The chancellor Jeremy Hunt defends his plan to reform benefits, saying the government is willing to “make difficult decisions” and that he will “halve” the number of welfare claimants. Mr Hunt goes on to say “many of those people would like to work” and be “less dependent” on the state.
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00:00 If we are going to keep the tax burden down, and I would like to see it fall even further
00:05 over time, we're going to have to be disciplined over public spending.
00:09 And we have shown that we are willing to take difficult decisions.
00:12 For example, over the welfare budget, where we are making very important reforms that
00:19 will halve the number of people who are given a benefit.
00:22 At the moment, it's 100,000 people a year who are told, you're not just on benefits,
00:27 but you don't even have to look for work.
00:29 We think that's wrong.
00:30 That means our national workforce is shrinking by around 100,000 people a year, and we are
00:36 going to put a lot of investment into helping more people look for work.
00:41 Those are difficult decisions.
00:42 They're the right thing to do for the individuals and the right thing for the economy.
00:46 If we do that, we absolutely believe we can control public spending and protect the services
00:52 people depend on.
00:53 If you're saying to someone that you are too disabled, too ill to even look for work,
01:00 you are parking that person in dependency.
01:03 And I think that is profoundly wrong for the individual.
01:06 Many of those people would like to work, they would like to contribute to society, they
01:10 would like to be less dependent.
01:13 And what we're going to be spending is two and a half billion pounds over the next five
01:17 years helping people get back into work.
01:20 For example, helping half a million people get mental health treatment.
01:25 Our default should be that if you are having difficulties because of health or a disability,
01:32 we treat you first.
01:33 We don't just give up on you.
01:35 And this is also, of course, very important for businesses because we have a million vacancies
01:39 in the economy.
01:40 So it's the right thing for them and for the individuals.