Letter: Wilful ignorance

Sir: The Government intends to deprive people in breach of community service orders of social security benefits. This proposal will provoke strong emotions, but those emotions, on both sides, will be based on ignorance. There is an almost total dearth of research on the effects of dis-entitling people to subsistence benefits.

Liberal Democrats have been pressing successive governments to fill this gap in our knowledge. They have shown a lamentable lack of curiosity: they do not want to know. We will support no measures for dis-entitlement for subsistence benefits until research is available which allows us to assess their likely effects. When it is available we will judge according to the evidence.

Earl RUSSELL

Liberal Democrat Social Security Spokesman

House of Lords

Professor STEVE WEBB MP

Liberal Democrat Social Security Spokesman

House of Commons