The Telegraph argues unemployed people shouldn’t be able to vote

The Telegraph has argued that people not in employment shouldn’t be able to vote, including people with disabilities and those who are sick. The paper posits that the “unemployable” should not be allowed “citizen rights”. It argues that increasing welfare payments is “bribery”.

Telegraph — bit extreme?

People with disabilities certainly need to be able to vote because otherwise they have no say in a far right party getting into power. This can have tragic outcomes. The Nazis murdered at least 250,000 people with disabilities from 1939-1945.

The job fairies

It’s standard for the corporate class to go on about unemployment welfare, but it’s a denial of reality.

There aren’t enough jobs for people to become employed, so it’s unclear what the Telegraph is proposing. There are 1.8 million people not in employment in the UK. And there are 9.1 million people economically inactive (also without employment but haven’t looked for a job in three months). That’s 10.9 million people without work.

And how many job vacancies are there? 705,000. That’s over 10 million people, including those who cannot work, the Telegraph expects to become employed at jobs that don’t exist.

Anything that benefits a group could be ‘bribery’

Why are policies that benefit the less well off or people with disabilities considered ‘hand outs’ or ‘bribes’? Meanwhile, policies that benefit the super rich are considered ‘good politics’.

In the 2023/24 year, some government subsidies to corporations totaled £32 billion. And in 2024 Labour announced a further £22 billion bung to the fossil fuel sector for carbon capture projects that don’t work. These could be described as ‘bribes’ to keep corporations on side.

In the UK, 28% of people with disabilities live in poverty — 8% higher than the average. Would lifting those people who cannot work out of poverty be considered a ‘bribe’? Nope, it’s called civilisation.

Featured image via Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

By James Wright

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