DWP Bank Account Intrusion: The Heavy Hand of Big Brother Falls Hardest on Those Already Reeling
Channel: Labour Heartlands
Date: 2023-12-11

#DWP Bank Account Intrusion..

Big Brother Tightens Grip: Benefits Claimants Targeted…  Including old-age pension claimants... 

While The Rich Continue to Hide Their Wealth in Offshore Accounts in This New Age of Haves and have-nots…

The UK government’s newly unveiled bank account monitoring scheme targeting benefit claimants provides yet another example of how policies and systems disproportionately burden vulnerable populations.
This dystopian intrusion into personal finances deals another blow to struggling groups already reeling amid a prolonged cost-of-living crisis, not of their making.
While the stated aim of detecting fraud may hold superficial appeal, the scope reveals a distorted set of priorities that sacrifice privacy upon the altar of public penny-pinching – while turning a blind eye toward far more egregious financial crimes. Functionally, it serves to treat all who rely upon benefit support even old age pension as latent criminals undeserving of basic dignity or trust.
Considering that people claiming out-of-work benefits sits at 5.4m, the DWP identified just 11,000 cases of benefit fraud annually – around 0.2% of claimants. Yet rather than strengthen transparency and accountability among elite circles of inherited wealth and statuses shielding billions overseas, the government marshals more resources to scrutinise how the unemployed, disabled or retired spend their paltry allowance.
This is yet another instance of a data-driven assault in what can only be labelled “class war”. People relentlessly prosecuted by an establishment ever more equipped to disempower those with the least while coddling corrupt concentrations of economic power.
Jenny Jones nailed it in a speech in the House of Lords:
‘𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬… 𝐈𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫”  
‘𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬”  
‘𝐈𝐟 𝐌𝐏𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭? 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐌𝐏𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬? 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐢𝐭? 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞.’
Sir Stephen Timms, Labour MP and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury stated: “This measure will give the Government the right to inspect the bank account of anyone who claims a State Pension. So all of us actually, every single one of us, this measure will give the Government the right to look into our bank account at some point during our lives without suspecting that we have ever done anything wrong, without telling us that they are doing it.”
But let us harbour no illusions – we should expect no meaningful pushback from Sir Keir Starmer or his cadre of lawyers masquerading as an opposition party. This is precisely the sort of authoritarian overreach Starmer’s Rule of Lawyers faction will not only embrace, but expand should they seize the reins of power.
Just as Tory governments erode civil liberties and entrench inequality, so too would Starmer’s New Labour double down on the worst excesses of the surveillance state, ever at the beck and call of corporate power.
With a lack of opposition, the burden now falls to individual MPs: will they reject the stigmatising overreach, or tacitly bless the rough Beast slouching nearer?
Read more
https://labourheartlands.com/dwp-bank-account-intrusion.../
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