David Cameron calls benefit claimants - welfare scoungers.

[hornofplenty]

I was told by a friend that he had said this but I could not believe it was true

The friendly cover is slipping.

But not to worry he is not going to make "welfare scroungers" or the rich pay, oh no it is up to public sectors to pay us out of recession.

ermm - not he says that you can't tackle the deficit by tackling just the rich or the welfare scrounger. I read that as

"well we know that targetting the really rich and the people that do scrounge off the benefits" would be the most popular way to go but it's just not going to cut it.

WEll some people are welfare scroungers.

twat

and I should add I'm no Cameron supporter, and life has thrown me down with the beggars on benefits right now. But as Posie says there are benefits scroungers as well as claim benefits along side those that use the system for what it was designed for - as a helping hand when life throws shite at you.

Some people are welfare scroungers.

What's the problem?

See, I knew it.
Just knew that within a few weeks of being elected he would nip into a nearby phone box, superman stylee and emerge dressed in a blue skirt suit and carrying a handbag. Yikes.

Perhaps the Daily Mail are spinning Cameron's words but if he meant the few that are scrounging he should have said so, ( although I think it is an awful word) but that is not how I read it.

But Riven - read it in context - I don't think he's calling us all scroungers at all.

The general line of thought that I've read (in the trash news and here on MN) is that

a) the super rich
b) the benefits scroungers (and ther ARE benefits scroungers - there are some at my school gates every morning and it makes me )

should be the first to suffer. I just read it as him saying - well yes that's all very well but everyone is going to feel the pinch.

I have not heard a single person say that those on benefits should bear the brunt of the recession. I just hear that middle England should pay.

Where is the evidence that supports the title of this thread?

He has not said that people who claim benefits are welfare scroungers. Indeed, in the past I have heard him in the past very forcefully defend benefits and welfare.

Is there anyone who seriously thinks that committing welfare fraud is acceptable?

But welfare fraud has never been acceptable. So what, exactly, is his definition of a "scrounger"? What a nasty, judgemental word for a PM to use.

Exactly why does Cameron not say
" we cannot just make cuts to welfare sroungers and robbing bastard bankers?"

Prolesworth Well the new beefed up regulatory regime for the banks, together with the big bank tax coming in the budget, and the increases in capital gains tax, should make you happy!

you haven't horn??? where have you been since the election

seriously I've seen loads of comments about how the scroungers the work shy should be targeted.

But what I make of Cameron's comments is that you can't just hit those - and that everyone is going to feel the pinch.

Even if they don't cut benefits, simply freeze then - an increase in VAT will mean we'll feel it.

And I strongly believe more should be done about the workshy on JSA.

It's FAR too easy to go and sign on having really done sod all to look for work.

Maybe toccata we hear what affects us ( am tying myself up in knots here I am not calling you a welfare scrounger)

But honestly at work, when out with friends, on the news I just hear Middle England and specifically public sector workers need to pay.

What about the tax dodgers who take over 100 times as much money from the economy than the people who commit benefit fraud? If he is refering to people who make false claims, the word'Scroungers' does not imply fraudsters, he needs to work on his spin more.

I agree with toccata and longfingernails. He's saying that hitting the popular targets the genuinely super-rich and the genuinely welfare scrounging is not going to be enough and people need to accept that there are going to have to be cuts that hit the rest of us too. In fact by implication he's saying that the vast majority of benefit claimants are not welfare scroungers (because if they were then that would deal with the budget deficit -- it's because the vast majority of claimants are genuinely in need that there are limited savings to be made in the social security budgets and he needs to start hitting other things).

There was an interesting article in the FT this week suggesting that (from an economic and not noticeably left-wing perspective) slashing public spending may in fact not be the way to handle the deficit at all, mind you. It will be interesting to see whether that view gathers any currency in the coming months.

no - I've seen the middle England attacks too, but mostly rich bankers and welfare scroungers.

lol horn - don't worry I don't think you're calling me a welfare scrounger (and I'd bite your head off if I did )