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Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Tories demand foreigners are banned from getting disability benefits as Kemi Badenoch seeks to tighten access to handouts after Labour's U-turn
The Tories are demanding foreigners are banned from claiming key disability benefits in the wake of Labour 's humiliating U-turn on welfare reforms. Kemi Badenoch 's party will attempt to change the Government's welfare Bill to tighten access to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit. The Conservatives will table an amendment proposing a requirement for eligibility for PIP to be determined by a face-to-face meeting, rather than virtually. They also want to prevent somebody from being classed as having a severe condition for the purpose of Universal Credit only by having anxiety, mild depression, or ADHD. And a third amendment would block a planned increase in Universal Credit and restrict PIP for some people who are not British citizens. It comes after Sir Keir Starmer was forced to shelve Labour's own plans to restrict eligibility to PIP, the main disability payment in England, in the face of a huge Labour rebellion. As he endured his worst week in office so far, the Prime Minister also witnessed Chancellor Rachel Reeves openly weeping in the House of Commons. She said her upset was due to a 'personal' issue, but it came as the welfare U-turn piled further pressure on Ms Reeves to fill a black hole in the public finances. Mrs Badenoch branded the Government's watering down of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill - now set to be renamed the Universal Credit Bill – as 'farcical'. The Tories will now look to lay amendments to the legislation with Mrs Badenoch due to deliver a major speech on welfare on Thursday. She is expected to say the Conservatives are 'the only party that is prepared to take the tough decisions to get spending under control'. 'I have no doubt that, emboldened by their success in forcing Starmer to U-turn last week, Labour's backbench MPs will now be eyeing up more concessions,' she will add. Under the Tory plans, PIP and both categories of Universal Credit health top-up would be limited 'to British citizens, excluding all foreign nationals', according to The Telegraph. There would be an exception for citizens from EU countries who have settled status, who are entitled to equal treatment under the Brexit deal. Under current rules, foreign nationals must prove that they have lived in Britain for two of the last three years to claim PIP. Helen Whately, the Tory shadow work and pensions secretary, said: 'The Government's welfare plans are in chaos. Instead of saving money, the welfare Bill we're voting on next week costs money. 'We've told them how to fix it: stop signing people off sick for mental health problems like anxiety, bring back face-to-face assessments, and only give sickness benefits to British citizens. 'If ministers had the guts to take up even one of these proposals, they could save billions – and spare the country from more tax rises this autumn.' Labour's original welfare proposals had been part of a package that ministers expected would save up to £5billion a year. Economists are now warning that tax rises are likely to plug the gap left by the concessions to Labour rebels, as well as Sir Keir's previous U-turn on axing winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. Ms Reeves has said it is impossible for her to rule out tax rises in the autumn, as she warned 'there are costs' to the watering down of the welfare bill. Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, has demanded the Office for Budget Responsibilty (OBR) watchdog carry out an emergency forecast to update the fiscal outlook in the wake of Sir Keir's climbdowns. In a letter to OBR chair Richard Hughes, he wrote: 'The public, Parliament and markets deserve clarity and transparency about the impact of recent events on the nation's finances and the Government's fiscal strategy.'
The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Keir Starmer should be bold and consider a wealth tax, Neil Kinnock says
Keir Starmer's government is suffering from a 'lack of narrative' about what it is trying to achieve and should be more fiscally bold and consider a tax on wealth, Neil Kinnock has said. The former Labour leader said too many of the government's achievements were being overshadowed. A year after a landslide election win, the party is struggling in the polls and has U-turned on policies including cuts to winter fuel payments and welfare. 'It's not a mess, but what has gone wrong is really the lack of a narrative, a story of the objectives of the government and where they're working towards it and how they're working towards it,' Kinnock said. The government had implemented 'a series of really commendable and absolutely essential policies', added Kinnock, who led Labour into two elections. But these policies, he said, had been obscured by controversies over things such winter fuel and welfare, 'all those negative things that really are heartily disliked across the Labour movement and more widely'. 'And that means that, apart from the distaste for undertaking those policies, the cloud hangs over the accomplishments of the government, which are substantial and will become greater.' Kinnock was scathing about the move by Jeremy Corbyn and other former Labour MPs to set up their own leftwing party. 'I understand the difficulty of thinking up a name, and in a comradely way, I'd suggest one: It would be the Farage Assistance Group.' Amid increasing speculation that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will have to raise taxes at the autumn budget, Kinnock said that while Labour's election focus on fiscal discipline was vital for restoring credibility, 'it did mean that they depressed expectations and limited themselves by saying they were going to rigidly stick to fiscal rules'. Kinnock said there was a risk of the government being 'bogged down by their own imposed limitations' and he believed a number of cabinet ministers would want more fiscal boldness. One option, he said, would be a form of wealth tax, which would be useful not just to raise revenue but as 'a gesture, or a substantial gesture in the direction of equity fairness would make a big difference' in a time when 'earned incomes have stagnated in real terms, while asset values have zoomed'. He said such a policy should target wealth above £6m or £7m, where a 2% tax would raise £10bn or £11bn a year. 'That's not going to pay all the bills, but it does two things. One is to secure resources, which is very important. But the second thing it does is to say to the country: we are the government of equity, and this is a country which is very substantially fed up with the fact that whatever happens in the world, whatever happens in the UK, the same interests come out on top, unscathed all the time, while everybody else is paying more for gutted services.'
Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Met commissioner calls for the axing of 43 county constabularies and the forming of '12 mega forces'
Sir Mark Rowley has called for Britain's 43 county constabularies to be axed and replaced with 12 'mega forces' in what would be the biggest overhaul of policing in 60 years. In a damning review of UK's crime fighting set up, the Met Police boss said the current system has not 'been fit for purpose for at least two decades'. Writing in The Sunday Times, Sir Mark said that bigger forces would be better able to utilise modern technology and would reduce 'expensive' governance and support functions. He said slashing the number of forces by two-thirds would make 'better use of the 'limited funding available' in a thinly veiled dig at Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Sir Mark said: 'The 43-force model was designed in the 1960s and hasn't been fit for purpose for at least two decades. 'It hinders the effective confrontation of today's threats and stops us fully reaping the benefits of technology. 'We need to reduce the number of forces by two-thirds, with the new bigger and fully capable regional forces supported by the best of modern technology and making better use of the limited funding available.' He characterised Chancellor Rachel Reeves ' decision to increase police funding by 2.3 per cent above inflation each year in the recent spending review as 'disappointing'. Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, last month warned forces were facing 'difficult choices' and some would 'struggle to make the numbers add up' as the cost of borrowing spirals. Some have increasingly relied on borrowing, and the cost of debt is expected to rise by 49 per cent in the next three years. 'Forces' borrowing costs have been going up because for the last decade, local forces have had no capital investment at all,' he said. 'The main capital investment has gone to big projects at the centre.' Force chiefs want greater say over how they structure their workforces, with the removal of restrictions on ring-fenced funding that was granted by the previous government to replace officers cut during austerity. Mr Stephens said policing needs a variety of workers other than officers, including cyber specialists, crime scene investigators and digital forensic experts, in the same way that 'the health service is much more than just about doctors'. He added: 'We know that the Government had some very difficult choices to make, as a consequence of this, policing is going to have some very difficult choices to make too.' Sir Mark has previously warned of 'eye-watering cuts' to Britain's largest police force with it revealed in April it faces a £260million funding hole in its budget. It will see the loss of 1,700 officers, PCOs and staff, although frontline services would be protected. However, other areas will face cuts including scrapping the Royal Parks Police, a 10 per cent cut to forensics, and the possibility of taking firearms off the Flying Squad. London Mayor Sadiq Khan last month delivered a public rebuke to Ms Reeves as he warned her spending plans risk ' levelling down London '. Sir Sadiq said he was 'disappointed' that the review unveiled by the Chancellor had not committed to new infrastructure in the capital. He also condemned the funding settlement for the police, saying the Met might have 'fewer police officers' as a result. Despite Labour's massive borrowing-funded spending splurge, some areas are facing tough restrictions due to the NHS sucking up huge resources. Yvette Cooper's Home Office is thought to have been one of the losers, with police funding seeing limited real-terms increases despite a pledge to recruit 13,000 more officers and staff for neighbourhoods in England and Wales.
