The Budget

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/17/tory-rebels-osborne-disability-benefit-cuts-just-not-acceptable

Hoping they stick to it.

It's not just left-wingers who are attacking the budget.
The IFS calls Osborne's tax claims rubbish.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/17/budget-2016-ifs-savages-osborne-tax-claims-as-rhetorical-nonsense

The Sugar Tax will have 2 levels when it's introduced in 2018 -

Lower rate for drinks with a sugar content above 5g per 100ml (e.g. a 330 ml can Sprite or Fanta will cost 6p more)

Higher rate for drinks with more than 8g per 100ml (e.g. a 330 ml can of Coke or Pepsi will cost 8p more)

Pure fruit juice, which contains quite a lot of sugar, and milk-based drinks are excluded. So are diet versions, which contain sweeteners rather than sugar.

Two thoughts:

When unemployment figures became embarrassingly high, with almost daily headlines in news reports, people were encouraged to apply for disability benefits instead. That massaged the unemployment figures for the then government, but now the UK is reaping the whirlwind. Sadly, those suffering most from this blatant renaming procedure are the genuinely disabled who are genuinely in need of help.

Sugar is not the only sweetener. There are lots of artificial sweeteners, which do not contribute towards obesity – and so will not be taxed – but which have been shown to have possibly damaging side effects. What do you think the manufacturers of soft drinks are most like to do?

One of the targets Osborne set himself was a drastic reduction in welfare spending. This accompanied by much spin about scroungers who live off the state. Trouble is targeting the very small number of people who genuinely prefer a life on benefits was going to not come close to the savings he was aiming for. He has fought shy of upsetting pensioners (my state pension just went up...) so he has had to target "hard working families" by reducing things like housing benefits and other top-up benefits. So where else is he now going to go to get a saving...

Even the Tories are getting cold feet over this latest cut to the disabled.

Those losing PIP will never be compensated from elsewhere in the benefit system. Gideon intends to raise £1.3bn on the backs of the most vulnerable. Many Tories who have been patrons of various disabled societies/ charities have been asked to resign.

Really Galen, how come someone I know was assessed by a woman who use to work in the council housing dept in a town sixty miles from her?

Jess I think you have summed this up so well. There were never the numbers of "scroungers" that much of the press would try and convince us of so Osborn could never make savings just out of dealing with these people.

My worry is that we really do need to constantly upgrade the benefits particularly for those with disabilities. As time passes it is going to be true that some things change and people who once would have been disabled are actually treated now. However, by taking the proverbial sledgehammer to crack this very complex nut the Chancellor has skewed the argument so much that those who - quite rightly - oppose what he is trying to do are also saying "we will have none of this". I my opinion, and I feel this more and more, politics and health do not mix and it should not be a toy for politicians to play with.

When the coal mines were closed Thatchers government started the push of the unemployed onto sickness benefit.

This was thirty years ago and this does not make taking mobility from people who were in school at that time acceptable.

This month there has been a man talking on local radio. On the first of March he was told his motability car was going to be taken away from him, he was no longer insured or taxed so could not drive. He appealed and was given three weeks to give extra proof of his disabilities.
He is a pensioner but still working and has done since he was 15. He had polio when he was 11 months old. It is a degenerative disease, so his nerves and muscles are not going to improve for him not to be disabled.
He cannot walk far enough to get to public transport, to go shopping, to get his hair cut, things that everybody hopes to still be able to do at his age.
Last week it was mentioned in PMQs.
Yesterday he was on the radio to say the DWP had changed their minds and accepted his PIP claim for higher rate, but that he would have to be reassessed in four years time!!

I have just heard today that a nurse who has a degenerative nerve condition so can no longer work has had her mobility scooter taken away from her so will no longer be able to leave her home.

These stories are not apocryphal, not exaggerated by people who are scrounging off the state; they are real, and probably being told on a radio station near you, for those who do not believe and want to bury their heads in the sand.

Osbourne has announced he has listened to the people re the tampon tax, let's hope he listens to the people re taking benefits from disabled and I'll people

I am horrified by the treatment of the disabled by this government. How can we call ourselves a civilised country and treat the most vulnerable so badly? I thought Jeremy Corbyn did OK in his speech, the behaviour of some of the members on the government benches was appalling. The deputy speaker had to keep shutting them up.

Baffling how the government benches can be so amused when disability cuts are discussed.

There was rather an amusing moment yesterday when it was said Osbourne spoke of Cola not Coke

There was an article in yesterday's i about the Danes being the happiest people in a study of 156 countries. One of the reasons given was because there is little corruption. The study was based on health, access to medical care, job security, political freedom and government corruption.
What surprised me was that the UK came 23rd.

On the Andrew Neil politics show it seems to be a general consensus that this budget is another omnishambles and in fact worse than the pasty tax shambles -all this from a Sun and Telegraph bods.

They also praised JC and how confident in his budget response he was.

The Tory backbenchers are in open rebellion and alarm is spreading.

I think that Galen is better placed than you anniebach when it comes to knowledge of how disabled people are assessed.

It never makes economic sense to help the rich at the expense of the poorest.

Give to the rich and they will simply find a good way to save it often offshore thus ensuring that the money is lost to the economy.
Give it to the poorest and they will spend it on extra food or clothing for their children, thus helping the revenue to the government and economic growth.

Exactly whitewave. Just a shame the Tories can't see that.

Rosesarered, this may surprise you but what you think is of no interest or concern to me. I know a woman who use to work in a housing department carried out an assessment , this is fact

labourlist.org/2016/03/shock-poll-puts-labour-ahead-of-tories-after-unfair-budget/

One good thing to come out of the budget.

politics.us3.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f5ab5efdb629954eb1b8df87b&id=ba7735c9d7&e=f5e4f66f33

Another good thing to come out of the budget.
Has Osborne cost Goldsmith the London mayor's job?

No need to throw your toys out of the pram ab .... Perhaps in Wales any old housing dpt official can decide who is disabled.

dj I really don't think Goldsmith is in with a chance of becoming Mayor of London, or ever has been.

My sister was an assessor for a short time. She used to be a senior nurse before redundancy and took the job out of necessity. I can assure those who think that all assessors have appropriate medical qualifications that they most emphatically do not. My sister left after three months when she saw what was going on.

Perhaps the company who carries out the assessments don't give a toss who carries them out as long as the benefits are reduced.

And nust you start your attacks on Wales again Rosesarered, you in danger of being thought of as a little englander