Welfare Reform Bill

Julian Sturdy Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

It is a privilege to speak in this debate, and I strongly suspect that our exchanges in the House are being replicated across our country, such is the importance of this matter. People rightly care passionately about Britain’s welfare system, as has been evident from hon. Members’ contributions, but I cannot quite agree with the most recent comments made by the hon. Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies).

A society’s willingness and ability to help its most vulnerable individuals is a measure of its compassion and its economic and social well-being. Ensuring that Britain has an efficient, fair and caring welfare system is key. We do not necessarily have that at the moment, which is why radical and bold change is badly required. I am delighted to support the Bill, as it is radical and bold.

To accept the need for such reform, we must wake up to the facts. Over the past 10 years the welfare budget has grown disproportionately, by more than £56 billion. Despite that huge increase, almost 1.5 million people have been on out-of-work benefits for nine of those 10 years. Despite years of economic growth, job creation and increases in the welfare budget, a whole group of people have never worked at all. It is therefore time to review this broken system. After all, the simple truth is that Britain’s welfare arteries are clogged up. Too little support is reaching those truly in need and too much is being lost in bureaucratic incompetence—even more worryingly, it is being lost on people who should not be in receipt of such support at all.

In essence, the whole culture of our welfare system is wrong; the cost of maintaining it is out of control and the decision-making processes within it are woefully inefficient. The Bill is therefore right to focus on incentivising pathways back to work by ensuring that employment always pays more than benefits. That is fundamental to the Bill and, as a simple Yorkshire man, I feel that it is basic common sense.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Would the hon. Gentleman care to comment on the fact that his Government are cutting 1 million jobs in our economy—500,000 in the public sector, with a further 500,000 to go in the private sector as a consequence? If he genuinely believes that work is a pathway out of poverty, why does he support measures that will cause greater unemployment rather than enable people to get back into work? He has expressed concern about people who have been out of work for a long time, but they would be more likely to get an opportunity of employment in the public sector if his Government were not forcing through so many cuts.

[Julian Sturdy]

I agree that this Bill offers an important pathway back to work. We have to get more jobs in the private sector and restore the balance between public and private sector jobs, which was skewed by the previous Government—certainly in my region and in the north especially. The measures that this Government are introducing—I hope we will see more of them in the Budget—will incentivise private sector growth and job creation which, alongside the Bill, will get more people back into work.

It is a sad but well-known fact that the current system discourages those in low-paid jobs from increasing their hours, as rates of tax and benefit reductions often leave them worse off. This ridiculous situation helps only to dampen aspiration while increasing dependency in the benefits system as a whole. In addition, hard-working, taxpaying families, who are feeling the squeeze in these difficult economic times, should not subsidise the small but still significant number of people in our society who see the welfare system as a career choice. That must stop. By annually capping benefits, withdrawing support from those who refuse to work and increasing the financial incentives for those who do work, the Bill includes specific measures that will make work pay.

[Naomi Long]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman on the need to change the system to ensure that people do not aspire to live on benefits, but is that not more about changing people’s aspirations and their pathways to opportunity, rather than simply setting caps and putting difficulties in the way of those claiming benefit when they are in difficulty?

[Julian Sturdy]

It is about changing aspiration, which is what the Bill does. As my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley (George Hollingbery) said, it is about taking a carrot-and-stick approach. It is important to have certain caps on benefits, but we must also encourage aspiration to get people back into work. The current system did not do that. Instead, it dampened aspiration, which is why it is fundamentally important that we change the system. As many hon. Members have said, it is a case of now or never—we must grasp the nettle. The DWP estimates that the reforms could reduce the number of workless households by as many as 300,000 and that about 700,000 low-earning workers will be better off as they keep more of their earnings.

Administrative reform to our welfare system is long overdue; it is simply wrong that taxpayers’ money should be squandered recklessly as often happened under the previous Government. The creation of the universal credit, which will bring together various and often overlapping elements, such as jobseeker’s allowance, income support and housing benefit, and pay them in a single lump sum will cut administrative costs and reduce the risk of fraud. It is predicted that, as a result of the universal credit, just over 2.5 million households will receive higher entitlements, with more than 350,000 children and 500,000 working-age adults being lifted out of poverty altogether, as the shadow Secretary of State acknowledged earlier. That was the only thing he said that I agreed with, but it is important to mention that acknowledgement.

Lastly, and returning to my initial comments, the overriding objective of the Bill must be better to protect, equip and support the most vulnerable in our society. Too many of this country’s welfare resources have been diluted and too little has been directed at those in most need. To maintain the status quo would be to champion the cycle of dependency and despair that Britain’s welfare culture, as constructed by the Labour party, currently promotes. I know that many welfare claimants are apprehensive about the Government’s changes, but let the message go out loud and clear that those who are truly in need will receive more support, better targeted assistance and higher standards of care. I truly believe that is the motivation underlying the reforms and I strongly urge all Members to support this important Bill.