WELFARE Minister Frank Field brought his work ethic message to Scotland yesterday, and drew a mixed reception in a debate which is set to hot up this week.
Labour's older constituency, typified by keynote speaker Lord Hattersley, will today begin to put an alternative view at a conference in Stirling organised by the National Local Government Forum Against Poverty.
Yesterday Mr Field took a platform offered by the Scottish Council Foundation in Edinburgh to argue a self-reliance message with a distinctively Scottish appeal, which might have dated back to Baroness Thatcher's hero, Samuel Smiles.
Mr Field was given a polite hearing for the launch of his UK-wide roadshow at which he will argue the benefits of the work ethic and the evil of long-term, institutionalised unemployment and benefit dependency.
For Damien Killeen of the Poverty Alliance, Mr Field's message yesterday was skewed. ''On the poverty side it was good that there was a chance to discuss ideas with the Minister,'' he said.
''But we did not get any evidence for this stuff about the work ethic argument, and few of us were satisfied that this would tackle the problem of worklessness. The evil for him seemed to be embodied in the person who has no work; for us the evil is in the system that denies that person work.''
The National Local Government Forum Against Poverty will hear from a series of speakers predominantly hostile to Mr Field's Green Paper.
Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar's Parliamentary private secretary, Anne McGuire, speaking in her home constituency, will make the Government's case and the biggest voice against her will come from Lord Hattersley, former deputy Labour leader.
The forum's leader, Newcastle Councillor George Douglas, challenged Mr Field's view for blaming benefit recipients. ''There are very few people sitting on their backsides at home and there are very few scrounging or committing fraud,'' he said.
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