Having gained notoriety for his bizarre lifestyle, Michael Philpott caused outrage after he was found to have caused the deaths of six of his children in a fire which he started deliberately. Memorably, the case was jumped on by the right-wing press as "a vile product of welfare UK". George Osborne even chipped in, saying it raised important welfare "questions".
Having gained notoriety for his bizarre polyamorous lifestyle, Michael Philpott shocked the nation after he was found to have caused the deaths of six of his children in a fire which he started deliberately.
Memorably, the case was jumped on by the right-wing press, with Philpott labelled “a vile product of welfare UK” by the Mail. The chancellor George Osborne even chipped in, saying the case raised important welfare “questions”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZEuv51YvoU
On May 4, Stephanie Bottrill, 53, killed herself. She had previously told the Sunday People that she was worried about how she would afford the £20 extra a week for the two under-occupied bedrooms in her home – money she owed because of the government’s ‘bedroom tax’.
A note addressed to her son, Steven, found at her home upon her death read: “Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the government.”
Asked to comment on this case, however, the treasury said it “does not comment on individual cases”.
The hypocrisy didn’t go unnoticed.
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/ScottishPleb/status/334057005490765824″]
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/coolisimo/status/334239158325350400″]
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12 Responses to “Stephanie Bottrill: The treasury ‘does not comment on individual cases’ (except when it can use them to demonise the welfare state)”
Daniel John
Good point, well made
OldLb
1. What did you try and do to help her move to a more suitable house?
2. Why should anyone have to exist in poverty so that someone else can have two spare bedrooms subsidised out of their labour and hard work?
You really have lost the plot. You’ve made out that people who demand spare bedrooms, paid for by others have no impact on the people paying for that luxury.
That the money to pay for it has come out of their pension contributions, NI, and that as a consequences they have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds is wrong.
[26K a year worker, if they had invested their NI, would have a fund of 627,000 pounds. State pension costs 152,000 – that’s a loss of 450,000]
Felix
Moving her would have cost the state even more. Now that’s what I call really losing the plot. You win D’OH of the Day
Daniel John
Does OldLb stand for Old Labour?
Bill d'Moor
OldLg: Stick to the Daily Gleephart where you belong.