The Liberal Democrats insisted that they wouldn’t accept any more welfare cuts. But George Osborne still found a way to put welfare at the centre of his statement today as he sought to put, what he calls, the ‘welfare party’ on the back foot. It was a reminder that he remains a thoroughly political Chancellor.
There were a series of tough conditionality measures. The most headline-grabbing of these was that the around 100,000 people who claim JSA but aren’t proficient in English will have to learn the language or lose their benefits. The state, though, will pay for their language lessons.
Then, there is the Chancellor’s welfare cap – the measure that most excites Osborne’s team. He announced that he would exclude the state pension from it, in contrast to what Ed Balls has implied Labour would do. He also said that he would first set it in Budget 2014 and then update it in Budget 2015, just a month or so before polling day. I suspect that Osborne will set as eye-wateringly tight a cap as the Liberal Democrats will accept and then challenge Labour to match it. It is entirely possible that the cap could be set at a level that would necessitate further cuts in welfare spending.
Tomorrow, we’ll get the government’s list of capital projects. They are, essentially, announcing what the next government will do in terms of capital projects. Judging by today’s statement, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it contained a lot of road widening and bypass building in marginal seats.
Comments