Keir Starmer has promised “zero tolerance” for benefits cheats as Labour seeks to tame the UK’s ballooning welfare bill.
The prime minister warned those who try to “take advantage of state generosity will feel the force of the law” and that ministers would even “take cash straight from the banks of fraudsters”.
His vow came as ministers prepare to unveil “tough” changes to the welfare system later this week.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said on Sunday that young people who repeatedly refuse to take up jobs or training would lose their benefits.
In a piece for the Mail on Sunday, the Labour leader pledged the public would see “sweeping changes. Because make no mistake, we will get to grips with the bulging benefits bill blighting our society.”
Labour has said it will stick by a Tory commitment to slash the cost of the welfare bill by £3 billion over five years, although Sir Keir also promised not to “call people shirkers or go down the road of division” – a dig at previous Conservative governments.
Ms Kendall is to set out her plans in detail later this week, but on Sunday wanted of “tough” action ahead as she said that if young people “repeatedly refuse to take up the training or work responsibilities, there will be sanctions on their benefits”.
Asked if this meant losing those benefits, she told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “Yes.”
Benefits claimants had a “responsibility” to engage with training or employment programmes, she added.
She also said she believed “many millions” of disabled people and those with long-term health conditions want to work. Figures suggest more than 4 million people will be claiming long-term sickness support by the end of the decade.
But Sir Keir came under fire from Diane Abbott, who accused the prime minister of “peddling… benefit scrounger mythology”. In response to his article, the veteran Labour MP tweeted that it was: “Sad that Starmer is peddling the benefit scrounger mythology.”
Ms Abbott’s criticism was backed by the ex-Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who quit the party at the end of September, who asked: “Where’s the Labour government that was elected?”
Ms Kendall’s proposals are designed to “get Britain working” and are expected to include work coaches in mental health clinics as well as a “youth guarantee”, designed to ensure that all 18 to 21-year-olds are either working or studying.
The reasons for the increased number of claims are “complex” and that Britain is “an older and also sicker nation”, she said.
“I think there are a combination of factors here,” she said. “I do think we are seeing an increase in the number of people with mental health problems, both self-diagnosed – I think it’s good that stigma has been reduced – but also diagnosed by doctors.
“We’re also seeing more people in their 50s and above, often women, with bad knees, hips, joints. We’ve got a real problem with our health service.”
Asked whether she believes “normal feelings” are being “over-medicalised”, Ms Kendall told the BBC: “I genuinely believe there’s not one simple thing. You know, the last government said people were too bluesy to work.
“I mean, I don’t know who they were speaking to. There is a genuine problem with mental health in this country.”
James Taylor, from the disability equality charity Scope, said: “We agree disabled people should have the same chances and opportunities to work as everyone else. Personalised and comprehensive employment support could be transformative for so many disabled people. But the government must fund it well and commission the right organisations to deliver it.”
He also warned: “Pressing ahead with the previous government’s planned cut to disability benefits will leave disabled people financially worse off and further from work. Over the years we have seen the repeated tightening of sanctions and conditionality ramp up misery, which has done little to improve the number of disabled people in work.
“We’d urge the Secretary of State to take a fresh approach to supporting disabled people into work. By spending time listening to their experiences, and understanding the barriers they face that a focus on overall budgets and sanctions won’t solve.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Labour’s hollow promises on welfare reform will fool no-one. When the last Conservative government introduced messages to tackle the growing benefits bill, Labour opposed them every step of the way. At the Budget, instead of following in our footsteps and taking difficult decisions on welfare to fund public services, Rachel Reeves instead reached straight for the tax lever.
“This new government has no clue what is needed to get people off benefits and back into work.”
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