Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has doubled down on her plans to crack down on benefits payments in a fiery GB News grilling.
Speaking to Breakfast hosts Ellie Costello and Mark White, Mrs Badenoch argued that the policy is “common sense” and “tough love” for young Britons.
Mrs Badenoch has set out plans to block long-term jobless benefits claimants from spending their welfare payments on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling.
Britain’s long-term unemployed could see their benefits slashed by a third under a Conservative Government.
Challenged on the policy, Mrs Badenoch was asked whether the move was “unfairly targeting young Britons” who are receiving benefits.
The Tory leader said: “Let’s just remember what benefits are for – they are a safety net, not a lifestyle. There are currently 1.1 million people who are assessed as being able to work who are out of work, that’s the cohort.
“And what we’re saying is that after six months, we’re going to be pushing you into a job. That’s most important for young people because they’re the ones who, if they start off on benefits early, they may never, ever get a job.
“They need to get that experience. So this is not punishment, this is tough love. It’s a really, really important thing to remember that the best welfare is a good-paying job.”
Kemi Badenoch has doubled down on her plans to block benefits claimants from spending on alcohol and cigarettes
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GB NEWS
Pushing back on Mrs Badenoch, Mark argued: “But if you don’t have businesses incentivised to be able to take young people because of being clobbered by all kinds of taxes, how on earth are you going to get them to take on these youngsters?”
The Tory leader agreed: “I 100 per cent agree with you. It’s not Government that creates jobs, whatever Andy Burnham says, all he can do is make more politicians and more civil servants. What job creation requires is businesses free to do what it needs.
“That means lower taxes, that means scrapping regulations that are actually hammering business. We’ve said that Labour’s Employment Rights Act, which is actually stopping people from hiring, is just going to be gutted. Most of the things in that act are actually harming job creation.”
Mrs Badenoch stressed that she is doing “everything she can” to make sure there is work for Britons across the retail and hospitality sectors.
Benefits claimants will be banned from spending taxpayer cash on alcohol, gambling and cigarettes under the plans | GETTY
She told GB News: “Just this week, I announced tax-free shopping for tourists. Lots of people said, why are you doing that? It’s because if those people come here, they spend money that’s not in our economy. And a lot of retailers are saying that they’re not seeing the visitors.
“So we’re doing everything we can. It’s not just about benefits, it’s also about making sure that there is work for people to go to. Retail and hospitality creates so many jobs, so we want to back that sector.”
Quizzing Mrs Badenoch on the decision to block purchases of alcohol and cigarettes, the Tory leader was grilled on whether she is “infantilising” those on universal credit.
She said: “It’s not their money, it’s taxpayers’ money, this is the thing that we keep forgetting. The state is not telling any of us how to spend the money we earn. But if people are being given taxpayers’ money to survive, then we don’t want them gambling with it.
“We know that alcoholism and being out of work actually correlates, so we want to get people into work. It’s not just about the money. The money is important, but it is also about what kind of country we are.
Mrs Badenoch told GB News that it is ‘common sense’ to implement the policy
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GB NEWS
“We are a nation of people who work hard, who get on in life. We’re not a nation of people who just decide that they don’t want to work.”
Asked how she would tackle those who inevitably would “find a way around” the ban, Mrs Badenoch told GB News that the policy is the “right thing to do”.
She concluded: “We know some people will do that, but we can’t design policy in such a way that we don’t do anything because the toughest people to reach won’t abide by it.
“We believe that this is the right thing to do. It’s common sense. I want people to see the Conservative Party bringing common sense back. It doesn’t mean everything will be easy, it means we’re going to have to make some difficult decisions. But it is not right that some people work so hard and get very little, and others are not working at all and are getting their lives paid for by the state when they can work.”