They built the benefits trap. By the time they were booted out in 2010, huge numbers of people found themselves trapped in the welfare state. The vast majority, who wanted to find work, faced being financially penalised for taking a job. It was immoral, socially harmful and costly to the economy and the taxpayer. Lives and communities were ruined, all by politicians who claimed the best intentions while doing so.
They opposed every single reform to fix it. As well as creating the conditions to assist job creation, welfare reform has been a crucial element of the jobs miracle which has helped over two million people to find work. And yet Labour have voted against every single proposal the Coalition brought forward.
Labour doesn’t think work should always pay better than benefits. The benefits cap was a revolutionary and extremely popular measure – founded on the simple principle that a life in work should always pays better than a life on welfare. And yet Labour bitterly opposed it when it was introduced. Instead, they proposed a faux-cap, limiting the overall welfare budget but not the amount each person can get, the crucial factor which influences each person’s decisions.
They want to reverse the so-called “Bedroom Tax” (even though they invented it). First, it isn’t a tax (the party of high taxes should probably have got that one right). It’s a straightforward welfare reform – if taxpayers are going to fund your housing, they should fund the number of rooms you need, not spare rooms as well. In fact, it’s so straightforward that Labour invented it, introducing a similar measure for tenants in the private sector in 2008.
They “don’t want…to represent those who are out of work”. Rachel Reeves’ now infamous comment says it all, really. Labour was happy to be the party that claimed simply throwing money at the welfare state was a solution to the nation’s problems. They don’t seem to care that every single Labour government has left higher unemployment than it inherited. They doubted every claim that the Coalition’s reforms would help to create jobs, and did their best to block them. Even now they can’t bring themselves to recognise the life-changing success of the employment figures. In short, they abandoned the interests of those trapped in unemployment long ago. Well, we conservatives are more than happy to represent those who are out of work – to give them the education, opportunity and motivation to get them back into the workplace and to let them get on with their lives. It’s worked for millions already – and given the chance it will work for millions more.