Just to recommend David Freud’s comment piece in the Times today. You’ll read few clearer explications of the welfare dependency problem and of the reforms enshrined in today’s White Paper. In spite of Freud’s role as a government adviser, he even hints at one of the more malignant Brownies*: the willful shifting of claimants off JobSeekers’ Allowance and on to incapacity benefit (“…about 2.6 million still on incapacity benefit. In origin this phenomenon no doubt reflected government massaging of the unemployment figures.”)
In terms of potential, at least, the welfare reform plan being announced today is one of the more important political events of the past decade. There is so much it could improve: from the lives of those in sink estates to the health of the macro-economy. But there are still a couple of major questions hovering over it.
The first is one of practicability: I, for one, am confident that welfare reform can be introduced during a downturn, but we still need to hear more about whether, say, private companies remain keen to get involved in welfare-to-work schemes.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in