HAIN'S BIG STICK

Silly me. In the recent deputy leadership contest, I voted for two of the candidates playing to the "left" gallery. Once back in Government, all of the nice-sounding rhetoric disappears and it''s business as usual.
Today, the Guardian reports that Peter Hain, the work and pensions secretary, is standing firmly behind moves to force nearly 300,000 lone parents into work, even though their children may still be of primary school age.
In what it calls a "tougher than expected " welfare green paper, Hain's Department proposes that by 2010 most lone parents will be required to seek work once their youngest child reaches seven . The government is also proposing that claimants out of work for more than 12 months will have to undertake community work or lose benefit. AND the private sector is to be brought in to help people find work. Yet again, this Govt is punishing the poor instead of hitting the rich and well-connected. The move has already been condemned by the Child Poverty Action group.