Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the government should revisit its plans to cut welfare, warning the country cannot afford the current bill.
Speaking on GB News he said: “Reform of welfare is now something everybody’s talking about.
“This is really important because the Tories are talking about welfare reform; Reform is talking about it too, and the Labour Party may be about to come back to it.
“Of course, a year ago, the Labour Party tried to cut some element of entitlement, but it didn’t succeed.
“There is a major pressure: this country cannot currently afford the welfare bill that it has. It’s rising too fast. Disability benefits have been going up too much, and the protections that there used to be are insufficient and that is providing a burden on taxpayers that is fundamentally unsupportable.
“There are demographic changes taking place as well, which means the population is aging, but it’s not the pension benefit that is the problem; it’s the out-of-work benefit that is the problem that has allowed welfare to become a lifestyle choice.
“I’ve spoken before about the wonderful, the admirable 6 million people in this country who still go out to work, even though they would be better off on benefits.
“That has to change, and changing that requires cuts. It’s not just about stopping the level of growth; it’s about making entitlement harder because entitlement has been spiraling out of control, especially since COVID.
“And with this extraordinary burst, this extraordinary growth in the number of people getting out of work benefits because of mental health conditions that really ought to be treated, as we know that mental health conditions can be made worse by unemployment. That’s part of it.
“There’s then the issue of the savings. Reform has identified £21 billion worth of savings from taking away payments to foreigners, people who aren’t British nationals and Irish nationals as well, for complicated reasons relating to Northern Ireland, they would remain entitled.
“This is an obvious thing to do. Why are we paying money to a lot of people who were born outside this country, who don’t have British citizenship, who aren’t, or shouldn’t be, entitled to get a free lunch off the British taxpayer.
“But actually there’s more that needs to be done. It’s about the level of entitlements, the rate of growth, the rate of increase in benefits, and the fact that welfare has become a lifestyle choice.
“But now everyone’s talking about it. The question is, will the government do anything about it? Because while opposition parties may suggest good ideas, it is always government that decides.”
