Poll: Should the obese, alcoholics, and drug addicts be stripped of their benefits if they refuse help?

David Cameron's proposal to strip the obese, alcoholics and drug addicts of benefits if they refuse help has been criticised as a "stupid little stunt".

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who had a well-publicised battle with booze and is an Alcohol Concern ambassador, said the Prime Minister was "pathetic" and was not taking the problem of addiction seriously.

Mr Cameron has announced plans aimed at people with "treatable conditions", saying it was "not fair" that taxpayers were being asked to fund welfare for those who refused help. Around 100,000 with treatable conditions are receiving sickness benefits and there is currently no requirement for them to undertake treatment.

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Speaking to radio station LBC, Mr Campbell branded the announcement "embarrassing" at a time when other world leaders were focusing on issues like the fighting in Ukraine and the Greek economy.

Describing addiction as "an illness, not a lifestyle choice", he said the Prime Minister should instead invest in treatment and minimum unit pricing.

Mr Campbell added: "I actually do think when you have got real leaders like (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel doing the things that they are doing, it is embarrassing that we have a PM who does this sort of stuff. The fact that he is making a speech about it is pathetic."

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He added: "People that are walking around London and the rest of the rest of the country today, as they walk over people in sleeping bags on the streets, just ask themselves if those people really, really chose to be there. They did not choose to be there - they are alcoholics or drug addicts because it is a disease, it is an illness, that is how it should be treated.

"To say we are not going to give you benefit because you are fat, we are not going to give you benefit because you drink too much, just think about what we have become as a country that that is our Prime Minister and that is how they treat a serious illness."

Mr Cameron said he has asked Professor Dame Carol Black, an expert adviser on health and work to the Department of Health, to undertake a rapid review into how best to support those suffering from long-term yet treatable conditions back in to work. It will look at whether people should face the threat of a reduction in benefits if they refuse to "engage" with a recommended treatment plan.

Mr Cameron said there were too many people "stuck on sickness benefits because of issues that could be addressed but instead are not".

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He added: "Some have drug or alcohol problems, but refuse treatment. In other cases people have problems with their weight that could be addressed, but instead a life on benefits rather than work becomes the choice.

"It is not fair to ask hard-working taxpayers to fund the benefits of people who refuse to accept the support and treatment that could help them get back to a life of work."

Susannah Gilbert, of obesity support group Big Matters, said a "blanket ruling" stripping people of sickness benefit would not work.

"I think it's naive to think people don't want to change their lives. Most people aren't happy with their weight and would like to change," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"Many of them have tried every diet under the sun and they still have a weight problem. So to think that they don't want to have help isn't true."