It’s been a busy week for Rishi Sunak, who somehow managed to make himself look even worse and alienate his core voters – that’s right, old bigots who bang on about the war all day.
With the Tories so far behind in the general election polls, you’d think someone on team Sunak would’ve realised what a home run turning up at D-Day and pretending to care about tanks could’ve been. But for that to happen there needs to still be anyone on team Sunak I guess.
After fucking off home early and then having to spend the next few days in hiding amidst rumours of ousting, he knew what he had to do. And so Rishi unveiled his plan for welfare.
Well, unveiled is a strong word. He wrote a column in the Sun.
Sunak: spouting welfare propaganda in the Sun
I’ve written previously about how the British media allows the government’s lies about disabled people to flourish, but this takes the piss. A big problem with the media is that constant staff cuts mean analysis suffers and Tory bullshit is reported as fact.
But this isn’t even reporting. It’s straight up letting one of the most powerful men in the world spout his propaganda.
There’s also the fact that we’re expecting the main party manifestos next week, which will obviously dominate the front pages. An old trick the government likes to do with welfare cuts is soft launch them a few days before the “meatier’ things, so they’ll be swept aside for sexier policies like funding for the NHS or tax breaks.
We saw Hunt and Stride pull this with last year’s autumn statement where the WCA reforms were the pre-drinks for the full-blown tory hate fest.
Anyway onto the welfare plans.
Writing in the Sun (vom), Sunak says he’ll ‘slash welfare by £12bn a year and get Brits back to work’. He states pretty early on that:
‘We Conservatives are compassionate [lol] and believe that those who really can’t work should be supported.’
But there’s no elaboration on this – and crucially we need to remember that who ‘can’t work’ is decided by them.
That imaginary benefit fraud again
He goes on to say it’s his ‘moral mission’ to get as many people back to work as possible – though of course there’s no plans to shorten the waiting time for Access to Work or actually support disabled people into work.
Sunak reminds us all that the amount spent on sick and disabled benefits has increased by two-thirds since 2020. It’s almost like his government let a deadly pandemic rip through the country and created a whole new wave of disabled people.
Finally, after over 500 words, he tells us the Tories plan… and it’s the same one they already announced.
Expanding mental health treatment, reform the benefit system to ‘halt the unsustainable rise in claims’ whilst supporting those who need it most, and reform benefit assessments.
The Telegraph meanwhile went with this headline and subheading:
Rishi Sunak has promised to save the taxpayer £12 billion a year by clamping down on benefit fraudsters and reforming the welfare system.
Major focus of Tory package will be cutting long-term sickness and ensuring more working age people are in employment
Considering a few weeks ago it was revealed that disability benefit fraud is at almost zero, I’m not sure how much more it could be brought down?
But this is exactly what I was talking about when I said those figures, which they should’ve been really proud of, no longer fitting their narrative.
Wet Wipe meets Kuenssberg
Never one to miss the disabled people hating, our favourite DWP wet wipe Mel Stride was on Laura Kuennsberg’s Sunday morning show. He had the prime spot of coming directly after Nigel Farage being racist as fuck, meaning he appeared almost rational.
Whilst Sunak is having an absolute mare of a fortnight, Stride seems to have been media-coached to within an inch of his life. He spoke to Laura K in a low volume, ‘not angry just disappointed’ concerned tone that reminded me of a deputy headteacher who’s sick of residents complaining about kids being noisy walking home from school.
The way he was able to twist reform concerns and never directly talk about the people it’ll affect was masterful. He instead focused on how much it would save the poor innocent taxpayer in welfare. This is deliberate, as it means people are easily able to detach from those suffering and the people he’s planning to kill. It’s giving only those who make money humanity.
He was weirdly proud of expanding Talking Therapies, as if he truly believed a huge waiting list and then six-eight sessions could cure the mental health crisis. It feels very insipid that the focus is on mental health. The Tories know that their vile core voters don’t take this as seriously, so wouldn’t object in the way they would a cancer survivor being forced back to work.
In a truly chilling performance, he attempted to make 440,000 disabled people losing their benefits due to WCA changes sound like a good thing. There was no mention of supporting them and truly assessing if they really could work, just how much it would save the taxpayer. This man is truly a monster.
Sunak: none of this is serious but it forces Starmer to be viler
This isn’t a new tactic, and it means they’ve been able to blur the line between Universal Credit and PIP by focusing on how much us workshy shirkers are stealing from the poor hardworking taxpayer.
It’s betting on the ignorance of non-disabled people to not know that PIP isn’t an unemployment benefit and that many disabled people claim it because our lives are so much more expensive. It’s also ignoring the fact you can be employed and claim Universal Credit, because even those who work can’t afford to live in a country that the Tories have destroyed.
This means that the majority of disabled people, who you claim are tax dodgers, are in fact tax payers. But that doesn’t help their narrative.
As I’ve said before, none of these are serious plans – they’re using disabled people as bait to appeal to the vilest in humanity, those who think we truly are all scroungers. This time there’s also the clear use of us as a political football.
At every turn voters are reminded by the Tories that Labour doesn’t have a plan, almost daring Starmer to be even viler. Which is why we need to vote them out and then hold the next lot to account.
On that note the deadline to apply for a postal vote is coming up this week, please make sure you sign up if you think you might need one.
Featured image via the Canary
