That hideous noise coming from Westminster can be heard right across the country. The screeching of yet another Government U-turn suggests that the tyres on the goodwill automobile of the current administration have finally been shredded.
This week’s astonishing set of U-turns over the PIP payment reforms has now dumped a £5 billion tax bill into the pockets of hard-working people across the country.
Reform of the welfare system is long overdue. Conservatives started to bring about change before the election. The problems were many, but at the heart is too many people still relying on the welfare system after the pandemic, the UK being one of the world’s worse performers of getting people back to work.
Benefit bills are spiralling out of control. Health and disability benefits will hit £100 billion by 2030, already up 40% since 2013. More than half of all households are net beneficiaries of benefits, receiving more in benefits than they pay in taxes. This is simply unsustainable.
To be clear, the principle of supporting people who genuinely need help is one any civilised society will support. But something has changed since the pandemic.
Kier Starmer’s approach was bizarre. His proposals were not thought through. He treated the growing rebelling as “noises off”. He eventually did a U-turn, but discovered on the day that he hadn’t done enough turning so effectively cancelled his reform bill mid way through the debate. I voted against his bill because it was simply bizarre.
Reforms must achieve three things
They must address the ballooning welfare bill. The spiralling costs cannot be sustained.
They must genuinely help to get people back into work. Unemployment is rising under Labour (again), jobs are disappearing, and we all know that work improves people’s mental wellbeing.
Finally, there must be no new taxes in the autumn budget.
Measures that have been brought in by this government have had a disastrous effect on our economy – especially their hated tax on jobs. Farmers and family business owners are in despair. Thousands of international investors are moving out of the country and taking their investments with them – a potential Labour-made fiscal black hole of £18 billion. The ineptitude is endless.
Who knows where this will all lead. With Keir Starmer coming up to the first anniversary of his super-majority, we have four more years of this. I can’t see it ending well.