Too often the debate on welfare is unbalanced. There is an extreme that believes everyone on benefits is a scrounger and another extreme believes anyone claiming benefits is a victim of circumstance and society. The reality is somewhere in between those extremes.
Many British people have watched as millions of people from overseas have migrated to Britain, found work and started to pay taxes. Those same British people may have though that the reason why other Briton’s could not find work was because there was no work and now wonder why people who don’t know our language or culture can just walk into work.
There is an increasing understanding that the British welfare system had been corrupted and that, rather than being a safety net, the welfare system was forcing people into a life of welfare dependency. Many people who wanted to work were told by the government that they should stay on benefits to be better off.
The reforms of this Conservative led government have seen more than 1,800,000 more people in work than under Labour. In the last three months, more than 90% of new jobs are full time. In Bolton West unemployment is down by over 30% since Labour was in power.
We are changing the welfare system so that it supports people into work and that you will always be better off in work than on benefits. Labour has opposed every single benefit reform of this government and has opposed our benefit cap of £26,000. That is £26,000 tax free that Labour believes is too small an amount for people on benefits when the average taxable wage of Bolton residents is thousands less.
Labour is even proposing to remove our benefits cap and this could see people living in London receiving up to £54,000 on benefits. Why should the people of Bolton West pay Londoners the £54,000 in benefits that Labour want them to have?