...or maybe not. Just to prove that I am not all mean and blinkered 'right-wing' ideologue I would like to say well done to ex Treasury Minister Liam Byrne who has made an honest assessment in decrying the UK's bloated welfare state; Byrne has been honest before you may recall ("There's No Money Left").
"For [Beveridge], 'idleness' was an evil every bit as insidious as disease or squalor."... "He would have wanted reform that was tough-minded, and asked everyone to work hard to find a job."..."He never foresaw unearned support as desirable."... "Unemployment benefit after a certain period should be conditional upon attendance at a work or training centre"... "something for something".
Referring to the Beveridge Report, 70 years on: the gist of the report was to counter five 'Giant Evils', these were Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. Now, almost 15 years have passed since Frank Field, the former Labour welfare reform minister was asked by Tony Blair to "think the unthinkable"...he did and was then side-lined and discarded; Liam, is this a rerun?
I would like to remind people that the committee for the Beveridge report was a cross party effort from the then wartime Coalition government. Also, other things that seem to be forgotten 'in the mists of time': "While the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party quickly adopted Beveridge's proposals, the Labour Party was slow to follow. Labour leaders opposed Beveridge's idea of a National Health Service run through local health centres and regional hospital administrations, preferring a state-run body. [ref:Beveridge, Power and Influence.]
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