NL continues its miserable progress to oblivion

I really truly want to use a few choice words such as bastard scumbags in describing the fact that the Commons have overturned the Lords amendment on the Welfare Reform Bill regarding financial sanctions for lone parents with kids under 5:

Amendment 2 – Nothing in this section shall cause any financial sanction to be imposed in the case of a single parent with a child under five years of age.

John Grogan MP argued this: 

There are safeguards, but at the end of the day, it might be that in a few months’ time, possibly in a little room in a jobcentre in South Dorset or in Pontefract and Castleford, a vulnerable single parent will sit at one end of the table and an official will sit at the other, and the former will have to justify their actions, justify why they are not taking up the appropriate child care so that they can do work-related activity or justify their personal circumstances.

And

This proposal is mean-spirited. It is cold, austere and technocratic, and it is unworthy of the Secretary of State and the Minister. I ask the Minister, even at this stage and in the spirit of Christmas, which is soon to be upon us, to drop his opposition to amendment 2.

And the Commons voted against amendment 2, 286 to 236. And you can see the scroll of shame here.

And congratulations to Jon Cruddas for finally doing the right thing (well, there’s a first time for everything….!) and voting for the amendment.

What to me is a touch of irony is that this specific Lords amendment came from Lord David Freud.

NB: I know the Torygraph spews bile on a regular basis but this is bloody awful!

Excellent post from Paul over at TCF regarding justice and social class.