Since Sir Keir Starmer held office nine months ago, Sir Keir Starmer Weathered Party rows on the payments of the winter fuel, the two child benefits, Waspi women, airport expansion and cut to international assistance.
All of these decisions are justified in the name of balancing the books – filling the notorious black hole of £ 22 billion, which sticks to the fiscal rules, and in the pursuit of growth as the government’s biggest priority.
But welfare reform feels like a much more existential drive.
Health Secretary West Streeting has argued Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips that the current system is ‘unsustainable’.
Ministers have been making the point for weeks that the Health Bill Bill for people of the working age has risen by £ 20bn since the pandemic and will grow by another £ 18bn to £ 70bn over the next five years.
But the detail of where the cuts can fall is very divisive.
One proposal that is reportedly considered To freeze personal independence payments (PIPs) Next year, rather than increasing it in accordance with inflation.
Charities have warned that it would be a catastrophic real -time cut for 3.6 million people.
Concerned left -wing backs call on the government to tax the rich and not take some of the most vulnerable.
The Sunday Times and Observer have now reported that Liz Kendall, secretary of work and pensions, has dropped the idea in response to the setback.
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Streeting denies labor ‘turns into tories’
Planned pip -freezing point to be scrapped – reports
What cuts can be announced?
West Streeting deny reports of a cabinet drive over the planAnd insisted that the final package of measures has not yet been published and he and his cabinet colleagues have not yet seen it.
Not the final version maybe – but given all MPs of the Backbench Labor who was called this week after meetings with the number 10 policy teams, the reaction may be more than a little ominous.
In his interview with Sir Trevor Phillips, he continued to make the broader case for PIP reform – and he emphasized the thousand people who recorded for the benefit of the benefit every day and argued that the system must be “sustainable” to “provide” for those who need it “and” provide the right kind of support for the different types of need. “
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Streeting defends PM’s remarks about ‘slack’ public sector
For me, it indicates that the government is preparing to reveal a stricter set of PIP suitability criteria, with a refocus on supporting those with the greatest needs.
Changes to disability advantage to better encourage the work – for those who can – are also clear on the cards.
The health secretary has hit the ‘over -diagnosis’ of mental health conditions and argued that “working out is better for your mental and physical health, than being spent and sitting at home”, and promising benefit reforms that will help people back rather than be “trapped in the benefits system”.
Tory Tory Tory?
Starmer said this week that the current welfare system cannot be defended on economic or moral grounds.
The conservatives do not agree.
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Conservatives: Scrapping NHS England is ‘real thing’
Prior to the election, they introduced £ 12bn to the welfare account, focusing on getting people back on long -term illness.
This morning, Laura Trott, secretary of shadow education, claimed that labor during the election campaign was needed that welfare cut was needed and was wasting time not to include the reform of benefits in the King speech.
“They come to this chaotic, too late and without a plan,” she said.
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Notwithstanding the obvious criticism that the Tories had 14 years to get a grip on the situation – which is the most striking here, it seems that the labor government lends conservative clothing.
When Sir Trevor was challenged by Sir Trevor this morning, Streeting denied that they had turned Tory – to claim the case for welfare reform and support people in the work is a labor argument.
But from the increase in defense spending and the cutting of the auxiliary budget to the deletion of NHS England, there is a clear pattern that arises.
If you did not know that a labor administration was in control, you might have assumed that it was the policy of a conservative government.
It is a strategy that makes many of its own backs deeply uncomfortable.
But it does a good job of neutralizing the Tory position.
