A BBC Breakfast host cornered minister Pat McFadden over the government’s lack of transparency over its planned welfare cuts.
Labour will today unveil a green paper outlining exactly how it plans to save billions of pounds from the benefits bill amid the growing economic gloom facing the country.
Ministers are braced for a huge backlash from Labour MPs, with up to 80 rumoured to be ready to vote against the measures, which could see some disability benefits slashed.
So presenter Jon Kay put to Cabinet office minister McFadden there was “hardly any mention of welfare” or planned cuts to benefits in Labour’s election manifesto, which he himself was in charge of.
The BBC host said: “Shouldn’t you have been a bit more upfront – a lot more upfront – so people would have been better prepared for these changes?”
McFadden replied: “We are the party of work we always want to see people in work, we’re not comfortable with a situation where we’ve got 1,000 people a day applying for one of these benefits, 1,000 new people a day.
“The numbers have grown so much in recent years, and the UK is an outlier compared to other countries on similar incomes…”
Kay cut in: “I get that, but you say these figures go back years, the system is broken and has been for years, so why didn’t you mention it in your manifesto, why didn’t you tell the country what you were clearly planning, wanting to do?”
The Cabinet minister said: “Look, the system that we are bringing forward today is in line with what we always wanted to do, which is to have a welfare state that’s there for people who need support but also to get the maximum support for people to get to work.
“I don’t think anyone can be comfortable with the trends of recent years. When you are in government. it’s your job to face up to big challenges facing the country.”
McFadden also denied that there was a split among Keir Starmer’s top cabinet team over the proposed cuts.
He told Times Radio: “Yes I believe the cabinet is united behind taking on the issue of the growing benefits bill, the fact that we currently have almost three million people on long-term sickness benefits and that’s projected to grow to over four million at a steady state.
“That demand for these benefits is outstripping the disability rates by a factor of double and by the fact that if we don’t do anything about it we’ll be spending 70 billion pounds a year on this by the end of the decade.
“The current system leaves too many people in a permanent state of dependence on benefits without the opportunity of work.”
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