www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/105917...against-slavery.html
Iain Duncan Smith: welfare reform is like struggle against slavery
The Work and Pensions Secretary likens "historic mission" of welfare reform to Wilberforce's campaign against the slave trade
Iain Duncan Smith has compared his welfare reforms to the struggle to end slavery.
Changes to the benefits system are part of a "historic mission" to help people “break free” like William Wilberforce’s campaign to end the slave trade, the Work and Pensions Secretary said.
Mr Duncan Smith said people should stop “disapproving” of people on benefits, whom he terms “our fellow citizens”, and instead blame politicians for creating a failing welfare system that traps people on benefits.
The current benefits system encourages people to turn to crime and the cash-in-hand economy because they are penalised for earning money legitimately, he said.
But he indicated the Government is preparing a crackdown on in-work tax credits, which cost £170bn between 2003 and 2010, saying some families spend the extra money on drink and drugs while their children go unfed.
Britain can only be "great again" if welfare is reformed so that people move into work and take part in the recovery. It will "rekindle pride in communities" as people see their neighbours "thrive", he added.
Mr Duncan Smith said his reforms were part of the Tories' “historic mission” in the tradition of William Wilberforce, who helped bring about the end of the slave trade, and Lord Shaftesbury, who brought in Victorian factory laws to protect women and children.
“Reform, often overused, is in reality about transformation and life change, improving people’s lives through the choices they make: a journey from dependence to independence.
“As Conservatives, that is part of our Party’s historic mission. Just look at Wilberforce and Shaftesbury: to put hope back where it has gone, to give people from chaotic lives security through hard work, helping families improve the quality of their own lives.”
He went on: “Shaftesbury and Wilberforce were people who faced a massive problem, a social problem, and saw only the need to change it, and embarked on that change against the vested interests and accepted wisdom of their age, and the results you can see were massive and transformational.”
