To want IDS to crawl back into the primordial slime from whence he came!

[Dawndonnaagain]

Latest leaks on welfare cuts, may just be ideas being posited but still fucking nasty.

i don't think penalising another group is the answer. There are not hoards of well off pensioners, there are some. There are some well off people with disabilities. Attacking groups within the welfare budget helps nobody.

It's not attacking it is making the point that some fairness needs to be brought in to play. They are the only group who have not had to participate in the 'all in it together' cuts everyone else has undergone and they are the largest recipients.

Unfortunately the Uk economy and current welfare bill is not sustainable.

KissyBoo Ed's just doing his/her job as a Tory spin doctor , so try not to be provoked. He/she's probably on commission for each person offended/provoked/insulted & classily told to FO.

So easy to write words on a screen, make sweeping generalisations & peddle economic stats which bear no relation to real life.

Never mind about the long-term false economies eg of cutting support for carers, let them eat cake ...

Kissy Biggest group guaranteed to vote probably has a great deal to do with it. However, many are suffering and there is absolutely no fairness under this coalition government whatsoever, typically Tory run the rich are fine and the poor are suffering more and more.

The Tory viral marketeer volunteers are on a points reward system this year - like a star chart for good tories - they can collect points towards mugs and signed George O photos etc.

5 stars = badge
10 stars = car sticker

Here's some stats re over 65 's-

They own a quarter of the property wealth in the UK, average property price £272,000.

75% are mortgage free

1 in 12 own a second home

More than 1 in 10 are worth more than seven figures. 1.07 million are in the millionaire category.

In the over 65's group the number of households with assets worth more than a million has soared by 69% in the last nine years.

19% of over 65's have nest eggs more than £100,000.

There are, of course poorer pensioners, indeed 12% of pensioner households are worth less than £40,000 and I am not talking about this sector. However, there are plenty able to make a bigger contribution to society, one they have done very well out of.

Imagine if the millionaire category didn't take a state pension and that money was poured back into the system to help the most vunerable in our society?

It is about who votes Dawn and not wanting to upset them.

That car sticker IS rather classy

Albert get back to your football, I was just about to eat lunch and you've put me right off!

I know these are only suggestions and ideas being kicked around but the Tories have form for making these kind of cuts. I therefore think they are odious.

Ed you DO realise that the benefit cap hits very few families on welfare don't you? It doesn't affect me (only one child) and I get extra benefits as my child is disabled. I still get nothing like £26k though as I don't need it. I am on full benefits at the moment as DSL is having real problems and needs me around ....plus he doesn't sleep at night so am tired much of the time.

If you or a family member becomes disabled/or you lose your job etc then you would indeed be affected by the benefit cap as you say you have five children. I am guessing you own your own house and if you can't pay the mortgage you'd sell up. If you need housing benefit then that would count towards the cap.

Could you raise five children with the benefit cap if the worst happened? Include housing costs in that. You might do it in social housing but not in the private sector. If you had to move to find cheaper housing it's possible but If you have a disabled child or are disaabLed yourself you might need local support of family.

I don't agree with cuts to pensions, pensioners are much less able to go out and work. Some could but many could not, I am guessing that administering winter fuel allowance by means testing would cost more than it saves. My auntie used to donate hers to the local hospice as she didn't need it,.

I have no idea how the Govt will make the cuts they are proposing if elected, I just know that they scare me.

Life really CAN hit you between the eyes when you least expect it, we would all do well to remember this.

Twenty years ago I had a well paying job, a mortgage and life was good. Twenty years later I can only work sporadically (when things are settled and DS sleeps well), am in social housing (for which I am more grateful than I can say). I had 8 months in work last year but am now supporting DS through a traumatic period of his life. I have no doubt that when things settle for DS I sill go back to work once again.

What I WOULD like to see is a tapering off of Carers Allowance during times a Carer might be able to work. My 8 months in work last year were fabulous but I was significantly worse off financially as my income was £20 a week over the cut off point. So I lost CA, most of housing benefit, all council tax support etc. my salary and WTC did not cover it. Everything was much harder as a result,

'And pensioners have no way of improving their lot. They cannot go and get a job.'

Nor do a lot of disabled people, including disabled children.

They can still work and collect a state pension.

Anyone else completely fed up with the lack of detail offered by the various political partiies and their refusal to answer questions truthfully? The guff/spin, mannered approach and lack of information is insulting and intellectually barren.

I hate how dampened down all political discussion on television has become.I watched appalled as Ed Milliband whiffled on about the relationship he has with his brother. Could.not.give.the.tiniest.fuck. I want to hear about your economic policies not flim-flam.

The only place that has decent political programmes is Radio 4.

They've already started ditching the contributory element of ESA by limiting it in many cases to 365 days, even when the claimant has no prospect of returning to work and can do nothing to supplement their household income. I don't understand why anyone doesn't accept that proposing the next logical move isn't merely speculation.

Get sick? You're fucked, mate.

If Carers Allowance was limited to people who are eligible for Universal Credit I can see the state needing more residential places for disabled children and the NHS paying out far more than£61.35 p a week to provide home care for severley disabled people with complex medical needs. To replace my current caring hours with two highly specialised care professionals will cost the NHS hundred and thousand of pounds per annum, hardly a saving when compared to the less than£4000 taxable benefit I receive .

I wondered why there was no announcement in the recent budget for the extremely hard working Carers out there, it's because our duties will be hived off to the private profit making care industry when Carers Allowance is taken from us.

Hundreds and thousand of pounds that is , in the same ball park as the £280,000 quoted by Kissyboo above.

There are only 3% of estates in the United Kingdom that liable for any inheritance tax on £325/650k the single or joint limit before 40% tax becomes liable. I f inheritance tax limit went up to £1m pounds only 1% of estates would be liable. Where does 10% of pensioners are 'millionaires' come from . If it comes from (pensions this is incorrect and misleading).

IDS is like some vile character from a Dickens novel.

The Tory press keep bandying about thsi £26k benefit cap as if that's what most claimants actually get. Only larger families will get that amount but many people (including my DM) think there are hoards of claimants sitting on their bums getting £26k even though they are single, have one child etc. An unemployed single parent with 2 kids under 5 would receive £16kish including HB for a social housing property. Of course, if no social housing available their HB would increase considerably!
The Tories sold of our council housing stock & now private landlords are reaping the benefits and its costing the country a fortune. All these shortsighted 'save a few quid now' policies will come home to roost in a few years time. If many carers decided they couldnt do it anymore due to lack of support (both financial & other) what happens then? Dread to think what the cost of care would be. Or would some of you prefer it if the disabled were left to beg in the streets as they are in some other countries? Sadly I think some would

Let's face it, the reason they'll hit the disabled before pensioners is that very many pensioners vote and a lot of the disabled don't

Nobody's suggesting starving the elderly, but throwing WFA, bus passes, free TV licences and all the rest at the comfortably off has to stop; the burden should be shared and that means pensioners too

Oh and before anyone starts screaming, at 58 I realise this would soon cost me money personally - doesn't mean I don't accept it's necessary, though

To go back to the thread title and the AIBU question it asks :

To want IDS to crawl back into the primordial slime from whence he came!

YADNBU, this poor excuse for a human being is a proven liar on every point he makes, he does not have a heart he has a swinging brick instead. I honestly think that anyone that votes for him and his evil cohorts to return into office come May need to wake up and smell the coffee and stop believing Tory crap!!!

I think the figures clearly demonstrate the fact many pensioners in the Uk today are wealthy, have not had to undergo any of the cuts unlike the rest of society ( in fact they have seen massive growth in investments etc) and as the largest recipients of the welfare budget should be contributing more because they are the one group that can.

I couldn't find the information but I would love to know what proportion of pensioners own houses of which they receive an income from via housing benefit.

All this guff again about cutting the benefits threshold (down from £26,000 to £23,000?) as I have demonstrated before is popular political speak appealing to prejudices. It will make very little impact economically.I wouldn't mind but the majority of people's 'benefits' in these cases go to private landlords in housing benefit payments.

Obviously they are not just talking about cuts for the disabled and their carers here but also the workingfamily/child tax credits are going to be hit massively.

I see we have a nicely timed release about more money going into the NHS. So where is that extra money going to come from? Guess which sector stands to gain from this the most?