Labour launch blitz on sickness benefits to get workshy Brits back to work
WORKSHY Brits have been warned “welfare is not a one-way street” as the Government launches a blitz on sickness benefits.
Sir Keir Starmer and his welfare chief Liz Kendall are preparing an all-out offensive to get people back to work.
It is the Government’s “duty” to rescue people from the “welfare scrapheap” and curb our bloated benefits bill, Downing Street believes.
Ministers think job centres are not working and want to create new “one-stop shops” with GPs, jobs advisers and trainers under the same roof.
Mayors are expected to be handed powers to run them.
This will be the biggest reform to the system in a generation, insiders said.
A Whitehall source said: “People have rights, but also have responsibilities. Welfare is not a one-way street.
“It is not fair on people to leave them on the welfare scrapheap for years on end.
“And it is not fair on tax- payers to expect them to pick up the bill. We will transform jobs centres to get more people back to work.
“It’s this Government’s duty to fix the system, curb the benefits bill and get Britain working once and for all.”
Some 2.8million are out of work on the sick, the highest in history, which has sent the benefits bill soaring.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to slash billions from the welfare budget and has warned of “tough decisions”.
Plans to reform the broken system will be set out with the Budget on October 30.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor is facing a Cabinet revolt over her ultra-tough spending plans.
One government insider said she is playing “hardball”, while another said “non-core departments will get absolutely rinsed”.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is fuming over her plans to cut £2billion from the foreign aid budget.
But No11 is considering shelving plans to hike taxes for private equity investors amid fears it will not raise any extra cash.