Haigh declines to commit to timing of welfare bill cuts at Commons questions as PM is in Antigua

Right · 2Louise Haigh, the First Secretary of State, answered questions in the Commons on 4 November in place of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who was at a summit in Antigua. 1 2 Right · 2Conservative frontbencher Alex Burghart opened by asking when the Government would cut welfare spending, and later asked whether it could "commit to reduce this record welfare bill" as part of its 10-year plan. 1 2 Right · 2Haigh said the Government had "been clear the benefit bill will come down" and that "We are taking steps already to bring the welfare bill down, and we'll take further". Both outlets report that Haigh did not give a timetable for any reduction. 1 2

Right · 1The Daily Mail reports that Haigh told Burghart he could ask the same question "four of five times" and receive the same answer. It also reports that Haigh did not give a figure for current working-age welfare spending, which Burghart put at £183bn, which he said was a record, above defence, schools and policing combined. 1 Right · 2Burghart said welfare spending "will go up every single year of this Parliament" according to the Budget figures, and argued the Government "isn't going to fix welfare". He summed up Labour's approach as "more tax, more welfare and more borrowing". 2 1 Right · 1The exchange followed confusion over Chancellor John Healey's post-Budget comments. According to the Daily Mail, Healey appeared on a BBC interview on Thursday to promise cuts before the next election, then retreated after Downing Street and Burnham said there was no deadline and no "brutal cuts". Healey later said it was "not correct to say that we're going to bring this welfare bill down in this Parliament" and that "The overall bill will come down under Labour". 1

Right · 1GB News adds that the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast benefits spending rising to £431bn by 2032, a rise of nearly 30 per cent. It says Burnham prefers moving young people not in education, training or work into jobs over what he calls "crude cuts", and that the Conservatives have proposed cutting £36bn from welfare. 2 Right · 1GB News also recalls that, as a backbencher last summer, Haigh helped organise a Labour rebellion against proposed £5bn annual cuts to disability benefits, which ended in a U-turn, and that Burghart suggested Haigh was likely among MPs described in remarks attributed to Pat McFadden about taxing to pay benefits. 2 Right · 1Burnham's 10-year plan is expected before the end of the year. GB News reports that Burnham argued on Tuesday that removing benefits would push people towards crime and strain the justice system. 2