Welfare's in a right state with Starmer

SENTIMENTALITY is the enemy of welfare reform.

- Leo McKinstry

Any attempt to change the bloated benefits system is invariably painted as an attack on the poor and the vulnerable. It takes real guts to stand up to this kind of emotional blackmail, but such courage is not a quality that has distinguished Sir Keir Starmer's government.

Despite Labour's huge Parliamentary majority, ministers have habitually backed down at the first sign of opposition to any proposed benefits reform.

Only this week, the government passed legislation through the Commons to remove the cap that limited social security payouts to the first two children in any family. Introduced by the Tory-led coalition in 2016, the cap was a sensible measure to discourage households from having more children than they could afford. It was strikingly popular with voters, the majority of whom welcomed its principle of fairness. That explains why Starmer initially dismissed a repeal.

But this resolve soon evaporated in the face of hysterical condemnation from backbenchers and campaigners who shrieked that the cap was an engine of child poverty.