Healey pledges to reduce benefits bill but offers no firm timeline

Summarised from 4 outlets · Updated 1 Nov, 17:15 · Archive

John Healey has promised to reduce the benefits bill under Labour but declined to set a timeframe for the reductions.

John Healey has promised to reduce the benefits bill under Labour and said changes will start next year, but has not set a timeframe for when savings will materialise. The confusion arose after comments he made earlier in the week appeared to suggest the bill would fall before the next general election, leading to rapid clarification from Downing Street.

Speaking on BBC's Laura Kuenssberg programme on Sunday, Healey said: 'The overall bill will come down under Labour. We'll start the changes next year, and we'll bring that bill down.' He blamed media interpretations for the earlier confusion, insisting he 'never set out the timetable for savings'.

Healey acknowledged that the current welfare system is 'not working' and said the government is 'prepared to make hard decisions' on major cuts to public spending. He pointed out that the rate of increase in the benefits bill has slowed since Labour took office, claiming 'the numbers were booming under the Tories'.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that sickness and disability benefits could cost £100 billion a year before the end of the decade. The fiscal watchdog predicted that the Chancellor will need to find an extra £11 billion in his plans to prevent cuts to day-to-day public spending in the final three years of its fiscal forecast.

Healey said a government White Paper and legislation will follow two reviews due to be published this month: one by social security minister Sir Stephen Timms into the personal independence payment benefit and another by former health secretary Alan Milburn on young people and work.

How it is being reported

• Chancellor is STILL floundering on when Labour will cut benefits spending - as Burnham's ex-adviser warns Budget did nothing to reassure markets that books will be balancedJohn Healey failed to give any timetable for bringing down benefits spending as he had yet another go at clarifying his intentions.Daily Mail · 1 Nov, 13:19
• Healey insists welfare bill will come down under Labour but warns: ‘We never set a timetable for savings’The Chancellor delayed major changes to welfare until 2027 in his first Budget this weekThe Independent · 1 Nov, 12:13
• John Healey promises benefits bill ‘will come down under Labour’The Chancellor insisted he set out the timetable for changing the welfare system but never set out the timetable for savings.Evening Standard · 1 Nov, 10:48
• Labour will reduce ballooning benefits bill, claims John HealeyJohn Healey has vowed that Labour will reduce the benefits bill, after admitting the current system is “not working”. The Chancellor created widespread confusion earlier this week, after failing to clarify whether the ballooning cost of welfare will be cut before the next election by declining to put a timeframe to it. But Healey claimed [...]City AM · 1 Nov, 10:31

In this story: John Healey · Labour · Office for Budget Responsibility · Stephen Timms · Alan Milburn

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