😕 Welfare Cap

• The welfare cap, designed to control public spending on welfare, has been breached by £8.6 billion due to higher spending on Universal Credit and disability benefits.

• The Government argues that the breach, which was forecast over 18 months ago, is unavoidable due to the economic and social policies inherited from the previous Conservative administration.

• The Labour Government is committed to reforming the welfare system to better support people into work, as part of their “Get Britain Working” initiative. This includes investing in jobcentres, reducing administrative burdens, and providing more personalized support.

• The debate highlighted that many people turn to welfare due to health issues, particularly among young people and those over 50, exacerbated by the failures of the previous government to address health and employment challenges.

• The Government is focusing on improving the NHS to help people get back to work, recognizing the link between health and economic inactivity. Plans include increasing GP appointments and addressing mental health crises.

• Critics argue that the welfare cap restricts necessary spending on benefits that help those in poverty, such as disability living allowance and housing benefit. There is a call to remove the cap and focus on a broader strategy to reduce poverty.

• The welfare cap was set at £195 billion by 2029-30, a 44% increase from the current year, with a £10 billion buffer. The Government defends this as a responsible approach to public finances.

• The debate also touched on the need to increase support for unpaid carers, address child poverty through policies like scrapping the two-child limit, and improve conditions for renters to prevent poverty.

• There is a consensus on the need for long-term strategies to support those furthest from the job market, who may require intensive support to achieve employment stability.

• The Government’s approach includes a youth guarantee to ensure young people have access to training, education, or work, and plans to link jobcentres with a new careers service to help people find not just any job, but good, fulfilling work.

The session exhibits a moderate level of disagreement, primarily between the current Labour government and the previous Conservative government’s policies and their effects on the welfare system. The disagreements are not overtly confrontational but are evident in the criticisms of past policies and the defense of current government actions. Below are detailed examples and explanations:

1. Criticism of Conservative Policies: Alison McGovern (Labour) repeatedly criticizes the previous Conservative government for the state of the welfare system, citing the failure to control spending and the human cost of their policies. For instance, she mentions the rise in universal credit and disability benefits expenditure leading to an £8.6 billion breach in the welfare cap, attributing it to the Conservative’s mismanagement and lack of planning (e.g., ‘What was the result of a decade of Conservative welfare caps? Repeated breaches of the cap, with ever higher limits.’).

2. Defense of Conservative Policies: Helen Whately (Conservative) defends the introduction of the welfare cap and universal credit by the Conservative government, emphasizing their intent to control welfare spending and promote work. She acknowledges the issues post-pandemic but attributes them to broader challenges rather than policy failures. She also criticizes Labour for not continuing with Conservative initiatives, suggesting they lacked a plan to manage welfare spending (‘But where are those plans? Unfortunately, she has not got any because, as I said, until now she did not believe any savings could be made.’).

3. Policy Disagreement: There is a disagreement over the effectiveness and continuation of previous policies. Alison McGovern responds to Helen Whately’s claim that Labour stopped important Conservative reforms by stating there was no ‘extensive plan’ left by the Conservatives for Labour to implement (‘I have to say that when I got into the Department for Work and Pensions, there was not an extensive plan available.’).

4. Calls for Reforms vs. Cap Maintenance: Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell (both Independent) argue against the welfare cap, suggesting it hardwires harmful decisions and limits future flexibility to address poverty. They emphasize the need for broader poverty-focused strategies rather than focusing on the cap (‘The thinking behind the cap was not about eliminating poverty from our society; it was all about limiting the level of welfare payments and the benefit that people gain from them.’). Conversely, Alison McGovern defends the cap as a necessary tool for controlling public spending (‘I did make the case for the overall welfare cap and for that policy at the beginning of my speech, because it is important that we have proper controls on public spending.’).

5. Implementation Critique: Kirsty Blackman (SNP) expresses doubts about the current government’s plans and their impact on reducing welfare spending, suggesting that without adequate support, the cap will remain impractical (‘We should first spend the money and solve the problem, and then the spend will reduce.’).

The disagreements manifest in critiques of past policies, defenses of those policies, and differing opinions on the current and future direction of welfare reforms. However, the session lacks heated exchanges and remains focused on policy impacts and future plans, leading to a rating of 2 on the disagreement scale.