Hunt’s ‘disgraceful insult’

Multi-millionaire health secretary Jeremy Hunt has ‘kicked millions of working people, struggling to get by in the teeth’ with controversial remarks that axing working tax credits is ‘an important cultural signal’ by Unite today (October 5).

Hunt was addressing a fringe meeting at the Tory party conference, when he implied that people who received the credits – due to be cut next April – don’t work hard enough.

“This is a disgraceful insult from the richest member of the cabinet to millions of people struggling to get by working hard for long hours in insecure employment,” said Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.

“In a country that already works some of the longest hours in the western world, these comments are simply an outrageous slur on the all too many workers juggling two and three jobs to put food on the table and a roof over their kids’ heads,” he added.

“He should get his facts straight before he decides to kick this country’s working people firmly in the teeth.

“His comments put paid once and for all the Tories’ ludicrous claims to represent hard-working families.

“Mr Hunt should withdraw his remarks immediately and apologise,” McCluskey went on to say. “There is nothing as insulting as wealthy cabinet ministers dishing out tax breaks to the super-wealthy, allowing massive assets to sit idle in bank accounts doing nothing for the common good, yet working people wait in fear for the letter telling them the government is cutting their income and ponder joining the foodbank queue.

“We are the fifth biggest economy with one of the hardest working populations; the facts are that wealth is being hoovered up by an ever smaller clique, while the percentage of wealth that workers enjoy falls ever backwards. This is the obscenity of our economy, Mr Hunt, should be addressing.”