A minister has denied misleading Labour voters with a £5bn package of benefit cuts that was not in the party’s manifesto.
Stephen Timms told Sky News Breakfast with Wilfred Frost that Labour pledged to “fix the broken system” during the election campaign and said it would reform or replace the work capability assessment (WCA).
Politics live: PM defends welfare cuts
Scrapping the WCA was one of a series of measures announced on Tuesday, along with narrowing the criteria to qualify for some health and disability benefits.
Labour’s manifesto said: “We believe the work capability assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work.”
However, it did not explicitly mention cuts.
Asked if Labour had misled people, social security minister Mr Timms said: “No.”
There’s always a tweet…
It was put to him that his boss Liz Kendall previously tweeted against benefit cuts being considered by former Tory chancellor George Osborne under his austerity programme.
In 2016, the now work and pensions secretary retweeted a colleague who accused Mr Osborne of introducing the cuts “to give handouts to the rich”, alongside a petition campaigning against the measure.
Mr Timms said the Tories “made lots of changes which did a great deal of damage”, including reforms to universal credit which put more people on the higher rate and meant they were “no longer supported into work”.
“We opposed damaging changes the previous government made,” he said.
“We’re bringing forward a package which we think will do the job that’s needed, support people back into work and make the system sustainable financially.”
Read more:
All Labour’s welfare reforms explained
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What measures have been announced?
The most significant measure announced yesterday was making it harder to qualify for personal independence payments (PIP), which is money for people who have extra care or mobility needs as a result of a disability.
The new PIP test will go on to replace the WCA, which currently decides whether people are fit to work or not. There will also be a consultation on delaying access to the health top-up on universal credit until someone is 22.
The announcement was met with criticism from Labour backbenchers, unions and charities, who called for the cuts to be reversed and warned it would push more sick and disabled people into poverty.
However, it is unclear how many people could lose benefits as a result as the impact assessment will not be released until the spring statement next week.
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Reforms ‘rushed through’
The spring statement will see Chancellor Rachel Reeves make further spending cuts to account for the loss of around £9bn in fiscal headroom due to a poor economy and global instability.
The government has denied this is the reason for the welfare package, with Ms Kendall telling Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby she would have announced these measures regardless – as she refused to rule out further cuts.
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But Tory shadow chancellor Mel Stride told Sky News the reforms were “rushed” through because Ms Reeves “killed the economy” with her October budget.
“That doesn’t make for good policy, particularly in the area of welfare where you do need to take your time and to be thoughtful about it,” he added.
PM: Benefits bill ‘devastating’
Sir Keir Starmer has defended the measures, writing in The Times that the 2.8 million working age people out of work due to long-term sickness is a “damning indictment of the Conservative record” on welfare.
He added: “The result is devastating for the public finances. By 2030 we are projected to spend £70bn a year on working-age incapacity and disability benefits alone.”
