Sunak: Starmer will let welfare bill spiral out of control if he gets keys to No10

Sir Keir Starmer will let Britain’s welfare bill spiral out of control if he wins the keys to Number 10, Rishi Sunak has warned.

The Prime Minister said Labour did not think it was possible to save “a penny” in benefits spending, whereas the Tories wanted to see cuts of £12 billion a year.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Italy, he also pledged to bring back the proportion of people who are on ill-health benefits to the level it was at before the pandemic.

Mr Sunak’s remarks suggested that the Tories see Labour’s more lax approach towards benefits as a key dividing line to hammer in the election campaign.

His comments come after the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Tory spending plans implied a cut of around 3.5 per cent a year in unprotected departments.

The spending watchdog has accused both Labour and the Tories of a “conspiracy of silence” about where the cuts would fall.

Mr Sunak said: “The very clear difference in savings between us and the Labour party is I think you can make savings from constraining the growth in the welfare bill, the Labour party do not think that you can save a penny in the welfare bill.”

The Prime Minister pointed to a sharp projected rise in benefits spending, especially on handouts for long-term ill health like Personal Independence Payments (PIPs).

He said: “PIP alone is forecast to go up by 50 per cent in the next few years. The welfare bill has already gone up by I think two thirds, we now spend more on working-age welfare for people with ill health or disability conditions than we do on schooling, transport, policing – I could go on.

“And we have seen a massive increase since the pandemic.”

PIPs is a top-up sickness benefit, worth up to £740 a month, which is paid to people who struggle with “daily living tasks” and mobility to cover the extra costs they face.

Downing Street has been particularly alarmed by a post-pandemic surge in the number of Britons who suffer with mental health conditions claiming the handout.

The Prime Minister said there were a “very sensible set of reforms” that could be made to support people into work “because I think that work is good for them”.

“And if you just took the level of people who are on ill-health benefits back to where they were just before the pandemic - by the way, they were coming down every year before that - that would save you almost £35 billion,” he said.

“We’re not saying that, we’re just saying you can save £12 billion.

“So that’s what I think, and that’s the major difference between us - the Labour party don’t think you can save a penny, literally not a penny, from a welfare bill that is forecast to grow at rates that are clearly unsustainable.

“Again, that’s a clear choice at this election – if you want your welfare bill controlled, so we can use that money to invest in tax cuts and public services, we are the party that’s offering that.”

Responding to Mr Sunak’s comments, a Labour spokesman said: “This is the latest desperate announcement from Rishi Sunak, who has once again plucked numbers out of thin air in an attempt to disguise the fact that he has caused a spiralling benefits bill.

“These re-heated pledges, old policies and vague promises will not get Britain healthy or benefits under control, and do nothing to solve the fact that £10 billion of taxpayers’ money was lost to benefit fraud just last year.

“Labour has a plan to cut NHS waiting lists, get Britain back to work, make work pay and get the benefits bill down.”

Mr Sunak’s remarks came as Sir Keir Starmer’s campaign chief renewed Labour’s attacks on Tory plans to slash the overall cost of benefits.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, suggested the £12 billion of savings either did not exist or had already been realised.

He said that meant the Tories would have to find the money to fund their manifesto promises, including cuts to national insurance and stamp duty, from elsewhere.

“They cannot answer any questions about the massive holes in their own – particularly the unfunded commitments which could lead to a £4,800 hike in family mortgages,” he wrote in The Independent.

“They know the money isn’t there for their plans, and those are the questions we will continue to demand they address.”