His comments follow criticism from Penny Mordaunt that welfare rates should rise in line with inflation.
The effect of benefit policy changes on the incomes of working-age adults and children since 2010 has been an average loss of £375 per year compared with a boost to pensioners of £510 per year.
When numerous existing schemes are ill-publicised or difficult to sign up for, vulnerable people miss out on much-needed help.
A new ConHome series offering a very short introduction to some of those who are making or who have made an intellectual contribution to conservatism.
The problem is that spiralling spending demands quickly use up the options which voters don’t notice. Eventually you need other big sources of revenue,
The recent debate on free school meals has shown, among many things, the impact of local civil society non-state organisations.
He will have to be more than a kind of North London John Smith if he wants to do more than just profit from the Government’s misfortunes.
Britain imposes uniquely heavy burdens on low-income workers with dependants, which create a huge drag on social mobility. Profound reform is needed.
My answer would be “maybe, provided the spending or tax cuts significantly improved our growth potential.”
Listening to conversations in Westminster in recent days, I fear a number of misconceptions will drive bad decision-making.
Our Moggcast interviewee contributes the second article in a three-part mini-series on reform to the adult social care system.
This strategic approach has brought sizeable benefits in the field of security, and could work for welfare, too.
Despite polarisation on Brexit, there is more agreement among voters than often appears – and therefore more cause for optimism.
A ‘helping hand’ payment for new claimants, more disability advisers, and an obligation for the state to pay out on time would all help.
With war tipping economies into a downturn across the world, unemployment will be near the top of the in-tray for the new PM. But long-term problems with the welfare state remain.