IDS compared to Norman Tebbit after “get on a bus” jibe

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

After Iain Duncan Smith told the unemployed to “get on a bus” and look for work, it hasn’t taken long for the comparison to be made between IDS and Thatcher era minister Norman Tebbit, who famously told the unemployed to get on their bikes. Speaking this afternoon, shadow work and pensions minister Douglas Alexander said:

“Iain Duncan Smith still doesn’t seem to understand that to move people from welfare into work requires there to be work available.”

“The Conservatives are cutting jobs, cutting help for childcare, cutting working tax credit that makes work pay and even cutting support for buses.”

“Like Norman Tebbit before him, Iain Duncan Smith seems sadly to have retreated into the Conservative comfort zone of blame and disdain.”