Barf Award - Lib Dems in Government - How low can they get?

Evidence from a whistle-blower has emerged that Job Centre Staff are being set targets to effectively trick the unemployed out of their benefits. Staff are being encouraged to find ways of imposing sanctions on job seekers for a whole variety of minor infringements - some of which are effectively set up by the system itself.

Today's Guardian reports this latest low point in the treatment of the poorest section of society. Some job seekers have lost their benefits for failing to apply for particular jobs, even though the promised application forms have not been sent to them in time. Other infringements include being late for appointments - but some of the sanctions have been placed on the uneducated and those with learning difficulties for not being able to maintain written records of job searches. The whistle-blower has suggested that the sanctions are aimed at the vulnerable rather than the feckless scroungers.

"Suddenly you're not helping somebody into sustainable employment, which is what you're employed to do," he said. "You're looking for ways to trick your customers into 'not looking for work'. You come up with many ways. I've seen dyslexic customers given written job searches, and when they don't produce them – what a surprise – they're sanctioned. The only target that anyone seems to care about is stopping people's money."

A laughable logo on a Job Centre Plus Website

Job Centre Staff are supposed to be supportive. They are there to help people - but now they are being encouraged to trick and con vulnerable people out of the meagre allowance on which they subsist. It inevitably changes the nature of the relationship - from help and advice, to distrust and suspicion.

This represents a new low in the Con-Dem Government's attack on the poor. Whatever way you cut this, it is just simply disgusting. Maybe this is what we might expect from a Conservative Government. But what must Lib Dem supporters make of it all? The Leadership's silence on such issues is deafening.

Where are you, Lib Dems? Why are you silent?

Too busy enjoying their new status to worry about the poor

Michael Portillo made an interesting point on Thursday evening. Appearing on the BBC programme 'This Week', he was asked about the likelihood of Lib Dem ministers losing interest in maintaining the coalition if the AV referendum goes against them. He explained that the life of a government minister can be quite intoxicating. He pointed to almost peripheral benefits - like using private jets to attend overseas conferences - as the trinkets that can make a minister's head swirl. His conclusion was that it was very unlikely that Lib Dem ministers would be keen to rock their very cosy boat, if it means giving up the lifestyle.

Intoxicating - Give this up to make a stand? - not on your nelly!

Does this help to explain why the Tories are able to get away with these disgusting policies? Are the Lib Dem ministers just too cosy in their nice new jobs to bother raising a fuss? Is this why we are being treated to a deafening silence on issues such as these?

Lib Dem voters, like myself, must be wondering what we have done to deserve all of this. The Tories seem to have a free hand to impose the most vile anti-poor policies. The Lib Dems promised that their tempering influence would quash the worst excesses of the Conservative Party in Government - what they referred to as 'Tory-lite'. If that is true, one has to wonder just how bad a full-fat Tory Government would have been. Even so, none of this lets the Lib Dems off the hook. They must take a full share of the blame for what is now emerging. For that reason, and because of what they once stood for, I award them a Barf Award.

To the Lib Dems... you disgust me!