Burnham-On-Sea MP Ashley Fox has warned that Britain’s welfare system is no longer working as intended, arguing that it should protect those in genuine need rather than discourage people from working.
Speaking in a Commons debate on welfare spending, Ashley says the system has drifted from being a safety net to becoming a trap for individuals, families, and the country as a whole.
“Britain’s welfare system was created as a safety net,” he said. “It is a system designed to protect people who face hardship through no fault of their own, but today, that net is becoming a trap for individuals, for families, and for this country.”
He said too many people now feel that “doing the right thing is punished, not rewarded”, and criticised the Labour Government for creating a system that “incentivises welfare over work”.
Ashley argues there is both a fiscal and moral case for reform, supporting his party’s plan to reduce welfare spending by £23 billion and focus support on those who truly need it.
“By making work pay less and welfare pay more, Labour are incentivising welfare over work, which is profoundly unfair,” he said.
He also criticised the Government’s plan to scrap the two-child benefit cap, calling it a political retreat “driven by fear of their own backbenchers”, that taxpayers should not be asked to subsidise larger families for those who choose not to work, but that “the chancellors plan to scrap the cap will no doubt be supported by the Lib Dems, Reform UK and other high spending left wing parties.”
