Globalisation:Centre for Social Justice: Iain Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith,56, Founder

Biography

Iain Duncan Smith, born in Edinburgh 9th April 1954, held the position of Conservative party leader from September 2001 and October 2003 until he was forced to step down due to a vote of no confidence. During his leadership he supported the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. After losing his leadership he co founded the Globalisation: Centre for Social Justice in 2004 as he wanted to continue to promote social justice through his passion, conservatism. He was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in May 2010 under David Cameron. He is the son of soldier in the Battle of Britian and served in the Scots guard for 6 years previous to joining parliament. He married his wife Betsy in 1982, and they have four children together - two girls and two boys.

Press Releases

Iain Duncan Smith (the man aiming to eradicate poverty) in October 2010 was found saying that the ‘unemployed should ‘’get on a bus’’ to find work’. He claimed that Merthyr Tydfil was a prime example of this even though a recent study has discovered that there is almost nine people looking for work to one job in that particular area. He told the jobseekers in Merthyr Tydfil that they should ‘get on a bus’ and in an hour they could go to Cardiff to find work. Iain Duncan Smith said that; “We need to recognise the jobs often don’t come to you. Sometimes you need to go to the jobs” Union leaders claim this statement is insulting to the unemployed. According to Research from the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) there were 15,000 jobseekers to 1,700 jobs in Cardiff whilst in Merthyr there were 1,670 jobseekers to 39 Jobs, none of them being fulltime. PCS also claims that the level of unemployed in Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil are more than the amount of job vacancies in the whole of Wales. The permanent jobs that are available in Cardiff for the ‘static’ people of Merthyr Tydfil are mainly in Casinos which don’t offer transportation home after shifts which end in the early hours of the morning and the last bus back is at 11.06. So people of Merthyr Tydfil could in fact get a bus to Cardiff to find work but couldn’t get home however. Due to George Osborne’s plans to cut public spending (with the co operation of Iain Duncan Smith) including cutting 15,000 jobs from the department for Work and Pensions there will be less jobs for people to fill – it’s not a matter of people not commuting to work or being willing.

Labour politicians and unions said Iain Duncan Smiths comment echoed 1980s Tory minister Lord Tebbit's "get on your bike" comments. The Public and Commercial Services Union said his remarks amounted to a "disgusting insult" to the unemployed.

Iain Duncan Smith encourages Osborne to reduce benefits as he believes it will encourage people back into work. Benefits cuts, however also effect disabled people. Disabled people are dreading their future with the cuts that are going to be put in place in an attempt to tack the national deficit. Many disabled people rely on the ‘mobility component’ of the disability living allowance of £49.50 a week, however its being scrapped for all care home residents. An example being Marcus Bradford aged 43 (who was left paralysed on his right hand side) believes it will put an end to his life outside his care home, and will only be left £18 which will barely cover his basics.

IDS has forwarded the proposal that the unemployed work in community projects serving their commmunity through gardening, clearing rubbish and such like for little money for 30 hours per week for 4 weeks in order to promote this concept of work ethic back into the workless. Those who choose not to will not be given their Jobseekers’ Allowance for three months. ‘The fact is that much worklessness results from people calculating they are better off on benefits than in low-paid jobs. It’s that calculation that IDS is trying to reverse. Using his own enforced unemployment as a junked Tory leader to turn himself into an unrivalled expert on the lives of the poor, he grasped one of the most shocking facts of all — that under the guise of ‘compassion’, the Left traps people in permanent poverty through treating them as less than human. For what drives ‘progressives’ absolutely wild is the moral concern at the heart of the IDS project — to encourage the poor to take some responsibility for themselves and for others.’

The long-term objective of the IDS strategy is not simply to reduce the nation's £190 billion welfare bill, as important as that is; nor is it simply about restoring financial stability to families afflicted by unemployment, crucial as that is, too. As Duncan Smith likes to put it, work is “bigger than the idea of earning money”. This is a plan to pull hundreds of thousands of lost men and women out of welfare dependency, multi-generational unemployment and the “soft bigotry of low expectations” (George W Bush), and give them back a sense of self.