Labour says Tories can't be trusted to solve welfare problems 'they created in first place'
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they → say → place
Here is the statement the Labour party released overnight in response to the advance briefing about the Tory plans to cut benefits by £36bn.
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party → release → 36bn
A Labour spokesperson said:
The Tories let the welfare bill soar on their watch.
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bill → say → watch
Now they have the audacity to pretend it was nothing to do with them.
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it → have → them
You can’t trust them to solve problems they created in the first place.
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they → trust → place
The Conservatives designed and implemented this benefit system, which has driven large numbers of people to be signed off and written off.
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numbers → design → people
In the Tories’ last year in government, the welfare bill rose by a record £33bn.
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bill → rise → record
Labour is tackling the collapse in face-to-face assessments, bringing in personalised employment support for sick and disabled people and spreading opportunity to young people through the Youth Guarantee.
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Labour → tackle → Guarantee
Further reforms will follow the Milburn and Timms Reviews.
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reforms → follow → Reviews
Badenoch says 'double amputees run marathons' as she defends plan to slash disability benefits as part of £36bn welfare cuts
Good morning.
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she → say → cuts
It is quite easy for politicians to declare that they will cut the welfare bill by X amount – but much harder when they have to explain exactly who will lose out.
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who → declare → amount
This is summed up by a good anecdote about a former chancellor (Ken Clarke, according to some versions, but it could have been any of them), who gave this reply when asked for cuts that would save £1bn:
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that → sum → 1bn
So, do you want one million people to lose £1,000 each, or 10 million people to lose £100 each?
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people → want → 100
Today Kemi Badenoch is giving a speech to launch a policy document, Welfare That Works, explaining how the Tories would cut welfare by £36bn.
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Tories → give → 36bn
That’s 36 million people losing £1,000 each, according to the logic of our notional chancellor, although of course it is not quite as simple as that.
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it → ’ → that
All of these cuts are ones that the Conservative party has proposed already, but what we are getting today is a bit more detail about how some of them would be implemented in practice, and a big overall argument defending them.
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some → propose → them
Here is a page from the document summarising where the cuts would fall.
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cuts → summarise → document
I will post more on the detail in the document later.
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I → post → document
According to extracts from her speech released in advance, Badenoch will say that she is publishing these proposals now so that voters do not get any “nasty surprises” if they elect a Tory government.
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they → accord → government
It is too late to work out what you think once you’re in government.
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you → work → government
If you want to change this country, you need to know exactly what you want to do and how you’re going to do it …
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you → want → it
We’re telling people what we are going to do now so that there will be no nasty surprises from us such as cutting your winter fuel payment, the jobs tax or the family farm tax once we get into government.
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we → tell → government
Badenoch will also claim that spending on working-age benefits is “crushing our economy”.
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spending → claim → economy
More than a third of her proposed savings would come from cuts to sickness and disability benefits, and Badenoch will claim there is a “fundamental difference” between Conservative and Labour thinking on this issue.
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Badenoch → propose → issue
She will say:
Labour MPs think cutting welfare is always cruel.
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cutting → say → welfare
They believe the kindest thing you can do for someone who is struggling is to tell them it’s okay not to look after themselves.
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it → believe → themselves
And if you don’t think very hard about it, I can see why you might believe that is kind.
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that → think → it
Of course, there are people who genuinely cannot work.
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who → be → ?
People who need time to recover.
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who → need → time
We must have a safety net for those people.
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We → have → people
But the reality is that millions of people can and do contribute to our economy to their families to their communities even when they face serious challenges.
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they → contribute → challenges
Double amputees run marathons.
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amputees → run → marathons
People who are housebound do wonderful creative work from home.
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who → do → home
People with autism run some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
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People → run → world
If you tell a young person that their ADHD means they are defective and will never amount to anything, that mindset is likely to be more destructive to their future than the condition itself.
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mindset → tell → condition
That is what our welfare system is currently doing.
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system → do → what
Conservatives believe in a system that looks at people through the lens of what they can do, not what they cannot.
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they → believe → what
In fact, this is a misleading caricature of Labour thinking on welfare; the government is about to publish a report from Alan Milburn that will be 100% dedicated to making the system more focused on what young people “can do, not what they cannot”.
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they → think → what
But, as is often the case with Badenoch’s rhetoric, it crystalises an argument and makes for a good headline.
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it → crystalise → headline
Andy Burnham chairs a political cabinet.
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Burnham → chair → cabinet
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
