Labour's welfare 'reforms" don't go nearly far enough

When I resigned from David Cameron’s government as the secretary of state for work and pensions in 2016, welfare stood at 61.6bn. By the end of this parliament, it is projected to be 108.7bn. Sickness benefit alone, which was 19bn back then, is set to rise to 32bn. So it is with disability benefit, which is set to rise from 11bn to some 31bn. To govern is to choose. Against the backdrop of an increasingly unsafe world, the need to invest significantly more in defence and a flatlining economy, further reform of welfare is a necessity.

- IAIN DUNCAN SMITH

The pandemic response has hit the welfare budget hard. The rise in sickness benefit claims poses a challenge to the government, particularly because some 60 per cent of claims since Covid are from mental health issues. The majority of these are for depression and anxiety. The health department has declared that the best treatment for depression and anxiety is going back to work. That is why, as sickness benefit moves into universal credit, the possibility of large-scale reform opens up for the government.

When Liz Kendall launched her much-trailed welfare plans in the House of Commons on Tuesday, aided by large rhetorical claims about what they would do, I could see by looking at the Pathways to Work green paper that big reform was not there. Instead, they narrowly changed a few things to obtain a saving of £5bn. This money seems to be set to help the chancellor out of the bind of breaking her own fiscal rule as she goes to the spring statement – not to reform the system.