THE RULES

Two events from last week. On Thursday MP’s debated benefit sanctions, on the same day the Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, was forced to offer an ‘apology’ to the chamber of the House of Commons for making expenses claims of extremely large amounts of money to which she was not entitled. I use inverted commas here since if a formula along the lines off “well I’m told I’ve got to say sorry, so here it is, sorry.” If she had given the finger in the metaphorical direction of the electorate she could not have made her real feelings clearer. Her ‘unreserved apology’ lasted 30 seconds.
The debate on benefit sanctions can be seen in full here: - http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/house-of-commons-26867924

The contrast between the treatment of Ms Miller, for offences that in any other walk of life would surely involve having her collar felt, and the stories narrated by MP’s of people having their benefits stopped for the most trivial of reasons could not be starker.  You can hear these stories for yourself above, however here is one of my own. Last summer I met a young woman who had just managed to obtain a place on a catering course. The course started on a Monday, this however clashed with her weekly attendance at Jobcentre Plus, [JP] with her ‘employment advisor.’ She spoke to her advisor and her advisor agreed to see her first thing, to allow her to then travel to Brixton to start the course. Later in the week she received a call from the advisor saying that this changed arrangement was no longer possible, she would have to come in to JP at the normal time. When the young woman protested that this would prevent her attending the course her advisor had drily replied, “Well you’ll just have to decide what is more important to you!” Failure to attend an agreed interview with an employment advisor would lead to her benefits being stopped. I did not see her again so do not know how the matter was resolved.
The Prime Minister defended Ms Miller saying that “she made a mistake.”
 
The actual amount Ms Miller made from her 'abuse' was
considerably more than than this. 
The rules are clear, only a foreigner could fail to grasp them:-
The poor cheat and steal.
The middle classes avoid and fiddle.
Conservative politicians make mistakes.

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