IDS "I could live on £53 a week"

[MurderOfGoths]

The Work and Pensions Secretary said he could get by on £7.57 per day if he "had to"

Ok then, let's see him do it.

And not just for one week, one week is easy. He wants to try it for longer than that. Say 6 months.

And he wants to do it down south, just outside London. Somewhere with London's costs, and none of it's benefits (eg. cheaper convenient public transport). During that time he should have to apply for jobs and get to interviews - to the full distance that the jobcentre specifies.

Have to deal with emergencies like cooker breaking down etc.

On and if he could spend the first few weeks without any income at all due to delays in processing, that would add a good level of authenticity.

Anyone who couldn't manage for one week needs to have a word with themselves.

But keep on week after week, and once the freezer is empty, and the cupboard is empty of random tins and half-bags of pasta, and the boiler makes funny noises on the same day as the fridge, which is the same week as DS goes through the soles of his shoes... I'd like to see how he would manage.

Maybe he's such a financial genius he'd save £10/w of his £53 for a rainy day. Maybe he doesn't realise it's been monsoon season for some families since 2008.

So, if his child needed shoes? Or had a birthday? If there was a school trip? If the child needed a new coat? So many what ifs. I can work that out and I'm lucky enough to have never had to do it.

Yes it's not the short term,it's the inability to have safety net,just in case money
He'll pull this off few weeks,most folk could
But the monthly and annual impact of being poor is entirely different,and ids not acknowledging that

he wouldn't afford school fees for that income

i read on wiki that he's made nearly a million from after dinner speaking, so he must really understand what real working people go through

Well i think he should practice what he preaches
Bet he wouldn't last two minutes before breaking into the coffers bar and downing a pint of Brandy with a cigar.

He will never know what its like to have no heating, next to no food or enough money for clothing not to mention a whole lot of other depressing stuff when your on such little money.
He is a class A Twit and that is putting it nicely!

On £53 a week, his children wouldn't need anything, because he wouldn't have children. That amount is for a single, childless adult.

Signed and shared.

My DB was on JSA and trying to pay back a debt. He was feeding himself on £10 a week - pasta with mayo mainly. His shoes were worn through.

IDS can do one.

Long time since I was on benefits, thankfully. I had income support, but rent, council tax were also paid. From what I read, that is no longer the case. What, exactly, would his 53 quid have to cover?

I get what you are saying pp, but he said he can live off £53, so he must live up to what he said.
£53, which im guessing would be jsa is used to pay Tv liscence, Water, gas, electric, and considering most gas bills are over £200 a month, good luck to him living off it with or without kids

Yes his rent would be paid but only partially, full rent isn't paid anymore, most people top up over £100. He would also have to pay a small amount of council tax, and bedroom tax too.
His children would receive child tax creds, which amount to roughly £50 a child, but remember that tax creds go on mostly food and children's needs so his £53 would have to cover everything other than children's needs.

Would love to see him actually do it, and still think its a cushty life afterwards...
And he would have to sign on each fortnigh, proving each and everything he has been doing to look for work and then suffering a sanction for 6m + if he fails due to any reasons

Jarvis said it best.

Anyone can play at being poor for a bit.

Signed

He is a twat. I've signed the petition. Money where mouth is, IDS!

I've signed.

Put your (lack of) money where your mouth is dickhead.

Oh yes, bedroom tax too!

Yes. he should be made to do it for a month. In a one bed flat or bedsit. And start off with an empty freezer and a few tins in the cupboard and emergency credit on the meter. And nobody should be allowed to take him out for a meal or sub him or anything.

And two weeks into the month, something vital should break down. And he should have to choose between something like a Provvy loan or brighthouse!

Bloody fool of a man doesn't have a clue.

It should be a two bedroom flat, so he has to pay extra rent to make up for the fact he's only entitled to one bedroom. With a bus to the nearest town / decent shops. With only a shitty overpriced local shop, a betting shop and pub in the vicinity.

Signed! And he can only use donated electrical goods, the sort you are given by charities. Yes yes yes to gas elec meters. Also with the average debt to juggle. Bloody wanker

Someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth cannot ever realise the true reality of being poor.
Silly, silly man and i do hope his quote will one day haunt him when he finds himself in local dole queue.

Karma will find him, one day..

Agreed that he should do it without savings, without any of his mates bailing him out, and on a meter. The average debt sounds like a plan too.

IDS is a twat

He will never do it or if he did it wouldn't be done properly.

Whatever you think if him he has an important job in the cabinet which he needs to chauffeur driven to as well as evening functions which would undoubtedly include luxury meals and drinks etc- he'd say he had to attend so he will hardly get a true sense of what it is like.

i suppose he could do in the summer break for a few weeks and he should have to put money to one side for gas etc as averaged out over the year. (No holiday in a friend's yacht for him this summer!).

I wonder if 'common people' by Pulp is on his iPod

Can someone explain what the £53 has to cover? Assuming you have 2 kids and have no bedroom tax to pay what do you actually get?

£53 is without children. This is for a single, childless person.
Out of this you have to pay - gas, electricity, water, rent, food, travel, toiletries, clothing..

For a single person with 2 children you would get £220 a week

£53 is single childless adult tarrif,including his family he could claim more

What a knob he is. I have signed the petition.