Badenoch pledges ban on buying booze with benefits - as Tories launch plan to slash welfare bill
Kemi Badenoch has pledged to block long-term benefits claimants from spending taxpayer cash on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling under Tory plans to slash the welfare bill.
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The package would also see the Conservatives only pay out full Universal Credit (UC) to long-time claimants if they have made consistent contributions to the welfare state to clamp down on a system that Mrs Badenoch says is "unfair to workers".
Under the Tory plans, anyone who claims UC when they are out of work would get six months of full benefits to find a job.
After that, the full rate would only be available to people who have contributed to the welfare system through their taxes for years.
Those who have not would have their UC standard rate slashed by a third and the payment would be loaded onto a “back to work” pre-payment card, which would ban spending on cigarettes, alcohol, betting and cash withdrawals.
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Mrs Badenoch said: “Some will say this is unfair on people claiming benefits. What is unfair is a system where someone who can work chooses not to and earns more from benefits than someone in a job.
“If you can work, you should work. Helping people into work is not punishment. The best welfare is a well-paid job. So, we will be tough on those who exploit the system because the current system is unfair to workers, taxpayers and those who truly need support.
"We should not be borrowing from our children and grandchildren to support people who simply refuse to work.
“Welfare must be a safety net for those who genuinely need it, not a lifestyle choice for those who can’t be bothered.”
The reforms could save the taxpayer £538 million a year by moving 350,000 benefits claimants onto a new “subsistence allowance”, the Tories estimate.
The party sought to justify its plans by suggesting it was unfair for taxpayers to shoulder the costs of long-term jobless benefits claimants.
In an LBC Call Kemi phone-in on Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch repeatedly took aim at Labour's record on welfare.
Challenged by a caller about whether or not she would take away benefits from disabled people who cannot work, Mrs Badenoch told Iain Dale: "Well, I'm not trying to get people who are severely disabled back to work. I'm trying to get people who can work who are not working, working back to work.
"The number of people who can work and aren't working is shameful, and what they're doing is actually making the support that's available for you actually less. People who can work who don't work are taking away from those who need the support. They're costing taxpayers money.
"We're actually borrowing, you know, to pay benefits. That's our children's money we're spending.
"So the kind of conditions that we're looking at clamping down on are conditions that you can work with—anxiety, ADHD, these might be difficult things for the individual, but they shouldn't stop people from working.
"We've seen an explosion in the number of people who are claiming to have these conditions, sometimes with no face-to-face—in fact, most of the time with no face-to-face assessment—and we can't afford it.
"We are—I think when we left government, there were 2,000 new people each day claiming out-of-work benefits. That number is now 5,000 new people each day. It's just not sustainable."
"So we want to make sure that we keep the benefit system as what it should be, a safety net for those who need it, for those who can't work, and the elderly as well who can't work, not a lifestyle for people who don't want to work."
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “We cannot go on like this – with millions of people living on benefits instead of in work. Britain can’t afford it. It’s not fair on taxpayers footing the bill. For people living on the breadline, work, not benefits, is the way out of poverty.
“A strong country needs people to work and contribute. But Labour have made it easier to claim and harder to get a job.
“We believe that if you can work, you should. And work should always pay better than benefits. Our plan gives people a safety net and a clear incentive to get a job.
“Welfare should recognise the contribution people make through years of work. We know people can fall on hard times. What you’ve paid in should make a difference to the support you get. Our welfare system should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice.”
Under the plans, every two years a UC claimant has worked would buy them an extra year on the full rate of the benefit.
The so-called subsistence rate available to those who have not contributed enough would be worth 70p for every pound of the full rate.
Those on the subsistence rate would be given a pre-payment card to access their benefits.
This could be used to buy food and other everyday essentials, and pay for bills. But it would prevent users from buying alcohol, cigarettes, placing bets or withdrawing cash.
People who are off sick, who are disabled, or who are claiming UC while in work, would be exempt and unaffected by the plans.
Further plans for welfare reform are likely to be revealed at the Conservative party conference later this month.
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman, said the Tories’ plan will not put a dent in the benefit bill.
“This welfare plan is so weak the Lib Dems could have authored it,” he said.
“The Tories left more people on long-term benefits and benefit fraud at record levels.
“Now they offer a spending card that won’t even put a dent in the coming £400 billion bill. It’s a sticking plaster on a wound they opened.
“Kemi’s latest decision to let the permanently unemployed go on claiming forever is tantamount to stabbing workers in the back.”
Meanwhile, Labour suggested the blame for problems in the welfare system lay with the Tories.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Conservatives had 14 years to fix our welfare system but they completely failed to make meaningful reforms.
“Now they are proposing an unworkable new card scheme, which does nothing to tackle the numbers of people their system left signed off and written off.
“While the bill for the taxpayer rose by £33 billion in their last year in government, this Labour Government is introducing effective and sustainable welfare reform alongside a £3.5 billion employment support package to help people stay in or return to work, and the national rollout of the jobs guarantee for young people who have been on universal credit.”