Here are Theresa May’s answers to the questions put forward by CoffeeHousers last week:
John Moss
“Is a time of financial crisis when many people are losing their jobs not the best time to push through radical reform of welfare to gain public trust in the system and get control of cost.”
John, I agree with you that radical welfare reform is long overdue. I wish it had started earlier, such as in 2007 when David Freud published his groundbreaking report, which was at the time rejected by Gordon Brown. But yes, the recession cannot be used as an excuse for not bringing about the reform that we need. That is why we are supporting the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill although it doesn’t go far enough. The Government is still being too timid, which is why we have called on them to go further, for example by changing the Treasury rules so that savings in the benefit system can be invested in a greater use of voluntary and private welfare-to-work providers.
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