Rishi Sunak talking shite

[MyopicBunny]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rishi-sunak-benefits-national-insurance-b2510044.html

Now this is the bit I really take issue with.

We now sign off three times as many people to be out of work than we did a decade ago. That just doesn’t strike me as a system that’s working properly.”

This makes no sense. A decade ago, Covid had not happened yet. There are a lot of people who now can't work because they have long Covid and can't walk. I personally know two people between the ages of 18 and 50 who now rely on mobility scooters, thanks to long Covid. They were both fit and healthy before.

According to this out of touch prime minister who has no idea how ordinary people live, years of austerity have not cut the welfare bill like the Tories said it was going to. And if it didn't then maybe that's because austerity made people sick!

Not to mention that the hoops you have to jump through in order to be signed off work and not be looking for work are very considerable. I know this because I am appointee for my 22 year old dd who is severely mentally impaired. She receives 2:1 care 24/7. I had to provide a great deal of evidence to show that this was indeed the case.

People aren't able to get signed off work just because they feel like staying at home. I am sick of the disingenuous bollocks coming from this lying government.

[DistinguishedSocialCommentator]

In fairness to Mr Sunak, he is a good politician. IMO, all good politician talk shit.

[TizerorFizz]

Three times the number is not all down to Covid. It might be worth looking into why people cannot work. A relative decided to ignore advice about managing his diabetes. Maybe ensuring people do what they need to do would be a start. I do actually agree with Sunak, those not working is way too high.

[MississippiAF]

Covid can’t account for all of the increase.

[DancefloorAcrobatics]

I agree it cannot be covid, hhowever longer NHS waiting times ....

[MyopicBunny]

@MississippiAF

Covid can’t account for all of the increase.

Why is there any increase?

Apparently, under the last Labour government there were far too many work shy people. According to the Tories, that is.

Yet, here we are now and Sunak is complaining about something that has happened on his own government's watch. Ie, more people than ever not working despite a severe austerity programme which has targeted the poor and disabled since 2010.

Someone is lying...

[Overthebow]

@TizerorFizz

Three times the number is not all down to Covid. It might be worth looking into why people cannot work. A relative decided to ignore advice about managing his diabetes. Maybe ensuring people do what they need to do would be a start. I do actually agree with Sunak, those not working is way too high.

I do too, we can’t have this many people out of work, we can’t pay for everyone. We need people working to get the services the country needs.

[MississippiAF]

@MyopicBunny

Why is there any increase?

Apparently, under the last Labour government there were far too many work shy people. According to the Tories, that is.

Yet, here we are now and Sunak is complaining about something that has happened on his own government's watch. Ie, more people than ever not working despite a severe austerity programme which has targeted the poor and disabled since 2010.

Someone is lying...

What would you like to see? Do you think austerity caused the increase? Would these people be working if there had not been austerity measures implemented?

[MyopicBunny]

I asked you what caused the increase.

Where is the evidence of this increase?

Either way, the Tories are responsible since they've been in power for the last 14 years..

[MississippiAF]

No, you started the thread, you go first? It wasn’t covid, so what else?

[MsFaversham]

I’d suggest some of this increase, if it is really 3 times as high, is due to austerity, poverty, lack of mental health services, inability to get GP appointments so conditions getting worse, delayed medical treatment/operations at well as long Covid. You can’t keep pushing and pushing people to the brink without some breaking.

[Summerhillsquare]

@Overthebow

I do too, we can’t have this many people out of work, we can’t pay for everyone. We need people working to get the services the country needs.

For that we need a health service that responds promptly, prioritises public and preventative health, and a less unequal society that gives people better terms and conditions at work so they are not poor, stressed and dependent on stimulants to function.

[Stonehill]

People are now expected to work longer, until they are older - older people are going to have more health problems, and need more time off work

[MissyB1]

Err.. this Government screwing the NHS into the ground couldn’t possibly have anything to do with people getting sicker could it? 🤔 People are dying on waiting lists, people are becoming too sick to work waiting for treatment. Christ some poor buggers die in A&E waiting rooms! Oh and mental health services are in meltdown, so those patients get sicker too.

Doesn’t take a genius…..

[MississippiAF]

@MsFaversham

I’d suggest some of this increase, if it is really 3 times as high, is due to austerity, poverty, lack of mental health services, inability to get GP appointments so conditions getting worse, delayed medical treatment/operations at well as long Covid. You can’t keep pushing and pushing people to the brink without some breaking.

Most of us manage.

[PerkingFaintly]

The government was warned before it increased state pension age from 60 to 65 in women (completed by 2018), and from 65 to 66 for both sexes (completed between 2018 and 2020), that these population groups were not equivalent in health to younger groups. In an obvious manner.

People are living longer. They are not all staying healthy longer.

(That's before considering the impact that the slow downgrading of the NHS has had on the nation's health.)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-age-review-2023-government-report/state-pension-age-review-2023#:~:text=The%20Pensions%20Act%202011%20accelerated,to%20between%202026%20and%202028.

[MyopicBunny]

@MsFaversham

I’d suggest some of this increase, if it is really 3 times as high, is due to austerity, poverty, lack of mental health services, inability to get GP appointments so conditions getting worse, delayed medical treatment/operations at well as long Covid. You can’t keep pushing and pushing people to the brink without some breaking.

Exactly. And this is why I find his suggestions of further cuts quite unbelievable. God help the vast majority of us if this government is still in power next year.

If you go to the doctor now, needing a minor operation due to something which is causing pain you are told 'sorry the NHS doesn't fund this any more'.

[PerkingFaintly]

I don't have figures to hand, but I seem to remember seeing graphs pre-covid and pre-austerity which show illness-related unavailability for work was quite low in the younger age groups, but rose quite sharply from age 55 onwards.

[edited to add: I'd welcome figures if anyone has these easily on hand]

[fabio12]

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/latest-updates/uk-is-officially-the-worlds-second-most-miserable-country-these-were-the-happiest-and-unhappiest-countries-of-2023/articleshow/108361220.cms?from=mdr

Tories have stolen any hope through austerity cuts and underfunding of basic needs. We can't trust them with emergencies as we saw what happened in Covid and how NHS were treated. They've encouraged Brexit which leaves our economy in a downward spiral with yearly increasing costs for decent food (often meaning they turn to UPF) and imports. People have no security for their home, health, work and less time to see friends and family as so many are working 2 jobs to try to make ends meet. Maslow's Hierachy of Needs has been well and truly shat upon over the last 14 years and it's no wonder productivity is low.

[Elsewhere123]

Would a food industry selling UPF that causes obesity have something to do with the level of sickness? I'm hoping that some lawyers will take on a case in the same way that the tobacco industry was sued in the past . Cheap UPF and austerity are a recipe for ill health.

[PerkingFaintly]

One should also probably look at the graphs over the interval of the last 15 years, not just take a spot-figure of exactly 10 years ago in 2014.

In March 2014 I was not among Rishi's figures for being signed off work... because I had been artificially removed by being wrongly thrown off Incapacity Benefit/ESA.

I appealed and was reinstated with a back-payment, but it took well over a year.

I was far from the only one.

This was the period which hit the headlines because the Tories' much vaunted changes to disability benefits, and the DWP's dishonesty in applying them, were throwing large numbers of very sick and disabled people off the benefits which had been keeping them alive.

[TizerorFizz]

The NHS needs to be reformed. We cannot afford it as it stands. Way more elderly people and fewer people working to pay for it. Blaming the government is easy but no one dares reform this behemoth that no other country has. There’s a reason for that. Other countries do things better and we cling onto the inefficient nhs. It must be reformed.

[MyopicBunny]

Whose example should we follow? The US? No thanks...

The NHS was working just fine under New Labour. So yes, I do blame the government. If you stop funding something it stops working. Clearly.

[CheapThrillsMeanNothing]

The retirement age for women has gone up from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2018. Increased by a year for men too. Many people who would previously have been retired have poor health so have to be signed off sick. The law of unintended consequences.
This has also affected women in their early/mid 60s who would have cared for sick relatives are now still working.

[Blackcats7]

People forget how much better the NHS was pre tories.
It is now fucked due to them so there are huge numbers of people unable to work due to ill health which is untreated.
It’s hardly rocket science.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Everything the Tories are complaining about has happened while they have been in charge. They are suggesting changes to their own policies, fixing things they have broken. I can't believe people are falling for it.