George Osborne was booed at the Paralympics yesterday - while Gordon Brown was cheered.

 

Chancellor George Osborne was booed at the Paralympics yesterday when introduced to the crowd at the presentation ceremony for the men’s T38 class 400m…

…while former prime minister Gordon Brown was cheered, at the medal ceremony for the 4x100m freestyle relay:

No great surprise, given the state of the economy and the huge cuts Osborne is implementing – cuts, as Polly Toynbee reminds us in today’s Guardian, which are set to get worse; cuts that will affect disabled people and the most vulnerable in society particularly hard:

“There has been absolutely no slippage in the great austerity. Shrinking the state, come what may, is happening. Yet they [Tory backbenchers] seem ignorant of what’s steaming down the track towards them.

“Do they know that more than 80% of the announced cuts are still to be implemented? Are they ready in their constituencies to deal with huge rail fare rises in January at the same time as child benefit is abolished for better-off families?

“Are they ready for April, when disability living allowance cuts mean 90,000 people will have their motability scooters and cars repossessed and two-thirds of disabled children start to lose their allowances?

“The benefit cap in April will eject thousands of families from their homes in more affluent Tory areas.

“Those who call for deeper cuts should look carefully at what trouble may be brewing in the NHS in their own patch – or did they foolishly believe Cameron’s no cuts pledge? Already in many areas people can only have one cataract on the NHS, while hip and knee replacements are rationed, along with 125 other procedures.”

If Mr Osborne wants to know why he’s being booed, he need only read the above.

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