Wide screen devices may view this page better by clicking here

26 April 2017

Facebook   Twitter

Join the Socialist Party Join us today!

Printable version Printable version

Facebook   Twitter

Benefit bullies

Disabled activists campaigning against cuts, photo Paul Mattsson

Disabled activists campaigning against cuts, photo Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge)

A man with chronic health problems died after the hated 'work capability assessment' found him 'fit to work'.

Lawrence Bond had a heart attack after leaving a job centre in London this January. He had to attend because of the decision to end his disability benefit.

Meanwhile, the private firms doing this for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have made over half a billion from it. The Socialist commented on this last issue in 'Them & Us'.

But many benefit cuts don't even save the bosses money. One exceptional case is Janet Davis from Ayr in Scotland.

The DWP took away the car it had provided Janet after deciding she could live independently without it. This will save the government a measly £8,000 over three years.

But the DWP also decided she was still eligible for help getting to work. The cost of the taxis it authorised instead? £65,000.

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.

Please donate here.

All payments are made through a secure server.

My donation £

 

Your message: 

 


In The Socialist 26 April 2017:


What we think

A bold socialist campaign could get rid of the Tories


Socialist Party news and analysis

40% of GPs plan to quit - reverse all NHS cuts and sell-offs!

Cuts, profit and bureaucracy lead to 50% rise in mental health deaths

200,000 empty homes - 250,000 homeless - end property speculation

Benefit bullies

Refugee rescue

Tory trouble

What we saw


May Day

The real origins of May Day


International socialist news and analysis

Mélenchon result shows potential for building a mass left force


Socialist Party workplace news

Strikes can end nurses' poverty pay

Len McCluskey re-election - a defeat for the right

Usdaw ADM 2017: Left challenge needed to end assault on retail jobs and conditions

PCS Left Unity says get rid of the Tories!

BMW strikers determined to win pensions dispute

Forest Hill School demonstration

Workplace news in brief


20 years since Blair's election

How Blairism sank its claws into the Labour Party


Socialist Party reports and campaigns

Jobstown trial begins - call on Corbyn to support the defendants!

Health Campaigns Together meets to chart the way forward

Protests in solidarity with LGBT+ people facing persecution in Chechnya

Doncaster TUSC: TUSC's programme for local jobs and Services

Peter Taaffe speaks in Birkenhead

East London tenants fight 40% rent hike


Socialist Party comments and reviews

The Socialist inbox


May Day greetings


Solidarity greetings in the Socialist for International Workers' Day 2017


 

Home   |   The Socialist 26 April 2017   |   Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe   |   Donate   |   Audio  |   PDF  |   ebook






Related links:

Cuts:

triangleRMT: Militant industrial and political strategy must be fought for

triangleCan the 'Preston model' beat the cuts?

triangleFight the rotten establishment

triangleWhat councils can do to protect the environment

triangleSocialist Party members campaigning for TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) election candidates in Liverpool, 24.4.21

DWP:

triangleVote 'yes' in the PCS DWP ballot

trianglePCS ballots members in Jobcentres over safety

trianglePCS leadership ballot underway

triangleSupport the Broad Left Network for a democratic, fighting union leadership

Work Capability Assessment:

triangleTory prescription for mental illness: stress and bureaucracy

triangleWe are all Daniel Blake: no more deaths from benefit cuts

triangleSocialist Party members join disability rights week of action

Pensions:

triangleLessons of the 2011 pensions strike: when workers showed their power

trianglePCS Broad Left Network conference

Disability:

triangleCapitalism discriminates against us - Disabled people fighting for our rights

Government:

triangleBobby Sands - Nothing but an Unfinished Song

Article dated 26 April 2017

Join the Socialist Party
Subscribe to Socialist Party publications
Donate to the Socialist Party

MEMBER RESOURCES

Pay in Fighting Fund

Pay in paper and book sales

Leaflets

Bulk book orders

New member submission

WHAT'S ON

triangle15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?

triangle17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state

triangle18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle

More...


The Socialist, weekly newspaper of the Socialist Party

Election analysis

Ireland

International news

Workplace news

Readers' opinion

Obituary

Subscribespacer|spacerebook / Kindlespacer|spacerPDF versionspacer|spacerText / Printspacer|spacer1133 onlinespacer|spacerBack issuesspacer|spacer Audio files


TUSC 2021 election video

More videos ...

What We Stand For
Socialist Party Facebook page
Socialist Party on Twitter
Visit us on Youtube

Platform setting: =

Desktop version