Tackling fraud is to the benefit of all
IT’S ONLY a matter of time before someone from the Left responds to the government’s benefit fraud crack-down by pointing out that tax evasion costs the tax-payer far more.
It was the standard response of some in the Labour Party under the last term of Tory government, and it completely misses the point. Benefit cheats are often known to be cheats by their neighbours and friends in their wider communities. Huge levels of resentment result because of the realisation that if you play by the rules – as most do – you’ll be worse off than those who stick two fingers up at society and claim money to which they’re not entitled.
It’s more often working class people who complain to me about this practice, and who see those individuals, rightly, not just as cheats but as drains on the rest of society, and a bad example to others who might be tempted to emulate them.
Benefit fraud is corrosive to the very communities where most benefit claimants live; it is damaging to the working class communities where Labour is strongest. That’s why we must be very careful in our response to this initiative. We cannot afford to be seen to be on the side of the fraudster, making them out to be victims in any way while the big, bad multi-millionaires get away with fiddling millions through their tax returns. Tackling one does not mean we can’t tackle both.