The debate over welfare reform and budget cuts has been distorted “out of all recognition” by “propaganda, misinformation and scare-mongering” from Sinn Féin, lobby groups and other political parties, according to NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Mark Brotherston.
“It’s refreshing to see some of the local media finally calling out Sinn Féin and others on their dodgy figures, misleading claims and scare stories”, Mark noted. “Many of these points around welfare reform, which are beginning to be exposed, we’ve been making for months. We’ve pointed out, that despite all the claims to the contrary, the bill for benefits will continue to rise in Northern Ireland, if welfare is reformed. We’ve pointed out that a central purpose of the legislation is to target benefits at the most vulnerable in society. We’ve also pointed out that cutting front-line public services, in order to maintain a broken welfare system, will help no-one in Northern Ireland.”
“Sinn Féin has proved beyond any doubt that it doesn’t even understand the misleading figures it has been bandying about well enough to justify them in interviews. The party’s grasp of the basic arithmetic of welfare, not to mention the contents of the proposed Welfare Reform Bill, is thoroughly shameful, given its focus on the issue and its insistence on holding the whole of Northern Ireland to ransom.”
“It’s becoming increasingly plain that trotting out a meaningless trope about ‘Tory cuts’ will not continue to fool the general public, or the media. Conservatives in Northern Ireland are rightly very proud that the party has spearheaded efforts to reform a welfare system which was failing people trapped in poverty and failing the taxpayers who were funding it. We’re rightly very proud that Iain Duncan Smith’s commitment to delivering social justice is at the heart of the reforms. It’s about time opponents of welfare reform dropped their campaign of scare-mongering and explained honestly why they want to keep the old system and how they would pay for it.”