Conservative Party conference: the Conservative vision for welfare reform
Directory of Strategy
Economic inactivity is one of the most pressing challenges that the Government faces. Britain is an international outlier in the trend since the pandemic, with increasing rates of inactivity driven by many different factors, and over 5,000 people now signing off as long-term sick every day. To get the economy growing, put the public finances on a sustainable footing, and give more people the dignity of work, it’s crucial to reverse this trend. What would a Conservative government do to tackle this challenge?
Here are my three takeaways from the panel discussion we had with Helen Whatley MP, Fraser Nelson, and Rachel Wolf:
Cross-party agreement is key
Welfare reform is the hardest thing leaders can do, because it involves taking money away from people. And in that context, there will always be mistakes, and scandals. Cross-party agreement is crucial, and plausible in many cases – most conservatives and progressive thinkers agree that the welfare state should provide a safety net, but that work is desirable and crucial for almost everyone. In that context, the current Government’s challenges securing support from their backbenchers to relatively small reforms which would still leave the welfare bill growing over the Parliament are just as vital to finding a solution.
Financial incentives matter
Conservative economic thinking, in the words of one panellist, takes human nature as it is, not as we’d like it to be. That includes a recognition that incentives matter. In many cases, out of work and sickness benefits (along with housing support) give a much better quality of life than a full time low wage job – even when they’re paid for by taxes on people doing those same jobs. The status quo is unsustainable when signing off work becomes the rational decision for many.
Learn from past successes
Previous conservative reforms, like Universal Credit in the 2010s, had a clear plan with lots of detail developed before going into Government. It included policy designs which could be quickly adapted and adopted by DWP, and allowed the Government to move quickly. Opposition parties have the space to consider these questions, and the Conservatives should be prepared for what the reality of enacting their ideas would involve.