And another thing…

THERESA May says there is “a real risk of worklessness being passed on from generation to generation.”

No sh**, Sherlock…

Here is a woman who is either entirely unaware of her own party’s shameful record in government when it comes to benefits, or is trying deliberately to mislead the nation about her party’s history in power.

Today’s news that one in six households in the UK now has no adult at work is truly discouraging. But (and yes, there is a “but”) today, when the number of those dependent on benefits, particularly incapacity benefits, rises, that is a failure of government and, more specifically, of the economy.

When the number of people on long-term benefits rose under the Conservatives, it was a fulfillment of policy, and ministers ticked a box for every additional million chucked on the scrapheap and congratulated themselves on a job well done.

To Labour, long-term benefit dependency is anathema. To the Tories it was a price worth paying to get re-elected.

ALTHOUGH it’s probably inadvisable to return to the scene of the crime, this week’s second reading of the Child Poverty Bill has reminded me of how important it is that the issue of benefit dependancy isn’t swept under the carpet by any party.

There is a direct correlation between high levels of benefit dependency and poverty, particularly child poverty. And to those who say they can tolerate high levels of Incapacity Benefit caimants but not high levels of poverty, I have a very stark message: the choice is both or neither.

The aim of the Bill is laudable: effectively to outlaw child poverty by 2020 and to make its abolition a statutory obligation of government — any government. Fantastic!

But after the Bill makes its way onto the statute books, the hard work begins. How do we break the cycle of grinding poverty that has blighted a significant minority of our communties for so long?

The levels of Incapacity Benefit Claimants will, in fact, experience a significant reduction anyway in the next few years as many of those deliberately persuaded to claim it in the ’80s and early ’90s reach statutory retirement age and move off benefits and onto state pensions. But that’s not good enough. The best — the only — way of beating poverty is through work. And only by inculcating a new work ethic in our children can we break the generational cycle of benefit dependancy.

I honestly believe that our entire nation could be wonderfully transformed if we could get the vast majority of claimants into work, some for the first time in their lives. This isn’t just about saving money for the public purse (though it would certainly do that) — it’s about transforming lives.

Work is the answer. And those who claim that we should simply increase state benefits to help lift families out of poverty haven’t been paying attention for the last 25 years.