Treasury officials have said there is no timetable for reducing the UK's welfare bill, following the Chancellor's inaugural Budget and questions over the rising cost of sickness and disability benefits.
John Healey was pressed about welfare spending on Thursday, a day after his Budget announcement, after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned that sickness and disability benefits could cost £100 billion a year before the end of the decade.
Government accused of avoiding tough decisions
Media interpretations of his responses suggested he wanted the bill to start falling before the next election, but Treasury officials pushed back against that reading. The Conservatives described the confusion as “an absolute farce”.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “Healey and Burnham can’t help sticking their feet in their mouths. After months of promises, Labour have admitted that they are not going to cut the benefits bill in this Parliament.
“The Welfare Party’s backbenchers have finally won. The tough decisions have once again been kicked down the road.
“Only the Conservatives will cut welfare spending, tackle Britain’s dependency culture and properly fund defence. We will Get Britain Working Again.”
Prime Minister and Chancellor respond
The Prime Minister was asked about his timeframe for reducing the benefit bill during a visit to Derby on Thursday. He told reporters: “We want to get the welfare bill down as quickly as possible and we’re working flat out to that end.”
In an interview with the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Healey was asked whether the benefits bill would be cut before the next general election. He told the BBC: “There will be a reduction in the benefits bill, we’ll do that in a Labour way and we’ll do that because it is simply not good for Britain or progressive to have a bigger and bigger benefits bill.”
However, Treasury officials later stressed he was not setting a timeframe for the welfare reduction.
More details expected next month
Downing Street insisted the Chancellor had remained “completely in line with what the PM has said over the last few months that the welfare bill needs to come down” and added the Government was not “setting an arbitrary target or timetable on that”.
More details about the Government’s plans to bring down benefits spending will follow the publication of two major reviews next month, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
