British Prime Minister David Cameron is to launch a new welfare crackdown, depriving hundreds of thousands of young people of their housing benefits and forcing them to live with their parents.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Cameron said that the new plan was to transform a welfare system which discourages people “from working.”
Furthermore, The Independent reported that in an upcoming speech on welfare, Cameron is to announce measures such as abolishing most of the £1.8 billion in housing benefits paid to 380,000 under the age of 25 and forcing a hard core of unemployed to do community work after two years or lose all their benefits.
Nevertheless, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves, said the government should boost the economy and create job opportunities before launching a crackdown on the welfare system.
That’s not going to get the economy moving again, but also it’s making it harder to get the deficit down as well. So to get the benefits bill down you need an economy that’s growing and you need more people in work”, said Reeves.
Furthermore, Shadow Work and Pension Secretary Liam Byrne described the proposals as “hazy and half-baked” and, instead, called for “a serious back to work programme for young families”.
“Many young families with their first foot on the career ladder will be knocked off if help with their rent is taken away”, said Byrne.
