Andy Burnham Hints At Stricter Benefits Regulations

Andy Burnham has suggested he wants to make it harder for people to claim benefits in a bid to bring down the welfare bill.

The prime minister said “we’ve got to get really serious as a country” about reducing the amount of money the government spends on benefits.

He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that could mean increasing the conditions required to qualify for welfare payments.

His comments are likely to prove controversial with those on the left of the Labour Party.

Last year, Keir Starmer was dealt a devastating blow when he was forced to ditch plans to reduce the welfare bill by £5 billion following a rebellion by his own MPs.

Burnham is this week expected to set out how he plans to reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training – so-called NEETS.

He said: “There are people in the benefits system, young people in their 20s, who have been, I would say, quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there.

“So I don’t blame them. I don’t think the support has been there for them in the way that it should have been.”

Asked if his plans for the welfare system would see benefits cut or removed entirely for some people, the PM said: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.

“So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits.”

He added: “Let me just say something more though about. What you’re driving at, which is the welfare bill. I think we’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting the welfare bill down.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Burnham also warned that the NHS could collapse unless the UK’s social care crisis is solved.

The prime minister, who is set to outline his plans for the social care system this week, said: “Whatever political capital I have, I will put in to fixing broken social care and I would not want to leave office without having brought in the substantial change, the new system of social care that you described.

“ I can’t put a timeline on it right here, right now. If we don’t do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve really not really needed to end up in the NHS system.”

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