On Monday 13th January 2014, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, David T C Davies spoke in a debate on welfare reform. David made the point whilst undoubtedly people were genuinely suffering due to the reforms, there needed to be cuts made to welfare spending to recover from the economic mess left by the previous Labour Government.David highlighted in order to remove the perverse incentive that can make it better to be on benefits then on low paid work it was a priority to reform the Welfare State.
Commenting on the speech David stated: “We cannot shy away from the fact that some people are suffering due to the welfare reforms and spending cuts introduced by this Government.
However, to tackle the twin problems of workless and economic devastation left by the last Labour Government, which led to a deficit of £160 Billion and a debt rising rapidly to £1 trillion, the Government had to make difficult decisions to cut spending and reform the Welfare State. It would have been irresponsible not to, considering we are still having to borrow around £10 Billion a month and it is important to show international lending organisations we are seriously about cutting borrowing, we must continue to cut spending.
Then we can return to the Welfare State as it was intended, a safety net for those in genuine need, but not discouraging work through creating a dependency trap, where people are better on benefits than in low paid work.“
You can see a copy of David’s speech on welfare reform in the House of Commons here.