‘Moral case’ to cut welfare bill, says minister as Reeves bids to balance books

There is a “moral case” for cutting the welfare bill, a Cabinet minister said as Rachel Reeves seeks to slash public spending by billions of pounds in her spring statement.
The Chancellor will deliver her statement on March 26 in response to the latest forecasts from the Budget watchdog, with increased borrowing costs and weak economic growth likely to require spending cuts in order to meet her commitments on managing the public finances.
Curbing the cost of welfare and a drive for greater efficiency across Whitehall are expected to contribute the bulk of the savings.
The Treasury is putting its proposals to the Office for Budget Responsibility on Wednesday as part of the watchdog’s forecast process, the BBC reported.
Forecast
A leaked early draft of the forecast indicated the watchdog is cutting its forecast for economic growth and the cost of Government borrowing will have been impacted by the turbulence in the bond markets in January.
At the time of the Budget in October, the watchdog said Ms Reeves had £9.9 billion of headroom against her self-imposed rule to fund day-to-day spending through tax revenues rather than extra borrowing.
A Government insider told the BBC: “Clearly the world has changed a lot since the autumn Budget. People are watching that change happen before their eyes.
“The Office for Budget Responsibility will reflect that changing world in its forecasts later this month and a changing world will be a core feature of the Chancellor’s response later this month.”
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood defended efforts to reduce the amount spent on welfare.
She said: “We know that there are many people who are currently receiving state support for being out of work who want to be in work. We know that we have too many of our young people currently out of work, not in education, employment or training.”
“Unsustainable”
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “There is a moral case here for making sure that people who can work are able to work and there’s a practical point here as well, because our current situation is unsustainable.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, who is expected to set out reforms within weeks, told Cabinet colleagues on Tuesday there are 2.8 million people not in work due to ill-health and one in eight young people not in education, training or employment.
She told them this is “holding back the economy” and is “bad for people’s wellbeing and health”, with the sickness and disability bill for working age people rising by £20 billion since the pandemic and forecast to hit £70 billion over the next five years.
A Health and Disability Green Paper will set out plans to supports those who can work back into jobs, rather than write them off, she said.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden and Health Secretary Wes Streeting are also expected to set out an efficiency drive, which will reduce the number of civil servants and cut costs, in the run-up to the statement, the BBC said.
A source told the broadcaster: “Headroom or no headroom, the Chancellor is determined to push through the change we need to make Britain more secure and prosperous, with the whole Government making that argument in the coming weeks.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
We could stop giving state pension benefits to millionaires.
That state pension is peanuts compared to the tax dodging that these high net worth folk get up to. Call it what you like – mitigation, avoidance, evasion, loopholes – the net effect is the same. These things can be plugged but there has to be the sense of urgency and motivation to make it work.
Yes, if there is any ‘moral case’ it is most easy to make for the introduction of a Wealth Tax rather than for cutting support for disabled and sick people. Please would somebody tell the McSweeney/Starmer Regime that operating as Tory Lite is going to give the next election to Farage’s Fascists. If you are disabled or have a long term health problem you know that the Tories want to remove your support so that you will go away and die. If you now know that the Labour Party also wants to remove your support so that you go away… Read more »
State pensions cost taxpayers £124bn in 2023-24. Not paying it to the 25% of pensioners that are millionaires would save £30bn every year. That’s enough to boost defence spending by 60%.
So, it seems that ‘secure and prosperous’ is the new term for austerity. Huzzah. Those policy wonks must have been working on that phrase for weeks… But what sort of morality is it that cuts the ‘welfare bill’? Is it the same ‘morality’ that cut the Winter Fuel Allowance? Bereft of care, bereft of charity, I despair for the lack of compassion in this Labour Government. A government with no vision for making things better – this latter always postponed because it’s somehow necessary that Rachel from Accounts gets her silly sums right, that a wholly implausible case has been… Read more »
“secure and prosperous” is up there with May’s “strong and stable” as utter misuse of English.
The Morals of Banker…LoL
So Thatcherism is alive and well in the shape of the Labour Party.
Why does she always look for savings in the poorest and least able to defend these attacks! WHY are the wealthy NEVER targeted?? What she is constantly doing will cause anxiety and fear amongst those least able to. Ope. WHY IS there always money for Wars and other Nations problems , whilst she constantly attacks the a people who live in UK? Shameful!
There is no moral case to cut welfare payments whereas there is a perfectly logical reason to increase tax on un-earned income, close loopholes that allow the wealthy to move their money off shore to avoid tax, increase tax on the higher earners, Here’s a paragraph from Richard Murphy “There is no such thing as taxpayers’ money. The UK government is the monopoly producer of sterling. It is government-created money that we use. That money is created when the government spends. The part of that spending not taxed back – the so-called national debt – is the government created money… Read more »
What the ****is she on about?
Labour is supposed to support those that need help.
I suggest we cut MPs salaries to £30k and thus save money.
Labour is supposed to support working people. Clue is in the name.
And perhaps you should ask yourself why the Newport Chartists died to ensure MPs were paid a generous salary before ripping up their efforts.