The Govt have not thought through any of their so called reforms on welfare - the idea in principle of a Universal Credit may sound like the perfect solution but when in life is anything issued by Whitehall actually 'perfect'? The draconian system of a medical assessment that is run along the lines of 'one size fits all' means that the ESA/Incapacity system continues to limp along on the basis that the so-called Health Care professionals that conduct these assessments actually reach somewhere near accurate conclusions to their assessments. In reality you could have a qualified chiropodist assessing an individual with paranoid schizophrenia and guess what! They get zero points......and we wonder why the system breaks down......!! The concept of welfare to work has been around for decades - the Community programme in the '80's was a fairly reasonable provision that actually delivered what it said. Why can't the unemployed on JSA be informed that as of next week, for example, they will have to contribute a minimum of ten hours work per week in order to continue receiving their benefits.....we do have to break the cycle between expectation and right within the welfare state but equally there has to be effective education/training and a strong framework put in place to support all these proposed changes and right now I cannot see what is going to be the future of the UK. The application of a sledgehammer to crack a nut is tragic......we need to learn from the mistakes of others and not continue making ever bigger ones. The Govt needs to draw on the vast expertise of the welfare rights groups that have contributed in great detail to their recent 'consultation' exercises but do we have the confidence that they are actually listening?? It seems regrettably rather like a one-horse show.....but perhaps that was the intention all along? All that this happening is that people are getting scared....and the ones who are scamming the system anyway actually aren't bothered.....they simply do not care and they will soon find another way to work around whatever new system is put in place.

The sooner our party is ridden of tories like Purnell the better.

Funny how both Parties are converging on the same idea of 'universal credit'. In fact IDS pinched Labours ideas. In fact this Coalition Govt could be described as an continuation of the Blair Brown Govt, only te personnel as been changed. Brings a warm glow to ones heart, doesn't it?

Mrs Nobody. The Labour party stopped representing the working class, when they stopped listening to them.

Do you wonder we make so little progress on welfare reform? As this article makes clear Westminster Parties routinely exclude the views of people who are unemployed. Much of the media is just as bad.

Until our views are given a fair hearing we are not going to get far. Many of us do have practical ideas on how to tackle unemployment. Given access to the mainstream we could do more but MPs and journalists are obsessed with belittling us.

Can we have a more rational and inclusive debate?

Purnell's flouncing out hardly contributed to a good Labour performance in the General Election.

After the fuss about the abolition of the 10p tax rate, it's hardly surprising that there were concerns "that there would be losers" as IDS may discover when his reforms are implemented.

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I echo all those who have already said that Purnell sums up all that was/is wrong with new labour....

Why didn't the nulabourites just join the Tories in the first place instead of leaving the LP compromised in the face of a government which seems determined to return us to the welfare system of the 1930's.

Reading the comments it still appears many inside the Labour party don't understand where we went wrong.
It's the world of work that lifts people out of poverty and benefits that keep them in poverty. As i have said in previous comments, you can't do for others what others should do for themselves. Mr Purnell fully understands the connection between poverty and long term state dependency.

Purnell, get back under your stone.

We also had bus conductors as well as the driver and regular inspectors on trains. The fact is aving people around in uniforms does clamp down on ASB and is a lot better than security cameras nd CCTV. We need a lot more park wardens and street wardens and community wardens as well as PCSOs patrolling our streets and neighbourhoods. A lot of these trainees unemployed could actually be usefully employed in thse roles. It would get them out of the house anyway, and perhaps lead to more regular employment, maybe in the same line of work.

purnell is a horrible victorian worm

There was a Welfare Reform Consultation under James Purnell, I and many others contributed to it. I also attended a consultation event and was pleasantly surprised how knowledgeable he was. There was representation from various groups concerned were raised about fluctuating health problems such as mental health, lone parents and autistic spectrum disorders to name a few. I think the problem is that as things filter down the line the final product gets distorted and personalised. Then there is the medical assessment which is nothing new, my father by a DHSS Dr ever 30 yrs ago and nearly killed him! The message should always include how the most vulnerable will be protected and not just in official documents but plain English. The lie that is being peddled at the moment is that people fear coming off of benefits and getting into work. The fear is what has been termed ‘cycling’ between work and benefit which makes people worse off and is a major fear for so many people given the savage cuts taking place at the moment.

The sooner this repellent, careerist spiv vanishes from public life, the better. The very sight of his ferret face and used-car salesman's sideburns makes me want to scrub out the inside of my head with Dettol.

what are we doing so wrong that we get such idiots as purnell and all the rest of them as members of parliament?

Has it occurred to commnetators that Gordon Brown might have been right and that there would have been too many loosers in the plan for a universal credit.

The Universal Credit involves merging all Tax credits and benefits into one universal credit. Crucially iy involves including Housding Benefit into the credit. Because there are different rents in different areas of the country there will inevitably be losers.

It also should be pointed out that James Purnell was the minister who brought in LHA on the understanding that tenants would 'shop around' for the best bargain. This was a mistake as it led to teh HB bill going througfh the roof.

Officials at the DWP have long thought that the Universal credit while a nice idea in theory won't work in practice. That was the advice of the treasury which Brown correctly supported

sorry but it's high time the complex and costly mess that is the benefits system, is un-picked and thoroughly scrutinised, by government of whatever political persuasion. 'The unemployed' (or as per Dr Rowan Williams, 'the poor') are not a homogeneous group. I don't believe, for example, that high earning individuals who happen to have a mental health problem, should be entitled to supplement their salary at taxpayers expense with Disability Living Allowance. And why should long term patients in medium secure units for mentally disordered offenders - many of whom have hardly done a days work in their life, have consumed vast quantities of illegal substances,have committed violent crimes, and have no outgoings - get between £60-£95 per week Incapacity Benefit?
these kinds of benefits are not what I want my taxes to be spent on

Purnell - the man with the ability to be in two places at once. As Graeme said above: Bye.