Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to set out further details on Tuesday of her plan to cut £36.1 billion a year from the welfare bill, which she says is "crushing our economy". The proposals include reforms to disability and sickness benefits and reinstating the two-child benefit cap.
Breakdown of the £36.1bn savings
The cuts are expected to include £13.7 billion from reforms to disability and sickness benefits, including scrapping payments for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain. Another £9.5 billion would come from ending benefit claims for foreign nationals without EU settled status, and £3.1 billion by limiting child benefits to two children per family, a policy scrapped by Labour last year.
Child disability living allowance would take the form of support rather than cash handouts for mild learning and behavioural conditions, saving £2.8 billion, while new plans to tackle fraud and error would raise £1 billion.
Badenoch's message on welfare
Badenoch had already announced the £36.1 billion target at the Conservative Party conference last month. She is expected to say: "The question of whether we should cut welfare goes to the heart of what sort of country we want to be. It exposes a fundamental difference between Labour and the Conservatives. 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. That there's nothing wrong with a life of dependency."
While acknowledging that there must be a safety net for those who "genuinely cannot work," she will also say the weight of the welfare burden is "crushing our economy". She will add: "But the reality is that millions of people can and do contribute – to our economy, to their families, to their communities – even when they face serious challenges. Double amputees run marathons. People who are housebound do wonderful creative work from home. People with autism run some of the biggest tech companies in the world. If you tell a young person that their ADHD means they are defective and will never amount to anything, that mindset is likely to be more destructive to their future than the condition itself. That is what our welfare system is currently doing. Conservatives believe in a system that looks at people through the lens of what they can do – not what they cannot."
Context and reaction
The Conservative leader also said the welfare bill is "more than the entire GDP of Ukraine". The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts it will rise to £431 billion by the 2031-32 financial year, largely driven by health-related and pensioner benefits.
Reviews into disability benefits and getting more of the 45% of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs), led by Stephen Timms and Alan Milburn respectively, are expected to report in the coming weeks.
A Labour Party 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. Labour is tackling the collapse in face-to-face assessments, bringing in personalised employment support for sick and disabled people and spreading opportunity to young people through the Youth Guarantee. Further reforms will follow the Milburn and Timms Reviews."
