I REPLY to the article New Deal Response BEN January 25). The real purpose of the government's New Deal is to push the long term un-employed into low paying rotten jobs under the threat of having their benefits stopped. Employers have signed confidentiality clauses with the employment services. Such secretive measures clearly prove that the New Deal scheme is yet another scam that will fill the coffers of the rich and greedy at the expense of the working class.

The New Labour government - driven by the needs of a profit orientated economy in crisis - is determined to reduce the burden of state expenditure on profits. That means attacking the unemployed and employed simultaneously. In order to reduce the number of unemployed claimants and the amount of benefits paid out, the state needs to force them into low paid poverty jobs or into the cut-throat competition of self-employment. By doing this the state also, at the same time, increases pressure on those in work to moderate their wage demands and do as they are told.

This so-called new deal is basically an extension of the JSA and Project Work, with compulsion underpinning it. We all know that wages are falling and that employers are seeking any excuse to introduce low paid casual work. The new deal will intensify that process. The employment service will no doubt continue with the "training providers" already in place for project work; training for work and re-start courses - despite the fact that everyone knows these outfits are a joke. As for the Environmental Task Force - its just community service for the unemployed, as if they were guilty of a crime against society.

The New Deal will not save money from the £96 billion social security bill - in fact it costs an extra £3.5 billion to set up. Benefit cuts cause greater poverty which, in turn, increases problems in health, education and crime. The New Deal is just another slap in the face to the millions of low paid and unemployed.

G Ford

Centre Park Road,

Bolton

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