To think we need to prioritise defence/Ukraine spending?

[Wildflowers99]

I’ll admit I had no idea how depleted our military has become until a few weeks ago. I was absolutely staggered to read we now spend more on PIP and DLA than our entire military.

I feel like slowly all of our public spending has been funnelled into health, benefits and social care, leaving everything else in a very poor state. Any time anyone has suggested spending money on anything apart from ‘freezing pensioners, the homeless or disabled’ they get shouted down (I am disabled btw, so I do understand the need).

AIBU to think we need to urgently address our spending priorities and as a nation wake up to the fact we’ve been overspending on the above for too long?

That’s odd given we have the highest tax burden since WW2.

So they have no choice... slave labour then.

How on earth is it ‘slave labour’ to have to do work to receive money?

Do you know what slave labour even means?

Because working full time to get the amount you get on UC for not working is WAY LESS than NMW and is illegal.

What is the lowest amount you would want to be paid for an hour of your time working?

Workfare was tried about ten years ago, and all that happened was that companies fired existing staff.

Well if I was on benefits but keen to work again and thought trialling something offered might lead to something else, then I would be happy to do a few months in exchange for my benefits rather than lose them. Surely the best option?

That might work for someone who was job seeking anyway.
But I do find working for benefits in a job that others are getting properly paid for, very problematic.

Ok well you might find it problematic but Labour have said many times since being elected that nobody is going to be allowed to live a life on benefits. So I think you need to be prepared to face some challenges over the coming months.

They wouldn’t replace existing staff. It would be an opportunity for them to gain a few months work experience, and in return the company could gain a tax break or incentive of some kind.

Well I find it problematic having my wages removed to give to people who are taking home more than I am in benefit money. But you’ve not called that ‘problematic’ once.

I would expect that from the Tories but the fact it’s from Labour makes it totally different. We know things are dire when the Labour Party start slashing disability benefits.

I do not get more in benefits than you earn. I can guarantee it.

No but many people do. Anyone who has a couple of kids and claims DLA for them does. And that’s a lot of people now. Plus I work - your time is your own. That in itself is a benefit.

People that are unable to work have no choice. What is going to happen to them?

What’s going to happen to our core budget when benefit spending reaches 100 billion? That’s a more pressing question.

Kids are a choice... disabled kids are not.

That will be up to the government to sort out, and not us civilians.

It is not selfish to be happy to contribute to others. But not so much that they take home more than you. The emotional blackmail is wearing thin, I think.

Very few people I would imagine (obviously excluding those with severe, enduring disabilities) are unable to work their whole lives. This is what the government are concerned about, people who have made up their minds they are not going to attempt anything ever again because it’s more comfortable to sit on benefits. You keep asking “what will happen” - I’ve no idea. Nobody knows what life holds for any of us.

Well then they can also decide what, if anything, to do for people who haven’t worked for decades and are now about to have their benefits cut, fear not.

I don't take home more than you.
And if people do, it means they are more disabled.
Poor form to be jealous of that. Do better.

And they probably spend a huge amount due to the children’s disabilities it’s not just extra disposable income for fun. Being a carer and not having to look for work is because you already have a job as a carer and get paid about £80 a week for that

I’m not jealous. I wouldn’t want to swap places with somebody who has a child with disabilities, it must be very tough. I know people with severely autistic children and their lives are HARD with a capital H.

But equally, as sensitive as it is, that doesn’t mean we can simply keep taxing more and more to fund a welfare state that is throwing by nearly 10 billion a year. You know this, yet you dodge it constantly and try to make it an emotive issue or attack me as a person. Your approach is just to stick your fingers in your ears and hope nothing happens, mine is to confront it now because we have no more time to lose.