DWP boss Amber Rudd makes yet another failed attempt to celebrate her department on Twitter

Amber Rudd and the DWP logo
Support us and go ad-free

On 19 March, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Amber Rudd took to Twitter to celebrate her department’s record. Given her own record for getting thoroughly rinsed on Twitter, you might have thought Rudd had learned her lesson. But it appears she hasn’t.

Rudd tweeted:

Where to start?

There were so many problems with Rudd’s tweet that it’s hard to know where to start. From record levels of homelessness, to reliance on foodbanks and the devastation caused by Universal Credit, the list of damage done by this Conservative government is long:

Massaging the statistics

The Office for National Statistics sets out how work is defined for the purposes of employment figures:

The number of people in employment in the UK is measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and consists of people aged 16 years and over who did one hour or more of paid work per week and those who had a job that they were temporarily away from (for example, because they were on holiday or off sick).

It was therefore perhaps unsurprising that people pointed out the flaw with Rudd’s celebration of these statistics:

Other people thought there might be another reason why employment rates have gone up:

Blaming Labour – change the record!

Rudd’s “chilling reminder” about Labour also fell on deaf ears. As social media users highlighted, Labour wasn’t to blame for the state of the economy:

In fact, it was bankers that caused the financial 2008 crash, not the Labour government.

Enough is enough

One tweet managed to sum up succinctly all the problems with Rudd’s assertions:

And others found a simple visual representation the best way to express their feelings:

Conservative-led governments since 2010 have caused immense damage and the DWP has caused enormous suffering. But people won’t forget. And when a general election is eventually called, let’s hope Rudd loses her small majority and is kicked out of parliament for good.

Featured image via YouTube – BBC Newsnight / Wikimedia – UK government

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us