Welfare Reform Bill debate tomorrow will define Labour - back to the 1970s again or supporting change?

Tomorrow the Labour party will have to debate the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill. It contains measures which the interim leader, Harriet Harman, said a week ago that Labour would not oppose.

Except that Corbyn, Burnham and Cooper [3 out of 4 leadership candidates] then said that actually they would oppose it. So Harriet backtracked and tried to come up with some sort of compromise that the warring factions of Labour can more or less agree on.

So, whereas previously the welfare reforms were ones which Labour should not oppose because people “want us to listen to their concerns and we’ve got to recognise why it is that the Tories are in government”, now they are unacceptable and hurt the poor. Todays Labour Party are oblivious to the way that the welfare system has caused millions of people to lead miserable, benefit-dependent lives without satisfaction or dignity. They should embrace universal credit, the Living Wage, the benefit cap and the reforms that will create a benefits system that helps people back to work, giving them hope of a brighter future. This will be a crucial test for Labour. Will it finally stand up for refrom, for people who work hard and do the right thing, and for those who want a way out of welfare? Or will it carry on with an approach that has failed our country.

Miliband will never reform welfare

Labour have opposed every reduction in welfare spending over the last 4 years. Every single one.

Indeed Miliband has made it clear that he wants welfare spending to go up, even though we are still clearing up the mess of Labour's debts, 5 million people on benefits in 2010, and the wider financial crisis. Ed has spent the last 4 years attacking every reduction in the welfare bill. There is never an alternative to how we balance the books - just criticism for us as Coalition in trying. On Monday he again proposes to criticise and hold a commons debate; at no place in that debate is he proposing an alternative; governments do not get every decision right - particularly when trying to balance the books as we have had to do but we cannot spend money we do not have any more, and that must mean welfare reform.  

Ed wishes to undermine the radical reform that is Universal Credit; he has proposed one reform himself, by tinkering around the edges of welfare policy. It will not last. Dan Hodges in the Telegraph makes the point very clearly: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100276909/theres-no-point-trying-to-fix-ed-miliband-labour-needs-to-work-out-how-it-can-move-on-from-him/

Appearing on BBC Radio Newcastle Monday morning at 8.03am

I will be discussing the Benefit cap on Newcastle Radio first thing. We need to be fair - to the person working at Egger and Tesco, fair in the ongoing support for those who need it and fair in our work to get the short and long term unemployed back to work. I think the benefit cap is a good thing - for the first time a government has grasped the nettle and capped benefit. Bear in mind it the cap is £26,000 a year for a couple. Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and the employment support allowance do not feature and will not be affected by this cap. We are specifically protecting those who cannot work, and those too ill to work, whilst making sure that work pays.