There Is Nothing Left-Wing About Expecting Everyone Else to Pay for People Who Simply Don't Want to Work ; Work and Pensions Minister James Purnell Sends a Tough Message On Benefits - Which Will Enrage Many in His Party

Mail on Sunday › July 20, 2008

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Summary

THE welfare state is a vital part of the fabric of our country. It's something in which we should take pride, a way in which we come together as a nation to support those who are vulnerable and in need of help. But our welfare system has not always kept pace with the changes in our society. Even worse, it has at times lost touch with the vision of its founding fathers more than 60 years ago.

William Beveridge - and the Attlee Government that put his vision into practice - never saw the welfare state as replacing individual responsibility or ambition. For the few who needed permanent support, they believed, of course, it should be provided by society. But for the vast majority, they saw such help as purely temporary.

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There Is Nothing Left-Wing About Expecting Everyone Else to Pay for People Who Simply Don't Want to Work ; Work and Pensions Minister James Purnell Sends a Tough Message On Benefits - Which Will Enrage Many in His Party

They simply would not understand a welfare system that in the Eighties wrote off millions of people. With unemployment soaring and jobs scarce, hundreds of thousands of people were transferred to incapacity benefits without any expectation that they would...

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