I do not believe this Government will ever cut payments for young people, writes GB News columnist Carole Malone
Since stepping off that hugely expensive private Government jet at the weekend after a trip to Manchester (shouldn't the "man of the people" be taking the train?), Andy Burnham has announced he is going to crack down on youth benefits.
He says the one million-plus young people who are currently out of work, education or training will be stripped of benefits if they do not agree to training or voluntary work.
Let me be clear – I desperately want him to do this. I desperately want him to tell those one million young people, many of whom have made being on benefits a career choice: “Get off your backsides and get a job, or the benefits stop." However, I do not believe he will do it.
Currently those young people suffering from ADHD and/or a whole host of other mental health issues can get up to £180 a week in PIP payments – that is £720 a month for doing absolutely bugger all.
So why would any of them bother busting their chops to get a job when PIP pays more than they are ever likely to get by working? If this Government has achieved anything in the last two years, it has convinced people work does not pay. But lounging around on benefits does.
I do not believe this Government will ever cut benefits for these young people, and I do not think they do either.
Why would they believe it when time and again Labour has proved it sees everyone on benefits as helpless, deserving victims? And as Burnham is further to the Left than most of them in Labour, they know he is going to be in their corner.
Anyway, who is going to drag these young people out of their beds to do this voluntary work? Are they going to send round teams of Territorial Army types to prise them away from their laptops and onto the streets to do good work for their communities? No, they are not.
And is Burnham – our resident revolutionary Commie – really going to be seen to be taking benefits from young people who claim they cannot work because of their “mental elf"?
It is just not in his political DNA to do it – despite the fact the UK has the highest prevalence of mental health problems in OECD, at 27.8 prt cent, which is way higher than the EU average of 20.6 per cent.
Of course, there are not really 27 per cent of young people suffering from mental health problems here, are there? There are 27 per cent who claim they are, which is the difference. Many of them have never been properly assessed, yet still this Government throws money at them when they say they are a bit depressed.
Which is why I think this is all just superannuated spin from Burnham because in this Parliament alone benefits are likely to go up by another £70billion.
Yet if Burnham wants to convince us he is serious about this, why not tell us how he is going to do it and, more importantly, when? Look what happened when Sir Keir Starmer tried to cut the benefits bill – there was a hard-Left rebellion, and they threatened to oust him if he did not back down.
What is to stop another Labour civil war from blowing up in Mr Burnham’s face and destroying what is left of this shambolic party?
That said, the one thing Mr Eyelash has got going in his favour is he has not been in the job a fortnight yet, and so the Hard Left cannot realistically try or even threaten to oust him. He is still the Messiah, albeit with no mandate.
If he is going to do this, he needs to do it fast before the Left starts clipping its wings.
Make no mistake, it will be a hugely popular move with the electorate who are despairing at watching a whole generation of young people using any excuse not to work. First, it was Covid. Now it’s their mental health.
Of course, there will always be those with serious mental health problems who cannot work and may never work. Those people must be taken care of. It is what a civilised society does.
Before we go doling out benefits to those claiming to be a bit anxious, they must be properly assessed.
They have done it successfully in the Netherlands, which has the same prevalence of young people with mental health problems as we do. What they have done is set up a system that differentiates claimants with some capacity to work from those with none. That capacity is determined by rigorous evaluation, through medical documentation and educational records. Even people who are found to be partially disabled or incapacitated are still expected to work or volunteer.
Many of those volunteering renovate playgrounds, litter pick, serve coffee in community centres, and read to children in schools. All the while, they still have to be looking for a proper job – or there are no benefits for them.
Are we really going to do that here in Britain? And if so, how much is it going to cost to set up the scheme, evaluate everyone on PIP and organise these volunteer schemes?
Like most of his policies so far, I bet Burnham has not properly thought this one out or costed it.
Yes, he has only been in Downing Street for a week, but already he is looking like a leader who speaks before he thinks, who makes promises he cannot keep, who has been told by the IMF not to go on a spending spree, and who is on course to blow £96billion in a splurge that will bankrupt Britain.
To the million young claimants terrified our new Prime Minister is about to blow your lives on easy street apart: have no fear!
