Minister insists cabinet is ‘united’ as Labour set to slash billions from welfare bill and PIP: Benefits cuts – live – UK Times

The Government cannot “tax and borrow” alone to reform the state, Pat McFadden said.

Asked whether money from expected cuts to the benefits bill could be found elsewhere, as has been suggested by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are always going to be people who say ‘elsewhere’. We have a progressive tax system. The top one per cent pay about a third of tax.

“I don’t think you can, in the end, tax and borrow your way out of the need to reform the state. The Prime Minister spoke about reform of the state in a major speech last week.

“We are reforming the state in more ways than one, and part of an essential reform of the state is to make sure that the welfare state that we believe in as a party is fit for the 21st century, and we cannot sit back and relax as millions, literally millions of people go on to these benefits with little or no hope of work in the future, and we have a duty to face up to that.

“It goes with the territory of governing.”

People with conditions like secondary degenerative multiple sclerosis will not be treated the same as those with conditions that may be temporary, Pat McFadden said.

Asked whether people severely disabled with such conditions would need to be assessed again and again for support, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t want to pre-empt what the announcement will be but I think for people in circumstances where it’s clear they can never work and are not going to get better, and in fact it might be a degenerative condition that gets progressively worse, then people should look out for how that’s treated in today’s announcement, because I think those kind of conditions will feature today.

“And obviously you’re not going to treat somebody in those circumstances the same way as someone whose condition might be temporary and with a bit of support they could go into work.”

Pat McFadden has said Labour can be held together in the coming days amid backbench anger over expected welfare cuts.

Asked whether he could hold the party together in the days and hours ahead after Diane Abbott criticised the decision to invest in defence while cutting the benefits bill, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told BBC Breakfast: “Yes I can, and let me say two things. First of all, we’ve got a duty to defend the country, and the Cabinet, the Government has completely agreed on the need to increase defence expenditure.

“Secondly, we are spending tens of billions on supporting people, and we’ll continue to do that in the future, but if there’s a proportion of the increasing number of people going on to these benefits who we think with a bit of extra support we could get into work, that is entirely in line with the values of the Labour Party and entirely in line with the duties of any Government, which is to face up to the big challenges facing the country.

“And it’s in that spirit that the Government will bring forward its reform package later today.”

People on long-term sickness benefits should not “languish there forever,” Pat McFadden said as he confirmed reassessment reforms would be among welfare changes set out by the Government on Tuesday.

Asked whether support for people with mental health conditions should be “time-limited,” the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told Times Radio: “We do think it requires support, but we don’t think it renders people permanently… reassessments will be part of the package announced today.

“We want people, if they’re on long-term sickness benefits, not to languish there forever, but to be reassessed.

“There have been too few reassessments in recent years.”

Turning to the topic of Israel, Pat McFadden said Britain will use “whatever diplomatic influence we have” to try to get a ceasefire in the Middle East restored, Pat McFadden said.

Asked about Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told Sky News: “We will use whatever diplomatic influence we have to try and get that ceasefire restored as soon as possible.”

Asked whether Israel had been emboldened by US support so that the UK is irrelevant in the dispute, Mr McFadden said: “I don’t believe that’s the case.

“I think the UK has diplomatic influence. Obviously we work with allies to try and exercise that influence, but… I still think the UK’s diplomatic voice is counting in a stronger way in the world now than was perhaps the case a year or two ago.”

The Cabinet is united behind Government plans to take on the growing benefits bill, Pat McFadden has insisted.

Asked whether the whole Cabinet supported the move, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster told Times Radio: “Yes, I believe the Cabinet is united behind taking on the issue of the growing benefits bill.”

He said the current system “leaves too many people in a permanent state of dependence on benefits without the opportunity of work.”

Thousands of Government credit cards will be axed in an attempt to slash “wasteful” spending, according to reports.

The taxpayer-funded procurement cards were created to make low-value, one-off purchases but spending on them has rocketed in the past four years.

The Cabinet Office has told ministries to freeze almost all of the 20,000 cards right away and aims to slash half of the cards in circulation by enforcing a strict new application process.

Holders will have to outline why they need them or see them cancelled by the end of the month, the BBC reported.

More details on the rumoured billions in welfare cuts Labour plans to announce this week have been revealed as reports indicate ministers are looking to shave £6 billion from disability benefits claimed by millions of people.

Nigel Farage’s unveiling of 29 new Reform UK councillors fell apart within less than an hour as it emerged just nine are new, with only three of those standing for election.

The Reform leader used a press conference at a swanky London hotel on Monday to unveil the slew of new councillors, claiming their defections proved “this party is very much on the up”.

But the lack of high-profile names among new defectors fed speculation that a steady stream of turncoats has largely dried up as a result of a bitter spat between Mr Farage and Rupert Lowe, the ousted ex-Reform MP.

The Conservatives said Mr Farage was seeking to distract from the open warfare engulfing Reform and hoodwink journalists. Tory officials pointed out that while Mr Farage claimed all the councillors had defected in the past two weeks, four had joined Reform a month or more before the press conference.

Archie Mitchell and David Maddox have the full report:

The Conservatives are going to “confront the real problems” starting with energy and net zero, Kemi Badenoch will insist as she launches a self-described “policy renewal” process.

The Tory leader will say she is not making a “moral judgment” on net zero or debating whether climate change exists, but that the target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 cannot be achieved without a drop in living standards.

The policy renewal pledge will see shadow cabinet members set core priority questions as a move towards formulating new policy for the party. The party may commission external reports on certain questions.

In a speech on Tuesday, Mrs Badenoch is expected to say that cutting energy costs and reducing the impact on the environment are “noble aims” but that the current policies are “largely failing” to improve nature and “driving up the cost of energy”.

“We’re falling between two stools – too high costs and too little progress,” she will say, adding: “Net zero by 2050 is impossible. I don’t say that with pleasure. Or because I have some ideological desire to dismantle it – in fact, we must do what we can to improve our natural world.

“I say it because anyone who has done any serious analysis knows it can’t be achieved without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us. And responsible leaders don’t indulge in fictions which are going to make families poorer.”