Labour is planning reforms to the welfare system in order to cut spending – but it appears that under immense pressure from its own MPs some concessions could be made.
false,Sunday 16 March 2025 13:15, UK
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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.”
UK-France relations have been “turbocharged” by the war in Ukraine and efforts to bring it to an end, Lord Ricketts told Sky News.
He highlighted the “interesting duo” that Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer made.
Macron’s “eight years of experience” with big international set-piece events and Sir Keir’s “political longevity” benefitted the pair.
He said: “They seem to be working extremely well together.
“And that is good because we are the two natural leaders of security in Europe, the two biggest military forces.
“It’s good to see Britain back at the heart of European security.”
While he raised questions over the viability of a European peacekeeping force without the US, Lord Ricketts said that there were other methods of pressuring Russia to the negotiation table.
Lord Ricketts highlighted how Saturday’s meeting touched on some of these ways of supporting Ukraine and countering Russia.
“More arms, more equipment, tighter sanctions on Russia, using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction in Ukraine, that’s all pressure on Russia,” he said.
He added: “If we’re going to get Russia to a sensible negotiation around the table, there’s got to be serious pressure on Russia – we’ve not seen much of that so far”.
This morning’s next guest is Lord Peter Ricketts, a retired senior diplomat.
He spoke as talks to bring about the end of the war in Ukraine continued this week and Sir Keir Starmer hosted a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing” this weekend.
However, he warned that Sir Keir’s plans for a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine would be a “considerable risk”.
The former national security adviser stressed the prime minister had done an “excellent job” pulling Europe together following the disastrous White House meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, “now you’ve got to ask the tough questions”, Lord Ricketts said. “What would a European force actually do in Ukraine?” he asked.
He said any deterrence force, that is effective, had to be willing to fight Russians in Ukraine, and a “cast iron American guarantee” would be the best route to avoid any potential fighting.
“I don’t think Trump is going to give that kind of commitment, while I admire the work going into it … I think a formed fighting force is a considerable risk without an American clear guarantee,” Lord Ricketts told Sky News.
He said he didn’t think that guarantee would ever be forthcoming from the US president.
Lord Ricketts also warned that, given Russia’s opposition to a NATO force in Ukraine, any similar presence would be opposed one way or another – whether that’s through direct force or the “dark arts” like denial operations and sabotage.
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