In another bid to revive his electoral fortunes, the Prime Minister announced his latest idea: an end to what he called "sick note culture".
But within hours, the idea was slammed by disability charity Scope as a "full on assault on disabled people" and was openly questioned by some of his own Conservative backbenchers.
First, let’s be clear. There are many long-term disabled for whom working may not be an option, and others who may be desperate to work but can’t find an employer or a job that will provide the right flexibility.
One worry is that the PM’s policy will target these people as he tries to draw a line in the public’s mind between the 'deserving' and 'undeserving sick'.
The fact is that we’ve become a very sick country: 2.7 million working-age adults are now too sick to work.
But is that any wonder when the mental health waiting list has topped 1.8 million people, and the NHS elective care waiting list has hit 7.8 million people?
The answer isn’t to force the sick to go back to work when they’re too ill to do so; the answer is to fix our health and care services so people can be supported back to good health, and then back to work.
Indeed, during the Parliamentary debate, one Conservative MP spoke movingly about taking six months off work for an anxiety disorder.
She said that she would have been "devastated" to be out of the workplace long-term but she did need those months off work to receive treatment and support.
Fixing our public services would have much wider benefits too. I’ve been struck recently by the number of constituents telling me they’ve left the good jobs they love to care for loved ones.
In one case a GP stopped working to care for their parents, after one had a fall, and the other couldn’t care for them on their own.
In another, a police officer was offered a promotion but couldn’t take it because the special educational support wasn’t in place for their children. Eventually, they reluctantly stopped working altogether to home educate.
In reality, with a General Election inching ever closer, Sunak’s statement is less about making policy and more about political positioning.
With this 'idea' he is telling the British electorate that the Conservatives stand for cutting costs rather than investing in public services, and perhaps even blaming the sick for the government’s own health and social care failures.
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