Welfare U-turn makes spending decisions harder, minister says

2 hours ago Share Save Joshua Nevett Political reporter Share Save

Watch: Bridget Phillipson does not commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap

Spending decisions have been made “harder” by the government’s U-turn on welfare changes, the education secretary has said, as she did not commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap. Bridget Phillipson told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that ministers were “looking at every lever” to lift children out of poverty. But she said removing the cap would “come at a cost” and insisted the government was supporting families with the cost of living in other ways. It comes after a rebellion of Labour MPs forced the government to significantly water down a package of welfare reforms that would have saved £5bn a year by 2030.

The climbdown means the savings will now be delayed or lost entirely, which puts pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the autumn Budget. Before its retreat on benefits, the Labour government was considering lifting the two-child benefit cap, a policy that restricts means-tested benefits to a maximum of two children per family for those born after April 2017. About 1.6 million children live in households affected by the cap, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimates that axing the policy would cost the government about £3.4bn a year and would lift 500,000 children out of relative poverty. When pressed by Kuenssberg on if the chances of getting rid of the cap had diminished, Phillipson said: “The decisions that have been taken in the last week do make decisions, future decisions harder. “But all of that said, we will look at this collectively in terms of all of the ways that we can lift children out of poverty.”

Phillipson and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall are leading a child poverty taskforce, which is looking at the case for removing the cap, among other policy options. The taskforce was expected to publish a strategy for reducing child poverty in the autumn. The government launched the taskforce last year, at a time when it was being urged by opposition parties and some Labour MPs to scrap the two-child benefit cap. There is still a big appetite to lift the cap among many Labour backbenchers, especially those who were leading opponents of the planned cuts to welfare. In May, Phillipson said “nothing is off the table”, when asked whether the government was considering lifting the cap. But speaking to the Guardian newspaper on Friday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was “not wedded to any specific policy” to reduce child poverty. In that interview, Reeves said it would be “irresponsible” for a chancellor to rule out tax rises and said “there are costs to what happened” with welfare.

Ministers ‘pushed ahead too fast’ on welfare reform – Phillipson

– according to the Education Secretary.

Ministers “pushed ahead too fast” and “didn’t listen enough” on welfare reform, the Education Secretary has said.

Bridget Phillipson also said that future spending decisions had been made “harder”, when asked about the prospect of the two-child benefit cap being scrapped.

Ms Phillipson told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that she was “not going to pretend that it hasn’t been a tough or a challenging week” after ministers were forced to scrap their plans for the personal independence payment (Pip) in the face of a backbench revolt.

“I’d be the first to acknowledge that, both in the pace and the nature of what we set out, we didn’t get it right, but we do need to reform the system we’ve got,” she said.

Asked about the Prime Minister’s authority, the Education Secretary said: “What the Prime Minister has said, and what I also believe, is that what we set out, we pushed ahead too fast, we didn’t listen enough to people, including, I would say, including to lots of people who had concerns about the nature of that change.”

Ministers have warned MPs that there will be financial consequences to the decision not to reform Pip as planned.

Labour backbenchers have also been pushing for the Government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

When asked if there was now less chance of the cap being scrapped given the costs that come with Tuesday’s decision, Ms Phillipson told the BBC that ministers were “looking at every lever and we’ll continue to look at every lever to lift children out of poverty”.

Pushed on whether the likelihood of the cap going was now slimmer, Ms Phillipson said: “The decisions that have been taken in the last week do make decisions, future decisions harder.

“But all of that said, we will look at this collectively in terms of all of the ways that we can lift children out of poverty.”

Meanwhile, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride had written to the budget watchdog asking whether a new updated fiscal forecast was in the works after Labour’s U-turns on welfare and winter fuel.

In his letter to the Office for Budget Responsibility, Sir Mel said: “The public, Parliament and markets deserve clarity and transparency about the impact of recent events on the nation’s finances and the Government’s fiscal strategy.”

The Conservatives will try to change the Government’s welfare Bill to tighten up access to Pip and universal credit by laying a series of amendments this week.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will also pledge that the Tories are “now the only party committed to serious welfare reform” in a speech expected on Thursday.

Football clubs should contribute more to the £70 million cost of policing their matches, the head of the Metropolitan Police said.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley called for a “polluter pays approach” and questioned why organisers of events which require policing to support their security do not pay for it.

It comes after Sir Mark called for the creation of 12 to 15 bigger police forces as part of what he described as “the first serious reform of our policing model in over 60 years”.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Sir Mark said the current system of 43 county forces had not “been fit for purpose for at least two decades”.

He added that bigger forces would be better able to utilise modern technology and would reduce “expensive” governance and support functions.

Sir Mark said: “The 43-force model was designed in the 1960s and hasn’t been fit for purpose for at least two decades. It hinders the effective confrontation of today’s threats and stops us fully reaping the benefits of technology.

“We need to reduce the number of forces by two-thirds, with the new bigger and fully capable regional forces supported by the best of modern technology and making better use of the limited funding available.”

He also characterised Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to increase police funding by 2.3% above inflation each year in the recent spending review as “disappointing”.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley leaving BBC Broadcasting House after appearing on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg (Jeff Moore/PA) (PA Wire)

Put to him on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that he did not get the money that he had hoped for in the spending review and was already planning to cut 1,700 officers, then asked how many he is going to have to cut now, he said: “So we’ve cut 1,600 over the last couple of years… 1,700 officers and staff this year, that 3,300 out of an organisation just over 40,000 is a big hit.”

Sir Mark said they have not got all of the details on the spending settlement but he is “nervous about whether we’ll be able to make ends meet with that” which is why he is calling for police reform.

Put to him that he had warned he would have to de-prioritise some crimes, and asked what the force will not investigate, Sir Mark said: “So I don’t want policing activity to fall off the list, and I know that the mayor and the Home Secretary have pushed hard for the most police funding that we can get.

“We are determined to improve day in and day out experiences of Londoners on the streets. We can only do that if we focus ruthlessly on police work.

“When new recruits join they expect they’re going to spend most of their time protecting the public, enforcing the law, catching criminals. Within a couple of years 80% of them are saying ‘I spend most of my time safeguarding the vulnerable, that’s critical work, but that’s not the core work of policing’.

“So we need help to cut away some of these areas where other pressed public services have effectively pushed work to the police. There are 80,000 missing children from children’s home a year in the country. That is really problematic.

“It also falls elsewhere. Policing of football matches across the country, mainly Premier League, cost policing £70 million it doesn’t get back from football clubs. In London, it’s more than a third of that.”

Sir Mark was asked how many officers he would have to cut (Jeff Overs/BBC) (PA Media)

He said there should be a “polluter pays approach” adding: “If you’re running a profit making event that because of the nature of it, requires security, requires policing to support your security because of the criminality that is going to be experienced, why isn’t the organiser paying for that, rather than local communities who lose their resources to go to football matches?”

Sir Mark said the police reforms are “essential”, adding: “If we look at the spending on policing and public safety from the 80s through to the noughties, it was a much higher level than it is today. Over the last decade or more, the proportion that governments are prepared to put to policing is much lower. I don’t see that changing dramatically.

“So we’ve got to make the best use of every pound that governments can give to us.”

Man charged with attempted kidnap at park splash pad

Image source, Cardiff Council Image caption, Police were called to Victoria Park on Thursday

Author, Oscar Edwards Role, BBC News

2 hours ago

A man has been charged with two counts of attempted kidnap after police were called to a splash pad in a popular park.

Officers were called to the free attraction at popular Victoria Park in Canton, Cardiff, at about 12:00 BST on Thursday after a number of reports raising concerns about a man’s behaviour in the area.

Some were concerned the man had been taking photographs or recording children at the park, but officers found he was not in possession of such devices after searching him.

South Wales Police said Moynul Janu, 34, of no fixed abode, had also been charged with two public order offences and remanded in custody.

Grade II listed Victoria Park, in the west of the city, was opened in 1897 and one of the first parks in the UK to receive a restoration grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 1995.

Hospital helipad closes for 10 weeks

Image source, Royal Preston Hospital Image caption, Patients will be transferred by road to the hospital from another helipad

3 hours ago

A hospital’s helicopter landing pad will be closed for 10 weeks due to building work.

The North West Ambulance Charity said the landing pad at Royal Preston Hospital would be “temporarily inaccessible” due to “essential building works”.

The helicopter pad will be out out action from Monday, but another one will be used at Fulwood Barracks two miles (3km) away with patients then driven to the hospital.

A charity spokesperson said: “This temporary arrangement ensures that patients in urgent need of specialist trauma care can continue to receive timely treatment without disruption.”

Get in touch Tell us which stories we should cover in Lancashire Contact form