ANDY Burnham has warned benefits claimants they could face tougher rules as he vowed to get “serious” about cutting the welfare bill.
The new PM signalled a benefits crackdown by suggesting people may have to meet stricter conditions to keep receiving benefits.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Credit: PA
Labour is under pressure to tackle Britain’s ballooning benefits bill Credit: Cover Images
In his first major interview since entering No10, Mr Burnham said some claimants could be required to take up work opportunities if they wanted to keep receiving support.
He insisted there were people who could get back into work “with the right support”.
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Mr Burnham told the BBC: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.
“So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits.
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“I think it’s a good thing that the government has given guarantees of opportunities for young people.
“And I think we need to continue down that approach and where mental health support is needed, for instance, it’s provided in work to support people in an opportunity.”
He added: “Let me just say something more though, about you’re driving at, which is the welfare bill. I think we’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting the welfare down.”
But the Labour leader insisted he did not “go straight to blaming” people claiming benefits.
Instead, he argued many young people had been “quite seriously let down” because they had not received the support they needed while growing up.
The comments come after Labour’s welfare reforms descended into chaos after a backbench rebellion under Sir Keir Starmer last year.
Mr Burnham is now under pressure to tackle Britain’s ballooning benefits bill, with Sir Alan Milburn’s review warning more than one million young people are not in education, employment or training and a separate review under way into the disability benefits system.
Sir Alan’s final recommendations are due this autumn.
Elsewhere during the interview, the PM also issued a stark warning over the future of the NHS.
He said the health service would “collapse” unless Britain finally fixes the country’s social care system.
Mr Burnham vowed to spend “whatever political capital I have” on reforming social care but he stopped short of promising to deliver a new system before the next general election.
Pressed on whether he would do so, he said: “I can’t put a timeline on it right here, right now.”
He added: “If we don’t do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve really not needed to end up in the NHS system.”
