Yesterday we looked at Jeremy Corbyn’s job-destroying economic views. Today, in our third piece in this series, we explore his opinions on work and welfare.
- He opposes the benefits cap. Despite the overwhelming popular support for the principle and the policy – including among Labour voters – he has repeatedly condemned the cap, calling it “social cleansing”. Yesterday at the TUC he committed again to scrap it – though his own Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary seems less than keen on the idea. In fact, he has opposed every single welfare reform since 2010.
- He opposes measures to get the unemployed back into work. Steps such as requiring the unemployed to gain experience through voluntary work or insisting that those who are unemployed due to addiction accept help were condemned by Corbyn as “punishing the poor”. Notably, when he first attacked such policies they were being proposed by the Labour Party.
- He thinks Government should decide which jobs are “socially productive”. As mentioned in our piece on defence, he thinks Trident engineers don’t count.
- He wants to squeeze more tax out of small businesses, the engine of job creation. Collectively, small businesses create the majority of new jobs in the British economy – in 2012/13 they created a remarkable 68 per cent of new jobs. And yet according to the Corbynite economic manifesto, these companies should be targeted for more tax revenue as they are guilty of tax avoidance. The outcome would inevitably be fewer jobs.