The latest high-ranking resignation to pass through the revolving door at Westminster is Amber Rudd, the now former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
In her resignation letter, she wrote in glowing terms about the department she was leaving behind, stating: “I am proud of the work that we have done together over the last 10 months to create a more compassionate welfare system.”
I spoke to an existing benefit claimant and online commentator, who tweets under the pseudonym @FoodbankMum.
In response to Ms Rudd’s words, she said: “By what measure could she define landmarks of a more compassionate system?
“She secured no concessions on the five-week wait for Universal Credit, the abolition of waiting times for transitioning between benefits and Job Centres are closing nationally.”
Foodbank Mum, who has experience of fleeing domestic violence, added: “I believe the system has been engineered to bear down hardest upon women and single people without dependents by creating a strenuous and debilitating culture of fear.”
It also emerged this week that Ms Rudd’s replacement, Therese Coffey, has voted for a reduction in welfare spending on 52 separate occasions.
I often wonder what William Beveridge, the late great founder of universal welfare provision, would think.
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