Cheap Shots
Here's an intelligent, thoughtful opinion piece from The Times in which a father takes issue with Ed Miliband's attempt to 'monster' a Government Minister, Lord Freud (a former Labour adviser), as a cruel and heartless enemy of the disabled.
Now I don't know Lord Freud and I'm not a supporter of the parties which form the Coalition Government at Westminster, but what I do know is that these calculated, venomous attacks damage politics in general, not just individual politicians.
In much the same way as when The Mail newspaper launched a vile campaign of abuse on Ed Miliband's dad, Ralph.
So you'd Ed would know better.
Ed’s cheap shot won’t help people like my daughter
No one wants a worker who takes eight hours to do a two-hour job
By Ross Clark - The Times
When my daughter leaves school in two years’ time I will be delighted if Ed Miliband offers her a job. She could clear the plates from his table or wash up his breakfast things if he could spare half an hour to stand alongside her and help scrub the remnants of bacon sandwich she had missed. But if he could observe her briefly while not in prime minister’s questions mode I am sure he would agree that there are few if any jobs she could do of sufficient commercial value to justify being paid the minimum wage.
All of which makes me angry at the Labour leader’s cheap shot at Lord Freud, trying to paint him as a heartless Tory ready to kick away the crutches of the disabled. It is clear from the transcript of the offending meeting at the Conservative party conference that the welfare reform minister and a Tunbridge Wells councillor were having a serious discussion about work opportunities for a group of people — those with severe mental health problems — who could not otherwise find employment. The councillor made the point that the minimum wage was unhelpful as it did not allow for the extra time and assistance that such employees need.
No one, other than as an act of charity, is going to employ someone who takes eight hours to complete a task that most workers on the minimum wage could do in two.
The issues are similar for people who, like my daughter, have learning disabilities. Only 6.4 per cent of such people have paid employment. Fortunately there are work opportunities for the others, but they exist only because the social enterprises that create them are allowed to operate outside the minimum wage.
At half term my daughter will be on a work placement at a farm. Her rate will be £41 per day — that is not what the farm will pay her, it is what she will pay the farm, out of her “personal budget” provided by the county council. It is to pay for the carers required to help her to work.
This is a perfectly legitimate debate: could the government broaden work opportunities for the learning-disabled by introducing exemptions from the minimum wage, or should employers always pay the minimum wage but receive tax relief if they take on the learning-disabled? It is not a debate we can have, however, so long as Ed Miliband is out to score easy political points by quoting people out of context.
