Kemi Badenoch’s newly announced benefits crackdown has received a scathing assessment from Richard Tice.
Speaking to GB News, the Deputy Leader of Reform UK declared the move a “modest Lib Dem-style sticking plaster” on an issue which “they created in the first place”.
Under the new plans from the Tory leader, long-term jobless benefits claimants could be banned from spending their welfare payments on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling.
Mrs Badenoch says the changes would also see Universal Credit payments slashed for those who haven’t made consistent contributions to the system, calling it currently “unfair to workers”.
Offering his verdict of the plan, Mr Tice told GB News argued that the “gaping wound” that is the welfare system was something “the Tories created in the first place”.
He said: “The truth is that this is a sort of modest Lib Dem-style sticking plaster to the gaping wound that the Tories created in the first place.
“Welfare soared under the previous Tory regime, and the idea that they’re now the people who are going to stop this and solve this, it’s ridiculous.”
Mr Tice stressed that amid predictions that the benefits bill is set to balloon to a staggering £407billion by 2031, Mrs Badenoch’s planned reforms are merely a “drop in the ocean”.
Richard Tice has hit out at Kemi Badenoch’s ‘sticking plaster’ welfare cuts
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GB NEWS / PA
He said: “Not only have they not actually released their costings, but these numbers are literally a drop in the ocean compared to the tens of billions from Reforms plans.
“Including, by the way, which the Tories will not do, are plans including not paying any welfare to overseas nationals, some £15billion a year.
“For the Tories, this is just sort of soggy Lib Dem stuff, the sort of thing you might have expected from Ed Davey earlier this week. It’s ridiculous.”
Pushing back on the deputy Reform leader, host Mark White argued that the measures announced by the Tories are “showing willing” to cut the welfare bill, unlike Labour.
‘Welfare must be a safety net for those who genuinely need it, not a lifestyle choice for those who can’t be bothered,’ Mrs Badenoch said | PA
Mr Tice responded: “Well, they’re showing showing a tiny toe, because they realise that we’ve led the way on this. That’s the reality. But the problem is that many in their parliamentary Conservative Party, they just don’t believe in this sort of crackdown.
“They believe in all this soggy, gooey stuff. The reality is work is a great thing, and if you can work, you should work and you must work. And they just won’t do what’s necessary to make a proper indent into the colossal and growing benefits bill.”
The Reform deputy made clear: “People are sick and tired of all the talk, they want action. And the real action is when Reform says we’re not going to pay benefits to overseas nationals because the clues in the name, work.
“We were told that we needed immigration for people to come to work to fill the jobs. Well, in which case, if you’re not going to work, then why are you here? It’s as simple as that. That’s the really big number that needs to be gripped.”
Mr Tice told GB News that the numbers are a ‘drop in the ocean’ compared to the ballooning benefits bill
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GB NEWS
Taking aim at the type of benefits being awarded to Britons, Mr Tice argued that “mild anxiety” is not a reason to be paid benefits by the system.
He said: “Things like mild anxiety, many people get that. I’m sure occasionally when you start on your morning breakfast show, you have mild anxiety.
“The reality is we all have a bad Monday. That doesn’t mean you can get up and and phone the doctor and claim that you need to go on benefits.
“It means, actually, that you’ve got to crack on and and get out. And the best way to cure anxiety is to get busy, get engaging with people, socialising with work colleagues and have that sense of satisfaction, and that’s what Reform is all about.”