By Peter Hoskin
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And
the word of the day is “cap”, as in “benefits cap”. You might have heard it during
Iain Duncan Smith’s growling appearance on the Today Programme
earlier, or read it in Grant Shapps’ article
for the Daily Telegraph. For today’s the day when the Government extends what
is effectively a £26,000-a-year cap on the out-of-work benefits that can be
claimed by a single household across the whole country. So far, it’s only
applied in four London boroughs.
To
mark the occasion, CCHQ has released the infographic at the top of this page. Actually,
I say “infographic”, but it’s a more a digital raspberry blown in Labour’s collective
face. As we know, and as per the polling that’s available, the Tories think
they’re on to a vote-winner with this cap. Hence Shapps’ confidence, in that
Telegraph article, that “Labour are miles behind” on welfare. Although, as I’ve
said
before, he and his colleagues shouldn’t allow that confidence to spill over
into callous rhetoric – there’s more to Iain Duncan Smith’s reforms than lazy
lines about “scroungers” and “shirkers” admit.
It’s
all a reminder of how significant the subject of welfare promises to be during
the next election campaign. To my mind, there are three main areas of contention
between the parties. Briefly:
Much
of this coming battle may be unedifying, but one thing that can be said for it
is: it will more specific than that waged in 2010. Back then, deficit reduction
was spoken of mostly in abstraction. Next time, there’ll be actual cuts and counter-cuts
to chew over.