Wes Streeting has denied that Labour is “changing into the Tories” with its plan to reform the welfare system.
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The federal government is anticipated to unveil a sequence of measures to chop the advantages invoice subsequent week, forward of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spring assertion.
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The plan was thought to incorporate cancelling an inflation-linked rise to the private independence fee (PIP) – however this has reportedly been scrapped on account of backlash from Labour MPs.
Mr Streeting wouldn’t be drawn on the supposed division – saying we are going to “have to wait and see the proposals” and the problem “hasn’t been discussed in cabinet”.
Nonetheless he mentioned that what the federal government is making an attempt to attain with welfare reform is to ensure the system “does the two things it needs to do”.
“One is to support people who cannot work to make sure they’ve got dignity, independence, and quality of life.
“And secondly, for many who can, to guarantee that the welfare system is not only a security internet, that it is a springboard again to work.”
Private Independence Fee (PIP) is cash for individuals who have additional care wants or mobility wants because of a incapacity.
Mr Streeting mentioned one thousand individuals daily are signing on to PIP – saying that is “the size of the city of Manchester” over the course of a yr.
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Requested if individuals get advantages too simply, the cupboard minister mentioned there’s a “presumption in favour of the benefits system” and folks “need to have the right support to stay and work wherever possible”.
He rejected the declare that Labour is “turning into the Tories”, saying: “I don’t think that it is a Labour argument to say that we would want people consigned to a life of benefits and not able to go to work when we know that they can.”
Former Tory chancellor George Osborne – the architect of welfare cuts through the coalition years – mentioned on his Political Foreign money podcast this week that he resisted freezing PIP as a result of he felt it was going too far.
Former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls, who co-hosts the podcast with him and is married to Residence Secretary Yvette Cooper, additionally mentioned chopping incapacity advantages is “not a Labour thing to do…it’s not what they are for”.
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The federal government’s motivation is the price of long-term illness and incapacity advantages for working-age individuals, which has risen by £20bn for the reason that pandemic and is forecast to hit £70bn over the following 5 years.
Ministers have careworn there are presently 2.8 million individuals not in work on account of ill-health, whereas one in eight younger individuals are not in training, coaching or employment – prompting fears of a “wasted generation”.
A few of the modifications being mooted embrace making it more durable to qualify for PIP and rising the speed of Common Credit score for many who are in or trying to find work to incentivise employment, whereas chopping the speed for these judged unfit to work.
Many Labour MPs worry drastic cuts to probably the most susceptible.
In a put up on X, Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP for Brent West, criticised the bankers bonus cap coming to an finish and mentioned he would not perceive “why it is too difficult to tax a little more those having to manage on £19m a year” as a substitute of chopping the advantages invoice.
Laura Trott, the Tories’ shadow training secretary, refused to be drawn on whether or not she supported incapacity profit cuts or not.
However she mentioned the modifications weren’t in Labour’s manifesto, whereas her social gathering did have a plan to do that.
She instructed Trevor Phillips: “At the election, Labour said we could save no money on welfare.
“They’ve misplaced a lot time when it was apparent to everybody this was a profit system that wanted to be introduced below management after the pandemic.
“Labour is coming to this too late without a plan. They were clearly divided on it. And that is not what our welfare system needs.”
