Forced labour? (From Daily Echo)

Forced labour?

11:11am Thursday 23rd February 2012 in Readers' Letters

IT’S only a small article but with huge implications. The piece “Spring Clean”

about Southampton City Council leader Royston Smith (Daily Echo, February 15) leads me to believe that, as he has now destroyed our street cleaning services, he is now striving to counter this through forced labour by making the jobless youngsters clean our streets and hedges etc to give them unpaid work experience.

And I expect it will come with a clause that says “work or lose your unemployment benefit”.

What will his lordship think of next? Well they might just as well empty the bins while they’re at it, and, oh yeah, they could also dish out a few parking tickets as well, or what about pushing a few old people around in their wheelchairs after they have delivered their meals and cleaned their house or flat?

JOHN SMITH, Southampton.