ian duncan smith

[margaretwebb1]

at last ian duncan smith has just resigned

[ripples]

Yes and his resignation letter was interesting as well. It should be an informative couple of months

[silverfox1961]

That is the best news I have had this week BUT who is going to replace him?

 

Will his replacement allow the FOI requests to be published after IDS tried to block release.

[The GodMother]

The BEST Breaking news l have seen all week.

[The GodMother]

From the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35848687

 

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has resigned citing pressure to make cuts to disability benefits.

 

It comes after mounting controversy over £4bn of planned cuts to Personal Independence Payments, expected to affect 640,000 people.

 

Mr Duncan Smith said the cuts were "not defensible" within a Budget that "benefits higher earning taxpayers".

 

Earlier, a government source indicated the changes were going to be "kicked into the long grass".

 

The planned changes apply to the formula the government uses to calculate the daily living component of PIP, which will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and come into effect in January 2017.

 

Mr Duncan Smith, who was the Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition from 2001-2003, said they were a "compromise too far".

 

"I am unable to watch passively whilst certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self-imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest," he said in his resignation letter.

 

"Too often my team and I have been pressured in the immediate run up to a budget or fiscal event to deliver yet more reductions to the working-age benefit bill.

 

"There has been too much emphasis on money-saving exercises and not enough awareness from the Treasury, in particular, that the government's vision of a new welfare-to-work system could not be repeatedly salami-sliced.

 

"It is therefore with enormous regret that I have decided to resign."

 

Mr Osborne has insisted the "most vulnerable" will still be protected

[tobyjugg2]

His letter is a heap of politicking crap.

 

He was one of the orchestrators of Tory cuts to the poorest and I'm sure we all remember him jumping up and down in glee like a demented leprechaun dancing on a pot of gold he had stolen at the announcements of massive cuts in benefits to the poorest while tax relief was heaped upon the richest.

 

This is a stab in the back to those that stabbed him in the back and he will be jumping on Boris's brexit and leadership bandwagon now he's showing his 'worth' to Boris by Brutusing (and well deserved) Osbourne.

 

A massive boost to the in campaign i think, needed to balance the ridiculous Turkey deal which must boost the out campaign.

 

There still seems to be no real win situation for us poor mortals.

[speedfreek]

[tfp]

Good! Smith claims the cuts to disability benefits are the prime reasons for his resignation. A pure con job. No doubt saying these words while rubbing his eyes with half an onion.

 

I for one do not believe Smith one bit with regards his reasons for resigning. For this is a man who has wasted £BILLIONS on the WP, Univ. Credit and Univ. Job Match.

 

Anyone with half a brain will see the prime reason for his going was simply due to his spat with Cameron and Osborne over the EU becoming an open chasm.

[aburobert]

I'm another who won't be shedding any tears!

 

It will be very interesting to see if the Tories will survive the deep fractures in the Conservative party appearing more and more visible as each day passes. A pity the opposition is so weak in opposing them - probably equally wobbly internally.

[The GodMother]

others think the real reason he has left the goverment office, l have no clue if he has resigned his seat as a mp l doubt he has tho,is he lost the court battle re releasing paper to do with Uni credit

[ripples]

Timing is everything... He released his resignation letter in time to make the next day papers. There is jostling to succeed Cameron when he resigns in June and IDS knows Boris will give him a job

[Tawnyowl]

Good riddance.I remember him sliding out of foodbank debate back in 2013.I nearly overheated.Television nearly went through the window.

 

Watch Iain Duncan Smith SNEAK OUT of food banks debate as Tories LAUGH at stories of starving families

 

Work and Pensions Secretary IDS had already ducked questions in the Commons by choosing not to speak, instead putting forward his deputy Esther McVey

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/food-banks-debate-video-iain-2941100

 

Hard to believe this.If changing his view on things why not stay and threaten resignation and battle for us mere mortals.

 

Iain Duncan Smith is understood to have told them that the government "can't keep taking money from the working poor."

He was concerned that his "narrative for welfare reforms was in danger of being thrown away." He felt he had no choice but to act because welfare reforms "matter more than anything".

 

Over the weekend Iain Duncan Smith discovered the Chancellor planned to offer cuts in Capital Gains Tax and was very unhappy that those tax cuts were to be offered to the better off, while he had been forced to make more welfare cuts prematurely, in his view. When Number 10 and the Treasury then backtracked on the reforms to PIP today, he concluded that he could no longer remain in government.

[Tawnyowl]

Key Points

 

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith resigns over cuts to disability benefits

Mr Duncan Smith says changes to Personal Independence Payments announced in the Budget are "not defensible"

David Cameron says he is "puzzled and disappointed" at Mr Duncan Smith's resignation

Opposition parties call for Chancellor George Osborne to resign as well

 

LIVE IDS quits: Latest updates

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-35848872

 

I had better go before i go off on one.This govt need to take the blinkers off.

Image is more important than people,seem like a load of smug salespeople rather than caring for the people.

Well everyone has a view,lost their way.

Osborne next please,then DC.

I am off,have your say.

[Tawnyowl]

Politics doesn't get much nastier than IDS' resignation-With Video and full details of his letter.

Iain Duncan Smith's resignation is one of those "oh my god" moments in politics.

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-03-18/politics-doesnt-get-much-nastier-than-ids-resignation/

 

Because he is saying, in effect, that he has been morally compromised by the Chancellor and Prime Minister.

 

He insists that he reluctantly agreed to changes in the personal independence payment, which will reduce disability benefit payments by £1.2bn a year – and that he did so without knowing that they would fund tax cuts for the middle classes.

 

'A compromise too far': Iain Duncan

Smith's resignation letter in full

Read David Cameron’s response to Duncan Smith’s resignation:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/18/iain-duncan-smith-resignation-letter-in-full

 

I hope as the government goes forward you can look again, however, at the balance of the cuts you have insisted upon and wonder if enough has been done to ensure ‘we are all in this together’.”

[Tawnyowl]

Last post,i am sorry i got a little roused.

I am not that keen on Austerity and cuts.There must be other ways.Hurting so many people.

A Universal Guaranteed Basic Income in the future may be the answer.

 

For those that wonder what the hell am i going on about,just have a read who knows what the future holds.

Sure will be some changes arriving in the next 10 years.

Basic Income Guarantee-Do You Like The Idea-Any Views-Have Your Say.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?461005-Basic-Income-Guarantee-Do-You-Like-The-Idea-Any-Views-Have-Your-Say.

 

Just seem so focussed on cuts this Govt.Blinkered.

4 Posts i have made,enough some may be thinking.

Fair point.Let some steam out,have your say,i sure have:-)and glad to have been given the chance.

Enjoy your weekend.

Tawnyowl.

[Surfer01]

It seems that IDS has every one fooled. He introduced PIP which has proved to be costly and has spent more than it has saved. In addition, PIP will continue to be a drain as it is reneweed every 2 - 3 years. By resigning and passing the buck he thinks he has got away with making the biggest blunder of all time by introducing PIP.

BTW under PIP we are better off than under DLA as the PIP payment is higher!

[Tawnyowl]

In January 2016 a damning National Audit Office report revealed the fact that Iain Duncan Smith's Reign of Terror over the lives of sick and disabled people is costing far more in corporate administration fees than it will ever save the taxpayer in reduced benefits payouts.

http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/reign-of-terror-false-economies.html

 

What the report reveals

 

The NAO report https://www.nao.org.uk/report/contracted-out-health-and-disability-assessments/ reveals that the DWP is set to pay out at least £1.6 billion over the next three years in administration fees to the corporations that now run their health and disability assessment schemes.

 

The report also revealed that costs are spiralling out of control; that none of the outsourcing companies managed to meet the government's own quality assessment thresholds; that targets are being missed all over the place; and that nowhere near the mandated 95% of assessors are completing their training.

[Surfer01]

Exactly which is why he resigned and not because Osborne made some noises about cuts to disability benefits. It was a good time for him to get out and save face and hope no one remembered the PIP fiasco whcih ended up costing more than it was supposed to save. If you check IDS's histroy apparently he falsely claimed qualifications that he did not have and secondly he was a benefit cheat at one time! The biggest problem is that he remains an MP when he should never have bene on in the first place given his so called credentials for dishonesty!

[silverfox1961]

I have tried to read everything in the press last night and this morning and still no clearer. There does seem to be a consensus that IDS was being pushed hard by Osbourne and Cameron to get the reforms through 'this time'. This has done him no favours as in previous cuts he was wholeheartedly for them when his rich mates were pocketing more at the expense of the less well off.

 

He now complains that the well off are getting tax breaks while the poor suffer. Hypocrisy?

 

If he was genuine, he would resign as an MP as well and start fighting for the people that matter.

 

Many people (me included) rely on disability benefits to help manage our conditions. If I didn't have a cheap car, I wouldn't be able to go out, period! Where I live, the bus services are OK but getting to the bus stop is hard and getting back up the hill is even harder, even if I am empty handed. If I have shopping, I would have to take a taxi. This costs.

 

It is about time there was a vote of no confidence in the government and if successful, it would trigger another general election.

 

I do also suspect the resignation has a little to do with the EU referendum. Cameron may say in public that his MPs can campaign for whatever choice they believe in but is he saying that in Private.

 

One last thing (and a bit of navel gazing) look after this country first before handing out billions to other countries where he won't be able to see where the money has gone.

[Tawnyowl]

Who will replace Iain Duncan Smith? The runners and riders to be the next Work and Pensions Secretary

Bets are on already.Who will become the most hated politician in Britain.Is anyone that ambitious.A losing,failed,costly job if there ever was one.

That put many in misery,stressed,in poverty in modern Great Britain with its outdated mad blinkered, Welfare ideals.

Surprised they have not been taken to the Human Rights Courts.Maybe they have.

My view anyway.Sorry silverfox1961 i was writing as you were posting.A fine post.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/who-replace-iain-duncan-smith-7588014

[silverfox1961]

Stephen Crabb has been appointed. Is he open minded? Take a look at his voting record and make your own decision

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11768/stephen_crabb/preseli_pembrokeshire/votes

[essexmat]

Fantastic news about IDS. Went to bed a happy man even though I am now in FTE as I have been where a lot of people are now and know about how they suffer and try to get by every day. Unfortunately I have just seen the new appointment and it will simply be a case of replace one heartless moron with another. Personally I would have preferred Gideon to fall on his sword but he won't.

 

I just hope these inhumane cuts are reveresed or at worst slowed down over a longer period of time but to even think about them in the first place shows the distain this government has for the ill and disabled.

 

My parents are 70 and on the ld DLA so luckily they (hopefully) won'tbe touched but I know plenty of people who will be and they are already in a state of panic.

[reallymadwoman]

Just discussed this with Hubby and it's obvious that the £30 ESA cut plus PIP cuts are finally too much for the majority, especially when combined with the tax cuts for the rich in the latest budget, hence the furore it's caused this time. IDS going is nothing to do with disagreeing with cutting benefits, it's all to do with being seen to do so (at least this once!) so he can spout stuff about being forced to carry out cuts against his conscience in future when he wants another (better?) job under the next PM, part of which will be making sure that's not Osborne.

 

As for his replacement, I'm inclined to think that the devil you know is often better than the one you don't.

[sadone]

Oh I don't think Joe public are at all bothered about the ESA cuts, and that it's only the PIP ones. Mainly because of whats happened and that at least the papers are now openly talking about it in less positive terms.

[tommy456]

Joe public should be bothered about ESA cuts, It has a lot to do with this bias media we have here in the uk , and how they report on it,or fail to do And lets not forget the many programmes about those on benefits . all of which are broadcast to re enforce the verbal diarrhea that the majority of these idiots in politics continually spout , about benefit cheats , ect

This has to change