The government is being urged to halt the roll out of Universal Credit (HERE), by one of its former advisers. Universal credit was intended to merge six existing welfare benefits into one but has been hit by a series of delays and problems as it was introduced in small pilot schemes. There is no connection between Universal credit and Brexit but one can't help reflect that it was the brainchild of Ian Duncan Smith when he was Work and Pensions Secretary.
IDS resigned as a minister in March 2016 over curbs in disability benefits and has been a backbencher since, agitating for Brexit as he has done for thirty years or more. In his latest outburst (HERE) he calls for the PM to write the "last day of March 2019" as the exit day on the face of the withdrawal bill and "insist that the EU thrashes out our future trade arrangements with us" by the same time. Brexit is something that David Davis and others have described as the most complex negotiations ever conducted by the British government and it has been likened to the moon landings or the second world war. It is massively more complex than merging six benefits together but how did IDS manage this before he resigned?
Universal Credit was first announced in 2011 with high hopes and by April 2014 a million people were supposed to be claiming it (HERE). It was all due to be up and running this year at a cost of £2 billion. In fact it has cost about £12 billion so far (HERE). And just 530,000 people in a few trial areas are actually claiming it. So, think about this. Duncan-Smith's brainchild is more than three years late and six times over budget. It is, one would have thought, relatively straightforward, dealing with known things under which the government has total control. And it is a disaster.
Now liken this to Brexit. A process never before attempted with massive consequences for the nation but dealing with a huge range of problems including both the known and the unknown, the easy as well as the insoluble and the intractable. The government has very little control since the EU is the larger and more powerful partner. Trade negotiations take years. The recent one with Canada took seven years and has only just come into force. We want something far deeper and special than this but IDS wants the trade deal and the withdrawal agreement all done in double quick time. Oh and for good measure we are also required to upend forty years of EU law and transpose it into British law at the same time.
The Article 50 process is a ticking time bomb. You are offered the combination of the timer so you can delay the triggering of it - but you reject it. IDS is utterly incapable of rational thinking.
