—The recent headline in a national daily newspaper (I will leave you to guess which one) was: ‘Revealed: how much you pay towards the benefit bill.’ The article then presented analysis of what people’s taxes are currently spent on. This presentation, however, focused on ‘welfare benefits’ lumping together all welfare spending into one figure and stating that most of our tax is spent on ‘welfare benefits’. The government’s misleading narrative that most ‘welfare’ spending is being spent on ‘benefits’ for ‘shirkers’ or ‘scroungers’ was thereby helpfully reinforced.
As the Institute of Fiscal Studies had disaggregated the proportion of our taxes spent on social security for 2011-12, it is relatively easy to identify different elements of social security spending. In reality, only 2.57 per cent of social security spending goes on benefits for the unemployed; the main contribution, 42.3 per cent, is on benefits for the elderly, and most of this on the basic state pension.
This once again raises the issue of the disingenuous way social security is being portrayed in the media and by the government. When it was reported that 900,000 people on incapacity benefit had dropped their claim rather than undergo a medical assessment for the new employment and support allowance, my colleague on the work and pensions select committee, Sheila Gilmore, raised similar points about the use of statistics. The true figure was 19,000. And the committee has also repeatedly warned the Department for Work and Pensions that it must ensure its press releases do not contribute to pejorative or inaccurate reporting of people receiving social security.
But with 30 per cent of the population undecided about social security – and so potentially persuadable – Labour must also be making constructive arguments about welfare. Analysis of British Social Attitudes survey data going back to the 1980s calls into question the claims that there is a decline in support for welfare. More than 90 per cent of people support increasing or keeping the same level of spending on health, education and social benefits. Trend data shows the British public are a good barometer of what is just, with their support for welfare spending increasing during the Tory administrations of the 1980s and 1990s and decreasing when Labour was in power, with support now rising again. Evidence shows that, when the purpose of social security is explained, who it is for, and why, far more people from all age groups are likely to support it.
We have a tightrope to walk. Labour needs to be seen as economically competent but we also need to offer hope to those who are suffering now and make it clear that they will not be forgotten. We need to ensure welfare spending is not profligate, but in reforming our welfare system so it is fit for the 21st century we should look at the evidence. We must also remember why we developed our model of social welfare, protecting any one of us should we fall on hard times, assuring us of our dignity and the basics of life, and giving us a hand up, not a hand out.
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Debbie Abrahams MP is a member of the work and pensions select committee
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