An absolute example of what is wrong with the news and current affairs reporting.