Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British Conservative Party politician. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016, he was previously the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was first elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election as the MP for Chingford– which he represented until the constituency's abolition in 1997–and he has represented its successor constituency of Chingford...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth9 April 1954
In many ways, Scotland will benefit more than other parts of the UK when Universal Credit comes in. A larger percentage of people will see an increase in their income through moving into work or taking on more hours.
If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement.
I think that the status that you have in life should be reflected in official documents. If you are married, fine, if you are living with someone, fine, if you are single, fine. We don't want to tell people how to live their lives.
I do not believe the picture that some people paint of Scottish towns dependent on welfare. Every time I come here, I meet people who are determined to get into work. Who, with the right help are desperate to get off benefits, support their family and set an example for their children.
We do not celebrate people who have made success out of serious hard work.
We have to ensure that our immigration system works in the interests of Britain, enabling us to make a realistic promise to our young school-leavers. It is part of our contract with the British people.
I am not going to go round trying to make people say 'Wow!'... I'm not going to play Hollywood lookalikes.
We have to challenge the whole idea that it's acceptable for a society like Britain to have such a significant number of people who do not work one day of the week and don't have any possibility of improving the quality of their lives.
If you look at the footballers, you look at our celebrity culture, we seem to be saying, 'This is the way you want to be'. We seem to be a society that celebrates all the wrong people.
There is nothing people can throw at me to say: Do this, do that.
My view is pensioners don't have the one option that people of working age have. They can't really increase their income, because they are no longer able to work.
Even as our economy starts to pick up, and new jobs are created, there is a risk that young people in Britain won't get the chances they deserve because businesses will continue to look elsewhere.
The fact is that in too many communities in cities in Britain gangs now have become completely rooted into these communities and they destroy them around them.
It's fairness to say those who work hard, get up in the morning, cut their cloth - in other words 'we can only afford to have one or two children because we don't earn enough'. They pay their taxes and they want to know that the same kind of decision-making is taking place for those on benefits.