Tony Blair has called for significant cuts to the UK's welfare bill and the abolition of the pension triple lock, warning that current policies are unsustainable and hinder economic growth. The former prime minister highlighted the rising number of people on disability benefits, which he said could reach almost five million by the end of the decade, surpassing defence spending.
In an interview with the BBC's Today programme, Blair stated: 'We are about to end up in a situation where before the pandemic, only five or six years ago, we had 2.8 million working age people on disability and incapacity benefits. We are going to have by the end of this decade almost 5 million people. You can’t carry on with a situation where you are going to end up spending more on incapacity and disability benefits than you are on defence.'
Blair also criticised the pension triple lock, which increases state pensions by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5 per cent. He described it as 'not affordable' and urged an honest debate with the public about taxation and spending. He added: 'If we carry on like this, we're going to create a situation where economically we're not able to grow because we have put such a weight affecting growth on the back of our economy.'
The former prime minister also attacked the Labour government's clean energy programme, calling it too expensive and urging Keir Starmer to scrap it. He said: 'Taxes are too high for working people and some of the things we are spending money on I think we have got to change, particularly identifying the very large sum of money that we are spending on Net Zero which I just don’t think is the right priority for the country now.'
Blair's comments follow a 5,600-word essay in which he launched a scathing attack on Starmer's government, calling for a return to the 'radical centre'. Treasury minister Torsten Bell dismissed the essay, saying it did not deal with the reality of Britain in the 2020s and lacked a concrete plan.
