Spring Statement provides some relief, but probably not for long March 26, 2025 The Spring Statement offered some reasonably good news on growth, but the margin for error is incredibly slim and the chances of further painful tax rises in autumn are high, says Julian Jessop Not quite a non-event, but it could have been a lot worse. Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement is unlikely to do any significant [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Reeves makes further cuts to Universal Credit March 26, 2025 Further cuts will be made to Britain’s welfare bill – but only save the government £3.4bn rather than the £5bn originally thought – Rachel Reeves has announced in the Spring Statement. The Chancellor has confirmed there will be further reductions to the cost of benefits, and to government spending, after the Office for Budget Responsibility [...]
Spring Statement 2025: More welfare cuts to come March 26, 2025 MPs and voters will “hear more” from the Chancellor on welfare cuts at the Spring Statement, the defence secretary has said. John Healey has appeared to confirm that further cuts to welfare spending will be required because the budget watchdog has said previously-announced measures will not save the £5bn a year expected by 2030. The [...]
Voters will punish Labour if rhetoric on welfare doesn’t match reality March 20, 2025 Much like the previous Tory administration, this Labour government’s political downfall risks being driven by a vast gap between its promises and actual delivery, says Matthew Lesh The government has announced reforms aimed at getting the rising number of post-Covid jobless into the workforce and reducing the welfare bill. The Prime Minister presents the initiative [...]
More than half of Brits are ‘reliant on the state’, think tank says March 19, 2025 More than half of the UK population are reliant on the state for income, a leading think tank has said. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall on Tuesday announced a string of welfare reforms aimed at getting Brits back into the workforce. But the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) has suggested that the number of those [...]
Don’t ask business to ‘shoulder more burden’, CBI chief urges March 19, 2025 The government should not “ask businesses to shoulder any more of a burden”, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) chief has warned in the wake of the welfare cuts. Work and pensions secretary Lilz Kendall announced on Tuesday a raft of welfare measures she said will help bring more working age people back into jobs. [...]
Welfare reforms: What are the politics of Labour’s benefits changes? March 19, 2025 Over the past few weeks, it’s been hard to avoid reports of the government preparing the ground for a string of changes to the UK’s welfare system. Call it kite flying, pitch rolling, or testing the waters, when work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall got to her feet in the House of Commons on Tuesday, [...]
Liz Kendall unveils welfare reform package aimed at saving £5bn by 2030 March 18, 2025 Liz Kendall has unveiled a major package of reforms to the UK’s welfare system with the aim of saving the government £5bn by 2030.
Health Secretary declines to be drawn on benefit freeze ‘speculation’ March 16, 2025 A senior minister has declined to be drawn on whether the government will freeze personal independence payment (PIP) as uncertainty continues to surround Labour’s upcoming benefits reforms. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to announce reforms on Tuesday aimed at cutting a welfare bill that ministers have described as “unsustainable”. Ahead of the [...]
Ministers must get a grip of broken benefits system, Reeves insists March 15, 2025 Rachel Reeves has doubled down on the need to reform the welfare system, insisting the government must “get a grip” on it amid concerns from Labour MPs about the impact of expected cuts to the budget. The benefits system is “broken” and is “not working for anyone”, the Chancellor said. Backbench Labour MPs have made [...]