On Monday, Keir Starmer emphasized Britain’s ‘moral mission’ to reduce welfare expenditure, mere days after increasing annual welfare allocations by £16 billion.
The Prime Minister indicated that the Government intends to make another effort at ‘reforming’ the welfare system, which he believes has ‘ensnared individuals in poverty.’
He suggested that restrictions could be placed on young people’s eligibility to claim sickness benefits for minor mental health issues—a proposal that faced strong opposition from Labour MPs earlier this year.
Welfare organizations have already signaled their intent to mobilize MPs to oppose any initiatives aimed at reducing benefit entitlements.
The recent Budget announcement raised welfare spending by £16 billion annually, factoring in the abandonment of this year’s planned reforms and the £3.2 billion cost of eliminating the two-child benefit cap.
Overall, welfare expenditure, covering both benefits and pensions, is projected to climb from £333 billion to £406 billion by the decade’s end.
But Sir Keir insisted he would now embark on a ‘moral mission’ to reform the welfare system, which he claimed the Tories had left ‘out of control’.
In a speech in London on Monday morning, he said it was time to ‘confront the reality’ that the welfare state ‘is trapping people, not just in poverty… but out of work.’
Britain faces a ‘moral mission’ to cut welfare spending, Keir Starmer declared during a speech in London on Monday – just days after increasing handouts by £16billion a year
The PM said the last government ‘wrote young people off as too ill to work,’ adding: ‘That was a total failure.’
Downing Street has commissioned former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn to review options for cutting the number of young people not in education, employment or training, which has reached almost one million.
Welfare minister Sir Stephen Timms is also reviewing the Personal Independence Payment system, following this year’s failed attempt to trim £5billion from the budget.
The PM signalled that young people with mental health issues should be given more ‘support’ to get a job, rather than being handed benefits.
‘We need to remove all the barriers which hold back the potential of our young people,’ he said.
‘Because, if you are ignored early in your career, if you’re not given the support you need to overcome your mental health issues, or if you are simply written off because you’re neurodivergent or disabled then it can trap you in a cycle of worklessness and dependency for decades.
‘That costs the country money, is bad for our productivity, and most importantly of all it is a massive waste of potential.’
Sir Keir insisted he was not proposing welfare reforms to look ‘politically tough’ but said ‘any Labour Party worth the name’ could not ignore the issue.
Tory policy chief Neil O’Brien branded the PM’s speech a ‘total waste of time’ and pointed out that the terms of reference for Sir Stephen’s review appear to rule out making any budget cuts.
Disability groups condemned any attempt to curb access to sickness benefits and push people towards support mechanisms instead.
Charles Gillies, of the Disability Benefits Consortium, which represents 100 groups, said: ‘The Prime Minister’s comments about young disabled people were deeply concerning.
‘Disability benefits are a means of survival for many.’
Mr Gillies claimed: ‘Cutting support won’t help young people into work. Instead, cuts would push them further into poverty, worsening health and risking driving them even further away from employment.’
Opinion polls show that the public is opposed to Labour’s decision to lift the two-child benefit cap, which will add billions to the welfare bill in the coming years.
But Sir Keir said he was ‘proud’ of the decision, which he insisted would take hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.
