Burnham rules out ‘crude cuts’ as he pledges to ‘get serious’ on welfare bill

In his first major interview as Prime Minister, Mr Burnham told the BBC he did not want to “blame” people for being on benefits.

But he added: “I think we’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting the welfare bill down.”

Saying young people had been “quite seriously let down” by a lack of support into work, he indicated he wanted to “increase the conditions required to receive benefits”.

Mr Burnham also suggested providing mental health support “in work to support people in an opportunity”.

He said: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.”

The Prime Minister also suggested his drive to build more council and social homes would help reduce benefits “in a fair and sustainable way” by cutting the cost of housing benefit that currently goes into the private rented sector.

Attempts by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to slash welfare spending by £5 billion last year led to a U-turn in the face of a major backbench rebellion.

Mr Burnham, who has promised to be more collaborative with his parliamentary party, said he would not pursue “a kind of crude approach, crude cuts to benefits to get the welfare bill down”.

He said: “Often that just pushes people into even more crisis and then even more public spending in another part of the system.

“We need a system that sets people up for success rather than pays for failure.”

Junior minister Hamish Falconer told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday that his backbench colleagues “do recognise that there is an issue that they want to see reform of”.

He added: “I think they’ll support the Prime Minister in his intent that he set out over the weekend.”

Mr Falconer also said the Government was “focused on” addressing whether the benefits system was creating “bad incentives” for young people.

A report in the Times on Monday claimed that teenagers could receive more from personal independence payments (Pip) than working in a minimum-wage job for 12 hours a week – the maximum permitted by law.

Pip is awarded to those with long-term physical and mental health conditions to help them with extra living costs, and can be claimed by people in work, as well as those who cannot.

Asked about the story, Mr Falconer told Times Radio: “Well, it sounds to me like where people need serious help because they have health conditions that they cannot address in any other way, that’s what the Pip system is there for.

“But I think what you’re asking me is: is the system creating bad incentives for young people to not get into work and not take the steps that they need to launch themselves into working life?

“That is exactly the issue that we’re focused on.”