It’s a myth those on benefits are all scroungers (From Knutsford Guardian)

It’s a myth those on benefits are all scroungers

12:30pm Tuesday 10th July 2012 in Letters

DAVID Cameron floated a number of ideas for changes to the benefits system this week.

As usual, the Prime Minister’s ideas are based on the myth that people on benefits are all idlers and scroungers.

Isn’t it time we changed the debate, moved away from the Daily Mail line about ‘something for nothing’ and back to the principles that lie behind social security? Welfare is not something for nothing. We pay through tax and NI, except the top one per cent who find ways of avoiding their share.

Housing benefit goes to landlords, who get away with extortionate rents because of the general housing shortage and the lack of rent controls.

Most households receiving housing benefit include someone who is working, but the lack of a living wage means they don’t earn enough to live on. If benefits are not to pay more than work then we need to improve the pay of the poorest, not cut benefits.

Cutting benefits doesn’t get people back into work. Why do bankers need huge bonuses to encourage them to work while the poor need benefits reduced to get them into jobs? There are no jobs because demand is so low. Companies don’t hire people for the sake of it, only when demand for their products increases.

Tory cuts are reducing demand further, creating unemployment and increasing the cost of benefits.

We need action to stimulate demand. Build more houses, more schools and more roads. Stop cutting the public sector. Keynes was right.

STEVE RANGER Balmoral Drive, Holmes Chapel