Meriden’s prospective Labour parliamentary candidate Tom McNeil has hit out at plans announced this week by the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to freeze benefits for working age people if the Tories win next year’s general election.
He said:
“This latest Tory policy is a disgraceful and insulting initiative. Hundreds are desperately searching for work and there are not enough jobs to match. They often have no choice whatsoever but to rely on benefits for a time and they are now being pushed further into poverty. The vast majority of people don't need more motivation to work harder. If that is what Cameron and Osborne think, perhaps they should take a pay cut to make them work a little harder - that way they might actually see the reality of how tough life is for the many."
And Mr McNeil threw down a challenge to Meriden’s Conservative MP, Caroline Spelman, saying:
“There are around 750 people in Meriden who are long term unemployed. Is Caroline Spelman saying that she does not believe they are looking for work? If not, is she instead saying that it is right that people earning over £150,000 a year are given a tax cut while those desperately searching for work are made poorer?
Worse still, the Tories are cutting the benefits of thousands who are already in work. This is an economy which rewards big corporations and the wealthy while the poorer are squeezed further and further."
