Iain Duncan Smith Knighthood Attracts Widespread Condemnation

IAIN DUNCAN SMITHS KNIGHTHOOD - More than 150,000 people have signed a petition to prevent Iain Duncan Smith – the architect of universal credit and the “bedroom tax” – from receiving his knighthood.

The recent outpouring of emotion in a speech by Debbie Abrahams in the House of Parliament has highlighted the issue of benefit claimant deaths and today it has been revealed by the Independent newspaper that the DWP have shredded records of claimants who have died. 

Campaigners are arguing that DWP destroyed reports into people who killed themselves after benefits were stopped

 Iain Duncan Smiths inclusion into the New Year’s Honours list sparked a furious response from those who argued his reforms to the welfare system had pushed thousands into poverty and contributed to premature deaths.

A petition launched by NHS psychiatrist Dr Mona Kamal Ahmed on Friday, claims Mr Duncan Smith is “responsible for some of the cruellest, most extreme welfare reforms this country has ever seen” according to the Independent.

It referenced the United Nations inquiry into Britain’s welfare system during his stewardship of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which concluded the government was responsible for “grave and systemic violations” of the rights of disabled people.

Dr Ahmed branded his ennoblement “an insult to the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable individuals across this country who are suffering as a result of his policies and to those who have tragically lost loved ones as a direct result”.

ABC Note: The ABC is writing to Her Majesty the Queen to complain. Simon Collyer who is currently heading a campaign to have a leading journalist, author and broadcaster recognised in the New Years Honours list, said you cannot have people receiving honours who have in effect been responsible for the mass deaths of our citizens, standing next to people who are truly worthy of an award. This award must be stopped.

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