Kemi Badenoch has warned that Britain needs "tough love" as she set out Conservative plans to cut £36 billion from the benefits bill. The Conservative leader insisted the country must get a grip on the issue, saying the UK is getting "poorer and poorer."
Speaking on the proposals, Mrs Badenoch said: "What we are seeing right now is a welfare state with an economy attached to it. Our country is getting poorer and poorer, people are deskilling, and we need to do something about that. And that will require some tough decisions and some tough love."
Details of the £36bn savings plan
The measures include saving £13.7 billion from reforms to disability and sickness benefits, with payments for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain axed. Some £9.5 billion will come from ending benefit claims for foreign nationals without EU settled status, and £3.1 billion by reversing Labour's axing of the two-child benefit cap.
Arguing that "there is no world in which the current system is sustainable", Mrs Badenoch said: "Britain is handing out more than £180 billion a year in benefits to working-age adults. It is hard to comprehend just how big that number is. It's more than we spend on our army, our schools, and our police combined. It is more than £4,000 for every taxpayer in the UK."
Criticism of the Prime Minister
She hit out at Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has refused to commit to bringing down the welfare bill before the next general election, saying: "He lacks the imagination, he lacks the will, and he lacks the support of his party to even try to cut welfare."
Mrs Badenoch added: "Labour MPs think cutting welfare is always cruel. They believe the kindest thing you can do for someone who is struggling, is to tell them it's okay not to look after themselves and that there's nothing wrong with a life of dependency. We disagree."
"Of course, there are people who genuinely cannot work. People with serious illnesses or severe disabilities, We must have a safety net for those people. But the reality is that millions of people can work and do contribute to our economy, to their families, to their communities even when they face serious challenges."
Reaction and context
Describing fixing the welfare system as a "moral mission" for her party, she added: "Conservatives believe that real compassion means not writing people off."
Her intervention comes as two reviews launched by the Government into disability benefits and young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) are due to report back in the coming weeks.
John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers cannot keep writing blank cheques for a welfare system that sees 54 constituencies racking up benefits bills of more than £1 million a day. The Conservatives are right to focus on tightening eligibility, restoring the principle of contribution and restricting benefits for foreign nationals. But they should go further by means-testing PIP to ensure support reaches those who need it most and deliver even greater savings."
The benefits bill is set to surge to £431 billion by the 2031-32 financial year, largely driven by health-related and pensioner benefits, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Meanwhile, the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training, known as NEETs, stands at just under one million.
A Labour spokesperson said: "The Tories let the welfare bill soar on their watch. Now they have the audacity to pretend it was nothing to do with them. You can't trust them to solve problems they created in the first place. The Conservatives designed and implemented this benefit system, which has driven large numbers of people to be signed off and written off. In the Tories' last year in government, the welfare bill rose by a record £33 billion."
