Britain’s Budget betrayal: Sir Keir Starmer vows to curb handouts…simply days after £16billion welfare spending increase
Britain faces a ‘moral mission’ to cut welfare spending, Keir Starmer declared on Monday – just days after increasing handouts by £16billion a year.
The Prime Minister said the Government would make another attempt to ‘reform’ welfare, with the current system having ‘trapped people in poverty’.
He hinted that young people could face curbs on their right to claim sickness benefits for mild mental health disorders – a plan on which Labour MPs forced a humiliating retreat earlier this year.
Welfare charities signalled they will rally MPs again to block any moves that cut entitlement.
Last week’s Budget increased welfare spending by £16billion a year, including the cost of dropping this year’s planned reforms, and the £3.2billion bill for scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
Total welfare spending, including benefits and pensions, is now forecast to rise from £333billion to £406billion by the end of the decade.
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.
