Leaked research seen by Sky News reveals most people are concerned the welfare system is being abused and want those on benefits to be supported into work. It comes as ministers mull cuts that could put them on a collision course with backbench MPs.
false,Sunday 16 March 2025 16:57, UK
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The Conservatives will begin the process of formulating new policies this week as leader Kemi Badenoch seeks to rebuild her party after its catastrophic defeat last year.
A Conservative source said “nothing is off the table” in a process that starts on Tuesday and will see Mrs Badenoch task her shadow cabinet with coming up with proposals they can put before the electorate.
The source said: “Kemi is not afraid to make sweeping changes where necessary.
“The launch of this policy process will ensure the Conservatives are ready with a plan that will get government working for the British people once more.
“This will be in stark contrast to Keir Starmer and Labour, who have shown they had no plan and are making everything worse.”
The Tories ‘ “policy renewal process” echoes a similar approach taken under David Cameron’s early days as leader as he attempted to change the party’s image to beat New Labour, although not every proposal became official party policy.
Shadow cabinet members will lead the process in their respective areas, but will consult party members, supporters, thinktanks and other experts.
Since becoming leader last year, Mrs Badenoch has been reluctant to commit to many specific policies, saying she wanted to focus on Conservative principles and rebuilding trust instead.
The party faces a challenge of what direction to go in, as it faces a threat from Reform UK on the right but also lost many votes to Labour and the Lib Dems.
Ms Badenoch has made some commitments in response to Labour’s plans, including reversing their decision to charge VAT on private school fees and restoring the inheritance tax exemption for family-owned farms.
She may come under pressure to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as several prominent Conservatives including her leadership rival and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick have previously advocated.
With Mr Jenrick now in charge of the process for determining justice policy such a move could be back on the table.
Since taking office nine months ago Sir Keir Starmer has weathered party rows about winter fuel payments, the two child benefit cap, WASPI women, airport expansion and cuts to international aid.
All of these decisions have been justified in the name of balancing the books – filling that notorious £22bn black hole, sticking to the fiscal rules, and in the pursuit of growth as the government’s number one priority.
But welfare reform feels like a far more existential row.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting argued on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the current system is “unsustainable”.
Ministers have been making the point for weeks that the health benefits bill for working-age people has ballooned by £20bn since the pandemic and is set to grow by another £18bn over the next five years, to £70bn.
But the detail of where those cuts could fall is proving highly divisive.
One proposal reportedly under consideration has been to freeze personal independence payments (PIPs) next year, rather than uprating them in line with inflation.
Charities have warned this would be a catastrophic real-terms cut to 3.6 million people.
Concerned left-wing backbenchers are calling on the government to tax the rich, not take from the most vulnerable.
Read more from our political correspondent Amanda Akass:
A couple who were fined £1,500 after they found an “immigrant” in their motorhome’s bike rack have had the penalty cancelled.
Joanne and Adrian Fenton found a young man under the cover of their bike rack after returning home to Essex from France.
After reporting the incident to the police they were fined by the Home Office.
Speaking to Sky New’s The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee last week, Mr Fenton said he and his wife had checked their vehicle upon leaving France, the car was alarmed and border officials also inspected it at passport control.
They had no idea the man was there and called the police immediately.
The UK’s Border Force have now cancelled the fine after the pair raised an objection.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the Home Office would look into the case after it was raised in the Commons by the couple’s MP, Conservative former minister Sir John Whittingdale.
He said his constituents should be “thanked rather than punished”.
Under the UK’s clandestine entrant civil penalty scheme, drivers must secure their vehicles to prevent unauthorised access of migrants or face a fine.
Read More from Sky News here:
Wes Streeting has denied that Labour is “changing into the Tories” with its welfare reforms, amid speculation disability benefits could be cut.
The health secretary told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that it is “not a Labour argument to say that we want people consigned to a life of benefit”.
However he refused to be drawn on how the government is planning to get more people into work, saying contrary to media reports of internal divisions the proposals have “not been discussed” in cabinet yet.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to unveil a series of measures to cut welfare spending next week, ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spring statement.
Read More from Sky News:
We’ve been reporting on a leaked research briefing about the public’s attitude to welfare.
The document, by the think tank Good Growth Foundation, also had interesting findings about the two-child benefit cap.
Remember – this is the policy that saw seven Labour MPs lose the whip last year as they rebelled against the government’s decision to keep the cap in place.
The two-child benefit cap, which prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children, is seen by many charities and campaigners as a leading driver in child poverty.
According to the research document, the respondents backed the two-child cap but said parents should get vouchers for essentials.
They quoted one parent, a female swing voter, who said: “I’ve got two sons, and I always wanted a daughter, but I…knew that I couldn’t afford another child. So, …people are just having them, thinking that they can claim benefits for them. They can’t look after them.”
The research showed:
The majority of the public don’t want a punitive, hard-headed approach to welfare – but there is widespread concern about abuse of the benefits system.
That’s according to a leaked welfare briefing by the think tank Good Growth Foundation, which has been seen by Sky News.
The organisation, which campaigns for economic policies that grow the economy while reducing inequality, conducted a 4,000 person nationally representative poll across Great Britain.
It also held two focus groups with swing voters and Labour 2024 voters that are now intending to vote Reform UK, as well as six in-depth interviews with people on benefits.
The research found:
There’s a clear disapproval for the “one-size fits all” approach of the benefits system, with respondents feeling it provides inappropriate support to get people into work.
There is extensive awareness that physical and mental health issues are increasing, but the system is broken. People want a welfare state that is proactively engaging with those out of work, not writing them off and merely offering cash benefits.
Even though the public reject a punitive, hard-headed approach to welfare, there must be much more engagement with those on disabilities, with regular reassessments to test benefit eligibility, so that help goes to those who need it.
The key to reforming the system is to introduce policies that support and incentivise the employment of people with illnesses and disabilities in a bespoke way.
Some of the key statistics of the research include:
82% of those unable to work because of a health condition or disability say they want to work but can’t.
People believe the last Conservative Government badly handled both welfare and health, 55% and 61% respectively. This was even higher among Tory-Lab switchers, at 63% and 70% respectively.
60% believe that the welfare system provides too much support to people who don’t want to work – including 56% of Labour voters.
Wes Streeting was also asked about whether PIP payments could be frozen on the BBC with Laura Kuenssberg.
He repeated that he hadn’t seen the full plans as “they haven’t come to cabinet yet”.
“I think the moral of the story is wait for the plans.”
However in a possible hint of some of the reforms the government might announce on getting more people back into work, he said he thought doctors were “overdiagnosing” mental health conditions.
Asked whether he thought this was a problem he said: I want to follow the evidence and I agree with that point about overdiagnosis.
“Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis but there’s too many people being written off and, to your point about treatment, too many people who just aren’t getting the support they need.
“So if you can get that support to people much earlier, then you can help people to either stay in work or get back to work.”
Earlier this morning Health Secretary Wes Streeting was on Sky New’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips show.
He’s since been on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg to continue discussing the main two stories in Westminster today – the government’s upcoming welfare and NHS reforms.
Sir Keir Starmer announced this week NHS England would be abolished as there is too much duplication with the work the Department of Health and Social Care does.
Mr Streeting was unable to say which other health quangos might be scrapped under the plan, but acknowledged there would be “significant” job losses.
He told Laura Kuenssberg: “I’m going after the bureaucracy, not the people who work in it.
“Of course, I can’t sugar coat the fact that there will be a significant number of job losses and we will want to make sure we are treating people fairly, supporting them properly through that process. And I’m not criticising them, but I’ve got to make sure the system is well set up.”
Asked which other organisations could be abolished after NHS England, he added: “We will shortly be publishing the findings of Dr Penny Dash, who did a big review of the way in which we regulate in the NHS.”
He said there “is an overregulation” and frontline NHS leaders “are complaining to me that they could deliver better care for patients and they could deliver better value for taxpayers, but they are often receiving a barrage of commands – sometimes contradictory and competing demands – from the Department for Health, from NHS England and from the wide range of regulators in this space”.
Read more about the NHS’s plans here:
This morning’s politics headlines have been dominated by upcoming welfare reforms – and in particular what cuts to the benefits bill could be announced.
There have been reports a plan to freeze Personal Independence Payments (PIP) could be scrapped following backlash from Labour MPs.
This morning, Health Secretary Wes Streeting refused to be drawn on the media speculation, but said the government needed to do more to get people off benefits and back to work (see post 8.54)
Here’s a look at what the main benefits are that people can claim and what cuts could be announced:
Lord Ricketts has warned that fighting in Ukraine could continue for another year, as peace negotiations drag on.
When asked what the best possible endgame was for the war in Ukraine, he said it would end with Kyiv’s independence and the freedom to join NATO if it wanted.
However, “realistically”, he said Ukraine would likely not reclaim all of its territory.
He added: “I have to say, there’s quite a high likelihood that a ceasefire, even it can be achieved, won’t last, and that for the next year or so, we may well see the fighting continuing.
“Unless Trump is really prepared to double down on Putin and show him that there’s no way that he can continue this grinding war, that he’s prepared to arm Ukraine and support Ukraine in the end, then the factors that we were talking about, the weakness of the Russian economy will come into play.
“But I don’t see them pressuring Putin into a settlement soon.
“And unless Trump is prepared to do it, I fear this could drag on for some time yet. I hope not, but that’s what I fear.”
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