Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Well this is a new fucking low....

298 replies

CherryMyBrandy · 18/11/2023 04:41

Tories are now proposing to stop benefit claimant's access to medicines if they have been deemed not doing enough to look for work....

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/michael-heseltine-hate-politics-jobless-prescriptions-b2449412.html

It's not enough to sanction them, so they basically have next to no money to live on. Now they want to take away their access to medicines, some of those will of course be life-saving.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
MidnightOnceMore · 18/11/2023 04:51

They've completely lost the plot if this is a serious suggestion

This is unacceptable to me from an ethical perspective.

It is also stupid, from a future NHS costs perspective.

I wish they would go away now. Please give us a general election.

Missingmyusername · 18/11/2023 05:13

That’s bonkers.

Einevinefine · 18/11/2023 05:17

I hope that that this proposal spreads far and wide so everyone can see what the Tories stand for.

Yes, a new low. An election needs to be called.

WaitingfortheTardis · 18/11/2023 05:23

The Tories showing their true colours, it's as if they just can't be bothered to even attempt to hide their inhumanity any more.

Sleepimpossible · 18/11/2023 05:25

Exactly - a new low. What an outrageous and inhumane proposal.
We need to get the Tories out asap!!!

JanglingJack · 18/11/2023 05:31

Huh? I can't work, my 40 years of mental illness is now recognised by the bloody government as a disability after struggling my entire life.

Let one of those go 28 hours without their 225mg of Venlafaxine after they've been on it for more years than they care to remember 😡

Tilllly · 18/11/2023 05:33

They won't do that
People will just go to the ED

Twistyripple · 18/11/2023 05:38

Surely this would never actually happen. It'll be talked about but never implemented

lemmein · 18/11/2023 05:43

Nothing the tories say/do surprises me anymore....yet people will still vote for them 🤷🏻‍♀️

IClaudine · 18/11/2023 05:59

I think it is time for action. Too many people are living the life of Riley at the taxpayer's expense. My cousin's neighbour's sister's friend claims all the benefits, including disability benefits. She got a free Range Rover from the government and works cash in hand as a circus acrobat. It has to stop.

(Thought I would get in first before the usual tall tales about benefit claimants start).

The government's proposals are hideous, but they will never happen as the Tories will voted out before they can implement this cruelty. They are trying to scrape a few votes from the more despicable sections of the electorate.

Blogswife · 18/11/2023 07:10

I was waiting for them to target the “benefit scroungers” . They’re certainly working hard to appease their voters .

newnamethanks · 18/11/2023 07:22

Well, as long as they've had their tent removed so there's nowhere for them to shelter from the long arm of the State, go for it. Frankly, this government is missing a few tricks. There's much entertainment to be had from actively watching the impoverished suffer. Poverty porn is the way ahead, pay per view.

Angelik · 18/11/2023 07:26

Doesn't matter if they don't actually through. It just typifies their general attitude which is bigoted

Passepartoute · 18/11/2023 07:48

Current success rates for benefits appeals are well over 60%. That means that over 60& of decisions about benefits are wrong, which in turn means that the strong chance is that over 60% of any decision to take away access to prescriptions will also be based on errors as to the facts or the law.

The trouble is, they also propose to take away access to legal aid, so if you're on the wrong end of one of these decisions, you won't be able to get help challenging them. You also won't be able to get help in, say, challenging the 90% of poor decisions that are made about children's SEN, or if your children are wrongly taken into care, or if you are abused and need to get an injunction to protect yourself, or if your landlord wrongly evicts you. All of which will mean there will be even more of a backlog in the courts while they struggle with more unrepresented litigants, even more people on the streets, and certainly more crime.

This government is not just cruel, it is utterly stupid.

IClaudine · 18/11/2023 07:53

The Parliamentary Tory party just hates poor and disabled people. I am sure if they could get away with a cull, they would do it.

Even their own voters are finding them too much now. They have only the thick, bigoted and cruel to reap votes from now.

Pushkinini · 18/11/2023 08:19

They are vile. I'm hoping that Sunak's hint that he might call a snap election if the Lords don't pass his Rwanda plan might happen. And then that they are wiped out and become a minority party for the next decade at least.

Welshphoenix · 18/11/2023 08:23

IClaudine · 18/11/2023 05:59

I think it is time for action. Too many people are living the life of Riley at the taxpayer's expense. My cousin's neighbour's sister's friend claims all the benefits, including disability benefits. She got a free Range Rover from the government and works cash in hand as a circus acrobat. It has to stop.

(Thought I would get in first before the usual tall tales about benefit claimants start).

The government's proposals are hideous, but they will never happen as the Tories will voted out before they can implement this cruelty. They are trying to scrape a few votes from the more despicable sections of the electorate.

In the same way homeless peoples tents and all the personal belongings s they own in the world will never be out in the back of a rubbish truck. With this lot never say never they are evil

Welshphoenix · 18/11/2023 08:26

Passepartoute · 18/11/2023 07:48

Current success rates for benefits appeals are well over 60%. That means that over 60& of decisions about benefits are wrong, which in turn means that the strong chance is that over 60% of any decision to take away access to prescriptions will also be based on errors as to the facts or the law.

The trouble is, they also propose to take away access to legal aid, so if you're on the wrong end of one of these decisions, you won't be able to get help challenging them. You also won't be able to get help in, say, challenging the 90% of poor decisions that are made about children's SEN, or if your children are wrongly taken into care, or if you are abused and need to get an injunction to protect yourself, or if your landlord wrongly evicts you. All of which will mean there will be even more of a backlog in the courts while they struggle with more unrepresented litigants, even more people on the streets, and certainly more crime.

This government is not just cruel, it is utterly stupid.

They actually took the right to legal aid to challenge benefit decisions years ago. People have to either rely on charity or go through the horrendous process of challenging themselves, which for many very vulnerable people is just not possible

Flyingcarpetintraining · 18/11/2023 08:29

And at the same time, Jeremy Hunt is strongly hinting at tax cuts (affecting IHT and the higher income tax band). I don’t think it gets more Tory than this - take from the poor and give to the rich 😠

bozzabollix · 18/11/2023 08:31

Yet another unpleasant thing from the Tories. The problem is they’re an election winning machine and there’s a large section of this country who’d enjoy watching the poor being fed to lions, or refugees being filmed drowning at sea. These are the Tory core voters, and hopefully the decent amongst us will outnumber them, but I have worries that we won’t.

I no longer even get angry about all this, after so many years of disgust I can’t do it anymore. But I judge anyone who’d actively vote them in again.

notprincehamlet · 18/11/2023 08:33

They have only the thick, bigoted and cruel to reap votes from now
That's a sizeable chunk of the electorate. To the Tories these Caligulan policies targeting society's most vulnerable are vote-winners.

PokeyLaFarge · 18/11/2023 08:36

But....it'll go down very well with tory party members

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 18/11/2023 08:37

Even if you removed someone's right to free prescriptions automatically via proof of benefits they would still have the right to claim under low income. Ok it takes time and effort but it proves it's just an exercise in trying to demonise benefit claimants. I'm completely speechless at just how low they are going to try to appeal to the bigots

IrresponsiblyCertainAboutSexualDimorphism · 18/11/2023 08:43

PokeyLaFarge · 18/11/2023 08:36

But....it'll go down very well with tory party members

I don’t even know about that. I know a few tories who would be appalled. This is just another populist proposal to secure some votes from the hard of thinking.

HappySammy · 18/11/2023 09:00

That really is low. Ethical issues aside, it wouldn't save money. Medicine is a preventative measure. Where do they think people will end up if they can't access medicine and their condition becomes a medical emergency?