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Freudian Slip

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Lord Freud’s in hot water today.

Lord Freud is the UK’s Welfare Minister who is in charge of dealing with issues such as Welfare Payments. Our equivalent of the American Dole.

“There is a small… there is a group, and I know exactly who you mean, where actually as you say they’re not worth the full wage, and actually I’m going to go and think about that particular issue, whether there is something we can do nationally, and without distorting the whole thing, which actually if someone wants to work for £2 an hour, and it’s working can we actually”

He was responding to a comment from Conservative councillor David Scott, who talked about “mentally damaged individuals, who to be quite frank aren’t worth the minimum wage, but want to work”.

Mr Scott referred to a “young man who was keen to do gardening”, but the only way he was able to work was to set up a company for him and make him a director so he was not covered by minimum wage legislation.

He said that “actually being employed in a job actually gives them so much self-esteem, but nobody is willing to pay that minimum wage”. But don’t worry! There are libertarians and free market fans who defended his statement such as Sam Bowman from the Adam Smith Institute.

Lord Freud has been shamefully mistreated by Ed Miliband. His point was that the market value of some people’s wages is below the minimum wage. This is often true of the severely disabled and can have appalling consequences for their self-esteem and quality of life. Fixing this problem was the justification for Remploy, a government-funded firm that gave jobs to disabled people who could not find work elsewhere.

To point out that someone’s market value is less than minimum wage has nothing to do with their moral value as human beings. Freud’s point was that we should help people in this situation by allowing them to find jobs paying below the minimum wage and topping up their pay directly to make up the difference.

Even if you don’t agree with this method, it is motivated by compassion for the disabled and an understanding of the unpleasant side-effects of our minimum wage laws. Freud’s only crime was to speak bluntly: it is disgraceful to use his words against him in the way Miliband has.

I can see the advantage of this system. However? It becomes a simple statement that the work done by a disabled person even of equal quality to an able bodied person is not the same. The reason disabled are not hired is often because we don’t know the capacity to work. Or we cannot see past their disabilities.

It however is still a very callous thing to say with regards to the disabled.


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