The government will not follow the advice of the previous Tory administration when it comes to slashing the welfare bill, a minister has said following reports the chancellor is eyeing up £3bn worth of cuts.
Work and pensions minister Alison McGovern said the UK was “paying the price of failure” from the previous government, with around 1.8 million people out of work who say they want a job.
Ahead of the budget, the government is looking to raise up to £40bn through tax hikes and spending cuts, to the alarm of some ministers who are concerned by the scale of the chancellor’s plans.
There have been reports that the Department for Work and Pensions is one target for cuts, with Rachel Reeves seeking to slash around £3bn from the welfare bill over the next four years by restricting access to sickness benefits.
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According to The Daily Telegraph, Ms Reeves hopes to achieve this by following the previous government’s plans to reform work capability rules by tightening eligibility, so that around 400,000 more people who are signed off long-term would be assessed as needing to prepare for employment by 2028/29 – a move that would reduce the benefits bill by an estimated £3bn.
Asked whether those who are not currently in work could expect to see their benefits cut, Ms McGovern said there had “always been rules” in the UK’s social security system, with a “duty on both sides”.
“People who are receiving social security have a duty to comply with those rules and the government has a duty to help people,” she said.
But she appeared to distance herself from the suggestion that Labour would follow the Conservatives’ blueprint, telling Sky News: “Like all departments, the Department for Work and Pensions has to make savings because the financial situation our country is in is not good at all.
“But I don’t think we should follow the advice of a Conservative government that failed over 14…
