Tory Wet Wipe Mel Stride has been talking shite about Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits again, though this time it’s in his role as the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in Badenoch’s rapidly failing Conservative ‘ShadCab’. These past few days, it’s been the Tory Party Conference, but you wouldn’t know it from the sheer lack of fucks anyone has given to it [add in links to pieces about conference when they’re up].
However, this didn’t deter the last gimp at the Tory Party, Mel Stride, from giving his speech yesterday.
Amongst other things, he waffled on about how great it was to visit Silicon Valley recently with the glassy-eyed nostalgia of someone who is living with the fact he unfortunately kept a hold of his seat in the last election and didn’t get to swan off to some cushy, useless job with a big title. He also kept talking about Business with a capital B in the style of Sam the Eagle from the Muppets.
Stride takes aim at Reform, but not for why you think
Stride took aim at the Reform manifesto, but not for the reasons you’d think, of course. No, Stride is mad about the one good thing Reform is planning – to scrap the DWP two-child benefit cap. He also said hilariously:
Reform want to get back to the days of nationalisation and state control. They are marching to the left.
However, he does also have a stark warning about Reform, which I hate myself for agreeing with, minus Farage in a sequin dress:
When it comes to Reform be assured of this, that when the glitter, the shimmy of the sequined dress, the razzamatazz, the spinning plates, the fireworks have faded you will be left with emptiness. The dull bell alone. The hollowed-out promises that never were.
But onto what we know Stride loves most: killing disabled people. But he doesn’t just want to endanger the lives of British disabled people. No, ole Wet Wipe is an equal opportunities murderer.
Speaking to the BBC before his speech, he said:
But the point that I think is important is that UK citizenship should mean something. And I think when it comes to the benefits system, I think most in the country feel that it’s right and proper that it is there for UK citizens.
British DWP benefits for the British
It’s clear who he’s speaking to here: Stride is appealing to the racists who think immigrants come here to steal all our DWP benefits. This, of course, is massively untrue as asylum seekers can’t even claim benefits. But he knows that the same people who think they’re living it up in luxury hotels don’t know that.
However, what he actually wants to do is cut benefits for anyone who isn’t a UK citizen. Meaning anyone who has made a life here and contributes to our economy, but can’t work enough hours to pay their rent or bills, will be left to starve. Anyone who finds themselves too ill to work or unable to take safe work because of their disability, Stride doesn’t give a fuck.
But he wants British disabled people dead, too
But of course, this is Stride who wanted to bring in vouchers instead of DWP benefits for disabled people, so that doesn’t mean he actually gives a shit about British disabled people either. Oh no, he’s singing from the Labour hymn sheet (or maybe it’s the other way round, who can tell at this point) of spreading lies about people with mental health problems by targeting those with “lower-level mental health issues”, whatever the fuck they are.
He said that his plan to “target those most in need” included:
Stopping claims for people with less severe mental health problems where what is needed is treatment and support, not simply cash. Because we know that the stability, pride and social interaction of work actually improves these conditions.
Helen Whately is back, talking shit about ADHD and the DWP
Seems to me that he isn’t using the same definition of target as he thinks he is. And he’s of course not the only one sticking the knife in, Shadow DWP secretary Helen Whately said in her speech at the conference:
Millions have got themselves a sick note from the GP and signed on to sickness benefits with just a form and a phone call. Millions are getting benefits for anxiety and ADHD, along with a free motability car.
But it’s not “just a form”, is it? It’s a form which asks for highly personal medical information and then many in-person meetings with people with no medical training, all the while being treated like you’re vermin by the state, politicians and media. And of course she had to repeat her old lie about ADHD influencers convincing everyone they’ve got ADHD so they can steal all the cars. She of course, continued:
TikTok videos tell you how – and some people even pay for VIP services to boost their chances of a successful benefits claim.
These VIP services she’s talking about are also known as benefit support, people who will help you go through your claim and ensure you get the support you need in a system which is stacked against disabled people and designed to trip us up.
Tories want poor people to blame each other, business as usual
Stride had the absolute audacity to also say in his speech:
It is the purest belief of our party, that looking after the most vulnerable is the hallmark of a civilised society.
Which makes me feel very sad for him, cos I genuinely think he believes that. However, in a world where you’re the people all fighting to get to move the goalposts, you also get to decide who is the “most vulnerable” and anyone else gets left to die as usual.
To try and use immigrants claiming DWP benefits as a reason why British disabled people aren’t being supported, whilst you want to cut the support for us too is a typical tactic, because if we’re blaming those lower down the ladder, we’re not looking up at who’s really making life worse for us all.
Featured image via the Canary
