• March 22, 2016

NEWS FROM THE MANNIN BRANCH CELTIC LEAGUE

Ian Duncan Smith (IDS) the former UK Work and Pensions Minister is the equivalent of Bill Henderson on steroids.

IDS has been at the forefront of the UK governments policy to slash benefits and an apologist for the disgraceful attack via ‘fitness to work’ tests on the sick and disabled. Although it should be remembered that this policy was dreamt up by a UK Labour government.

However ‘the quiet man’ as he was famously known has had enough it seems some ‘so called’ benefit reforms are to much for even him to stomach. Explaining his departure he says;

“I am unable to watch passively while 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…

“Too often my team and I will 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 repeatedly be salami-sliced.”

Basically he is still not admitting that what he and his colleagues were up to was wrong he’s basically saying the policy with the new cuts goes too far.

Does it matter here? Well yes it does because lets be blunt Treasury Minister, Eddie Teare, and Bill Henderson MHK did not dream up fitness to work assessments, in that regard they had as much original thought on the matter as Zac Hall’s parrot.

No the ‘Montgomery Burns’ and ‘Waylon Smithers’ of Manx politics simply aped the UK and in that regard they are probably as we speak (together with their apparatchiks) picking over the bones of George Osborne’s speech to see where they go next.

What the resignation of IDS tells us is that governments in their desire to impose austerity can squeeze ‘the bank of the helpless’ to far. Those on benefits the sick and disabled, pensioners and the elderly were seen as an easy target in the UK and that same twisted ideology was imposed here.

Don’t expect any resignations here though. There will be no pangs of regret at the suffering their policies have instated. Eddie, well he still wants to be Chief Minister one day and Bill, well he just wants the £50K!

BERNARD MOFFATT

Issued by: The Mannin Branch Celtic League

19/03/16

THE CELTIC LEAGUE

The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries including our own Mannin branch. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues

The link for the main web pages is below:

https://celticleague.net

Mannin Branch Celtic League's photo.
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