PM Andy Burnham refuses to put a number on welfare cuts and suggests cutting benefits would force people into crime
Louise Haigh, standing in as First Secretary of State at PMQs, declined to say when welfare spending — projected to reach £431bn by 2031-32 — would start falling.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham warned that "brutal cuts" to welfare would drive claimants into A&E, police stations and courts, costing the state more than it saves. He made the remarks in an interview with ITV News to commemorate reaching the 100-day milestone in office, declining to specify a target reduction figure and describing a focus on numbers as "politics done the wrong way." Chancellor John Healey had already been forced to backtrack after suggesting Labour would cut the benefits bill before the next election.
Burnham argued crude cuts to the £36bn welfare bill would simply shift costs onto the NHS and criminal justice system.
The PM insisted he would 'stick to his guns,' saying the right approach was getting people into work, not imposing arbitrary spending targets.
Burnham's welfare and economic approach was accused of reviving 'two of the worst ideas in history.'
