Why Hain must go
Fraser Nelson 5:11pm
Of all the reasons why Peter Hain should go, here’s my top one. Right now a quarter of British families are caught up in Labour’s hideously complicated means-tested benefits – tax credits, etc. If they “forget” to declare income, it’s called benefit fraud – an offence for which Hain’s department successfully prosecuted 28,800 people in 2006-07. Yet now that Hain himself has forgotten to declare income he has a get-out clause: declare late, and you are automatically off the hook. Not so for those being hounded for over-payment of tax credits.
Everyone has seen the DWP posters “no ifs, no buts” – which Guido brilliantly adapts for Labour special advisers now and again (and, indeed, a version adorns my News of the World column today). Hain claims he was stumped by a four-page, large-type Electoral Commission form. Has he any idea about the 25-page forms he makes low-wage British workers fill in to reclaim a fraction of their money back? For as long as the DWP is prosecuting a zero-tolerance approach to income declaration, it cannot be led by a man who “forgot” about his legal obligation to declare £103,000. For as long as Brown keeps him, he will represent grotesque double-standards at the heart of his government. And families forced into the bureaucratic nightmare of tax credits (ie, the people who decide British elections) will resent it the most.
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Comments
Adrian Drummond
January 13th, 2008 5:41pmExcellent analysis.
David
January 13th, 2008 5:51pmHain won't go. The BBC are already spinning the line that the Tories have the same problem, helping to take the heat off of him.
An Accountant
January 13th, 2008 6:02pmWhen whoever the flunky was who came on the Today proramme and declared that oversight = innocence Plato would have had to turn in his grave and hand the plaudit to Thrasymachus: Shight is Right.
Adrian Drummond
January 13th, 2008 6:53pmDavid said:- "Hain won't go. The BBC are already spinning the line that the Tories have the same problem, helping to take the heat off of him". I quite agree. Personally, I feel the BBC has a great deal to answer for. I understand the daughter of a Labour Minister was A. Marr's one time Producer (but she was'nt the first - or last). I think the BBC's days are numbered. Once the Conservatives are back in power changes will - and reasonably enough - should be made.
Max Kaye
January 13th, 2008 6:56pmHain's perma-tan is awfully bright in the above photograph. Or is it just his saintly halo?
TGF UKIP
January 13th, 2008 8:08pmA brilliantly made point, Fraser. Cameron didn't use it this morning on Marr, be interesting to see if he goes with it, including stage props, on Wednesday. Adrian Drummond, don't hold your breath - this Tory Leadership is far too much of the same liberal establishment as the BBC to dream of touching either the institution or the iniquitous licence fee.
adrian drummond
January 13th, 2008 9:12pmPerhaps you are correct, TFG UKIP. However, I've optimistically hoped/assumed that there was a degree of sheep's clothing about the Tory Party. They know that if they explicitly say what most people in the country want to hear and indeed, should be hearing, the BBC's media machine will turn on them. Cameron's more media savvy and is - I assume - adopting a softly softly approach. Maybe wishful thinking on my part. If not, god help us.
Fergus Pickering
January 14th, 2008 5:57amYou're all right about the Beeb but it's one of our sacred cows, like the NHS, and you can't get rid of it by a frontal assault. However, there are more ways of skinning a cat... If you break up the money the Beeb gets and make it available to other people. It isn't the Left Wing bias I mind, it's the toadying. Channel 4 news is left wing but it knows what news is.