Lambeth Council targets benefit cheats

Lambeth Council is launching a major new campaign against benefit cheats. Hard-hitting posters will tell residents that benefit fraud nationally amounts to stealing £80 from every household in the country. The campaign will remind people that far from being a victimless crime, benefit cheats are stealing from their friends and neighbours.

The campaign is part of a wider Labour programme in Lambeth to tackle fraud. A police officer has been brought to work inside the town hall and fraudsters face being named and shamed in the media. The campaign is launched in the same week as Labour publishes the 'Fernandes Report'. The dossier details an investigation into former senior Lambeth Lib Dem councillor Gabriel Fernandes. Fernandes was convicted of public theft in court by Ealing Council, but Lib Dems in Lambeth tried to hide the allegations from the public when they found out about them.

Labour Councillor Jim Dickson, Cabinet member for finance, said: "Benefit fraud is not a victimless crime. Unlike the Lib Dems who tried to cover up fraud, Labour it tackling it head on.

"The money that is paid out to benefit fraudsters would be much better spent on frontline services, and that's why we have to take such a tough line against it."

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