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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Why Conservative benefit cuts won't get Britain working | Why Conservative benefit cuts won't get Britain working |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| These are desperate times for the government and I expected a desperate argument from George Osborne last week. This was when he would slash not only Britain's vital social safety net, but also help for working people – just at the very moment when he hands out tax cuts for the very rich. It's a vicious strategy and horrible politics. | These are desperate times for the government and I expected a desperate argument from George Osborne last week. This was when he would slash not only Britain's vital social safety net, but also help for working people – just at the very moment when he hands out tax cuts for the very rich. It's a vicious strategy and horrible politics. |
| Yet Osborne went still further. He disgusted me and demeaned the office of chancellor by using the crimes of Mick Philpott to support his attacks on people who claim benefit. David Cameron's decision to act as his chancellor's echo chamber was as predictable as it was depressing. | Yet Osborne went still further. He disgusted me and demeaned the office of chancellor by using the crimes of Mick Philpott to support his attacks on people who claim benefit. David Cameron's decision to act as his chancellor's echo chamber was as predictable as it was depressing. |
| They both want to play "divide and rule". To distract the public from their failure to get the economy growing and control the rising bill for unemployment, they point the finger at families struggling to get by in an economy where opportunity has grown very, very thin. | They both want to play "divide and rule". To distract the public from their failure to get the economy growing and control the rising bill for unemployment, they point the finger at families struggling to get by in an economy where opportunity has grown very, very thin. |
| The truth is that, for all their rhetoric about making work pay or supporting strivers, it is working families and those in real need who are footing the bill for the government's catastrophic economic failure. In the same week when millionaires receive a tax cut, families will on average lose £891 a year and 400,000 disabled people will be hit by a bedroom tax which is deeply unfair. | The truth is that, for all their rhetoric about making work pay or supporting strivers, it is working families and those in real need who are footing the bill for the government's catastrophic economic failure. In the same week when millionaires receive a tax cut, families will on average lose £891 a year and 400,000 disabled people will be hit by a bedroom tax which is deeply unfair. |
| The government's supposed reforms are not only heartless, but also hopeless. Housing benefit changes cost more than they save, tax credit changes are making families better off on benefits, the work programme has become all programme and no work, and universal credit is descending into universal chaos. Our "one nation" approach to reforming social security is very different. Instead of seeking to divide people, we want to ensure everyone plays their part so we can rebuild Britain together. | The government's supposed reforms are not only heartless, but also hopeless. Housing benefit changes cost more than they save, tax credit changes are making families better off on benefits, the work programme has become all programme and no work, and universal credit is descending into universal chaos. Our "one nation" approach to reforming social security is very different. Instead of seeking to divide people, we want to ensure everyone plays their part so we can rebuild Britain together. |
| I know as well as anyone that there are going to be difficult decisions. But let's be clear: the best way to save money is to get people back into work. As David Miliband put it earlier this year, the enemy within is not the unemployed, but unemployment. The biggest problem is not the rate of benefits being paid, but the number of people being paid benefits. That's why we need a different approach founded on three principles. | I know as well as anyone that there are going to be difficult decisions. But let's be clear: the best way to save money is to get people back into work. As David Miliband put it earlier this year, the enemy within is not the unemployed, but unemployment. The biggest problem is not the rate of benefits being paid, but the number of people being paid benefits. That's why we need a different approach founded on three principles. |
| First, people must be better off in work than living on benefits. We would make work pay by reintroducing a 10p tax rate and supporting employers who pay the living wage. Second, we would match rights with responsibilities. Labour would ensure that no adult will be able to be live on the dole for over two years and no young person for over a year. They will be offered a real job with real training, real prospects and real responsibility. This would be paid for by taxing bankers' bonuses and restricting pension tax relief for the wealthiest. People would have to take this opportunity or lose benefits. | First, people must be better off in work than living on benefits. We would make work pay by reintroducing a 10p tax rate and supporting employers who pay the living wage. Second, we would match rights with responsibilities. Labour would ensure that no adult will be able to be live on the dole for over two years and no young person for over a year. They will be offered a real job with real training, real prospects and real responsibility. This would be paid for by taxing bankers' bonuses and restricting pension tax relief for the wealthiest. People would have to take this opportunity or lose benefits. |
| Third, we must do more to strengthen the old principle of contribution: there are lots of people right now who feel they pay an awful lot more in than they ever get back. That should change. We should start by letting councils give priority in social housing allocations to those who work and contribute to their community. | Third, we must do more to strengthen the old principle of contribution: there are lots of people right now who feel they pay an awful lot more in than they ever get back. That should change. We should start by letting councils give priority in social housing allocations to those who work and contribute to their community. |
| Rather than divide and rule, we believe Britain can only overcome the enormous challenges we face if all of us – from top to bottom – play our part. | Rather than divide and rule, we believe Britain can only overcome the enormous challenges we face if all of us – from top to bottom – play our part. |
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