'I'm better off on benefits than doing a job': Man portrayed as a victim of the cuts by BBC actually REFUSES to work
By Daily Mail Reporter
1st November 2010
An unemployed 22-year-old who featured in a BBC news report as a victim of benefits cuts has admitted he doesn’t work because he’s better off on the dole.
James Van-Cliff told the BBC that he faces losing his home and being forced onto the streets because of housing benefit reforms brought in by David Cameron.
The report, which was broadcast on the BBC’s News at Ten last week, portrayed Van-Cliff as a hard-working, desperate victim of an uncaring government in danger of not being able to pay his bills.
It claimed the cuts would slash his benefits by up to £9-a-week – equivalent to half his food bill.
Claiming he ‘worked my butt off’ for his council flat, the art school drop-out failed to mention that he had actually walked out of his £93-a-week job as an office cleaner more than a year ago.
During a subsequent visit from The Sun he confessed: ‘I’m better off on benefits to tell the truth. I’m not going to work on minimum wage for s**t money. That won’t keep me going.’
Van-Cliff, who has only worked for four months since leaving school, receives a Jobseekers Allowance of £51 a week and has applied for £93 a month housing benefit for his east London flat.
He moved into the £9-a-week property just days before the BBC report was aired.
The broadcaster has been accused of misleading the public, with Tory MP Philip Davies claiming it is proof of anti-Conservative bias.
He said: ‘This is typical BBC, trying to pursue their own anti-Government agenda.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We approached a reputable housing association to help us identify someone who might affected by proposed changes to benefit regulations and we interviewed the tenant in good faith.
‘Regardless of his employment status, the individual concerned will be subject to those changes.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1435rJbDB
'I'M BETTER OFF ON BENEFITS THAN DOING A JOB' !!!!!!!!!!
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