“Every meeting I have is, ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’". Those were the damning words of the now Work and Pensions Secretary about his fellow Labour MPs revealed in private messages to Lord Mandelson. They are no longer the Labour Party but instead the Welfare Party committed to ever higher taxes to pay for benefits.
This is the wrong choice – morally and economically. Every person on benefits who can, should be supported to move into work and enjoy the purpose, independence, social interaction, and financial reward that brings. And we should be clear that is the expectation. Equally, where people have serious disabilities, the welfare system must be there to support them.
A report last week found that nearly a million young people are not in education, employment, or training. The rate peaked at 16.9 per cent after the 2008-9 financial crash and then fell to below 9.7 per cent by 2021. The pandemic and its effects have seen that rise to 12.8 per cent and action is needed to help young people realise their aspirations with opportunities to do so.
Youth unemployment in North West Norfolk has increased by over 10 per cent in the last year to 455 people. When I speak to young people, I hear about their experiences of struggling to find work experience or apprenticeships, applying for multiple jobs without any response, or not finding opportunities they can fulfil due to transport and other issues.
Employers I talk to highlight the damaging impact of higher national insurance, business rates, new regulation, and other costs that mean they are not offering the entry level opportunities they once did. The report notes that if public policy is to increase youth participation then it has to help minimise costs and maximise incentives.
In Parliament, I challenged the Employment Minister to heed the calls for a more competitive labour market and reduce the costs and burdens on employers. Instead, the government has set out a range of interventions that rely on increasing subsidies to support roles, rather than letting companies get on and grow.
Reducing the level of young people not working, training, or studying needs the whole system to work more effectively from schools and colleges, to Jobcentre Plus, the NHS to tackle health issues, and of course employers.
I look forward to the final report and its recommendations. I hope it will propose bold steps to reverse the trend of ever more young people signed off with mental health issues, rather than getting the support they need to achieve their potential. 175,000 young people have no regular meetings with work coaches or expectations for activity or engagement – yet many say they want to try to work.
In addition to the powerful moral case to act, working age health and disability benefits are set to hit £100 billion a year by the end of this Parliament. We simply cannot afford this as a country and need to control spending.
Sadly, too many Labour MPs are seemingly not prepared to support changes to tackle ballooning welfare spending and have resisted making savings. Other parties join them in backing higher welfare spending.
Conservatives believe that people should be supported to realise what they can do, not parked on benefits. We have set out plans to restore the principle that work always pays and get Britain working again.
