Will this out-of-touch Government please explain where long-term unemployed people not living within walking distance of a Jobcentre are going to find the bus fare to attend every day?

While I am wholly in favour of dealing robustly with the minority who abuse the benefits system, the vast majority of the long-term unemployed people are of course desperate to work but simply unable to find a job. Even in the relatively affluent south-east of England I know of frugal people on jobseekers’ allowance who can barely afford one bus fare to the city centre per week.

Demonising those already suffering stigma, isolation and exclusion may win votes from the privileged self-righteous, but it is morally abhorrent. Unemployed people need to be helped, not treated like criminals!

Jess Gaston (Miss), Thornhill, Southampton.