David Cameron's new disabilities minister voted against protecting disabled children's benefits

[muriel_volestrangler]

David Cameron’s new disabilities minister voted against protecting benefits for disabled children and cancer patients, according to parliamentary records.

Justin Tomlinson, appointed in the new government’s reshuffle, will assist Iain Duncan Smith in implementing Conservative reforms to the benefits system and making £12bn as-yet unspecified cuts.

Mr Tomlinson has a record of voting against provisions that would see more support directed to the disabled and sick.

In parliamentary votes he has supported letting contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance expire for those undergoing cancer treatment.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-camerons-new-disabilities-minister-voted-against-protecting-disabled-childrens-benefits-10246049.html

I wonder if we should retire the "putting the fox in charge of the henhouse" metaphor, and replace it with "putting the Tory in charge of government".

[LeftishBrit]

1. There are a lot of Tories who seem to HATE disabled people

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/hours-after-the-election-the-dwp-says-it-is-looking-to-cut-a-disabled-access-to-work-scheme-10237191.html

So they want disabled people to work rather than live on benefits (which where practicable is a good idea) and then make it impossible for them to do so! They had already cut Remploy.

'In parliamentary votes he has supported letting contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance expire for those undergoing cancer treatment.'

Disgusting - but I'm not sure you could find any Tory MP who hadn't voted that way. Wasn't it a whipped vote?

Priti Patel is quite exceptionally horrible. I think she fancies herself as the next Maggie Thatcher.

But I think the real scorpion in the ointment is Iain Duncan-Smith himself, who really seems to be an ideological crusader against poor, sick, disabled or otherwise vulnerable people; and seems to think that they need to be punished for their poverty to make them stop being poor. He reminds me of the old satirical slogan: 'Support the war on poverty - shoot a beggar!' Of course, Tories in general tend to be harsh toward policies that help poor or disadvantaged people - these take too much money that could be used to cut taxes for rich donors; and it's not as though such people were going to vote Tory anyway - but Duncan-Smith seems to be not just a typical axe-wielding Tory, but an evangelist in the cause of that oxymoron 'compassionate conservativism'. As long as he is in charge, the junior Ministers will be no better.

[T_i_B]

2. Priti Patel?

She just strikes me as something of a swivel-eyed idealogue who can't conceive of anything that doesn't fit in with the theories of Milton Freidman. Not a politican with much of a grasp of the real world outside of economics textbooks.