Green Party work and pensions spokesperson Jonathan Bartley has hit out at the government over its suggestion that benefits could be removed from sick and disabled people as a means of encouraging them into work.
He attacked the talk of expanding the sanctions regime just days after it was revealed the Department for Work and Pensions used fictional stories to claim sanctions had positive effects, and called for more promotion of the Access to Work scheme.
Bartley said:
“Having been caught red-handed making up fictional stories it is clear that even the government knows its sanctions regime is a failure. That it wants to expand a policy built on a foundation of falsehoods and lies, pernicious in the extreme and in some cases proving fatal, speaks volumes.
“At a time when unemployment is increasing, removing more vital support from the sick and disabled will not empower those who want work to find it. It will instead create more barriers and greater hardship. This relentless attack on those who should be getting the most support must end.
“The Green Party wants to see the Access to Work scheme promoted among smaller firms and under-served disabled people, to encourage more employers to offer opportunities to those sick and disabled people who do want to work.”