All posts tagged: welfare

Politics Home | Andy Burnham Says He Wants To Use Devolution To Bring Down Welfare Spending

Politics Home | Andy Burnham Says He Wants To Use Devolution To Bring Down Welfare Spending

Published by Sam Flores

3 min read2 hr Andy Burnham has said he would take a “much more devolved” approach to getting people into work and bringing down welfare spending. Speaking to PoliticsHome in Makerfield on Friday, where he is standing as Labour’s by-election candidate later this month, the Greater Manchester mayor said: “We’ve all got to be concerned with getting the welfare bill down. “I don’t think there’s any debate about that, to be honest, it’s how you do it.” He argued that the best way to do so was through a more localised approach, rather than cuts made in Westminster. “It’s an overhaul that the Whitehall system can’t really make,” he said. “It’s an argument actually for dealing with this in a much more devolved way than it is currently done.” Burnham – who confirmed in a BBC debate on Thursday that he wants to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer in No 10 if his bid to return to the House of Commons is successful – told PoliticsHome that local and regional authorities should be empowered to give out-of-work people …

The Tories think they’re onto a winning plan — even as they keep losing – POLITICO

The Tories think they’re onto a winning plan — even as they keep losing – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The Tories are currently polling at 19 percent, according to YouGov — the same number the party was on before almost a quarter of the Labour Party called on its own prime minister to resign over his short-lived appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States. As Scarlett Maguire, pollster and founder of Merlin Strategy, said: “The Conservatives are in a very difficult position tactically. When they criticize Labour — they spent a lot of time working on the Mandelson story — who did it benefit? It benefited Reform.” Badenoch and her top shadow ministers think they can turn that around. The Conservative Party now has a plan to rebuild after a devastating loss in 2024. In the latest episode of the Westminster Insider podcast, POLITICO spoke to a dozen senior people in the party about how they hope to pull themselves back from the brink.  Competent, and maybe boring First up is demonstrated what one senior shadow cabinet member — granted anonymity like others in this article to speak freely on internal …

Reeves allies unleash on Miliband in battle for Britain’s Treasury – POLITICO

Reeves allies unleash on Miliband in battle for Britain’s Treasury – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The MP stressed that given both Burnham and the other main leadership contender, Wes Streeting, have signed up to Reeves’ fiscal rules it “doesn’t leave much margin for significant change anyway.” “The bond markets kind of make her bomb-proof,” another Labour MP argued, praising the incumbent chancellor’s record for steadying the economy in turbulent times. “The big clash between Rachel and Ed is over the North Sea,” this person added, referring to the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields whose licenses have been stymied by legal challenges. Reeves is seen as being in favor of their expansion, while Miliband puts more emphasis on the climate trade-offs. “So there’s a big fault line there. No wonder he wants her out of the way.” Another backbencher said they believed Miliband — who has made no public comment on whether he would want the job and remains in Starmer’s cabinet — would prevent “any meaningful welfare reform.” “Reverting back to a 2010-15 economic policy hymn-sheet” — the years when Miliband led the Labour Party to electoral defeat …

Why running Britain is so hard, no matter who does it – POLITICO

Why running Britain is so hard, no matter who does it – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Things can’t only get better  It wasn’t always like this.  The last Labour prime minister to win big before Starmer was Tony Blair. When he came to power in 1997, the U.K. had a bigger economy than China’s, was a leading member of the growing European Union trade bloc, and was approaching peak oil and gas production in the North Sea. Blair led Britain for 10 years.  Nearly three decades on, Starmer inherited a country that has never really recovered from the economic shock of the 2008 financial crisis, is menaced by Russia, and now relies on imports for its energy security.  Keir Starmer celebrates winning the 2024 general election with a speech at Tate Modern in London on July 5, 2024. | Ricky Vigil/Getty Images It has found no lasting remedy for the resentment felt by many communities (outside London, the still-flourishing finance capital) who — over several decades — have seen traditional manufacturing roles move inexorably overseas. as the global economy tilts towards China and other rising powers.  “We had a pretty incredible run from the mid-to late-1980s, through the 1990s, until the [2008] crash,” said Jim O’Neill, a former chief economist at Goldman Sachs and an ex-Treasury …

In defense of Germany’s Merz – POLITICO

In defense of Germany’s Merz – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Merz has not shirked away from public discussion across Europe about a more confident and militarily resilient Germany either, as the move inevitably caused some bemusement in Paris — in keeping with Gaullist tradition, French President Emmanuel Macron has been talking of “strategic autonomy” for years now — and was met with consternation in Warsaw. Late in the day though it may be for his country, Merz has shouldered this responsibility. And like many embattled leaders, while the chancellor is often criticized for devoting a disproportionate amount of his time to international affairs, this charge has little merit given that every aspect of global tensions is affecting the lived experience of voters — from food shortages to gasoline prices and terrorism. Still, by his own admission, progress on the domestic front has been slow. Asked in a revealing interview with Der Spiegel to rate his government’s performance so far on a scale of 1 to 100, Merz responded: “Below 50.” He didn’t shy away from repeated questions about arguments within the unpopular coalition, or about …

Keir Starmer’s stack of unfinished business – POLITICO

Keir Starmer’s stack of unfinished business – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

What happens next will hinge on two reviews: one by ex-minister Alan Milburn into the rise of under-25s not in employment, education or training, and a separate review by Disability Minister Stephen Timms into Personal Independent Payments (PIP) for sick and disabled people regardless of whether they work. Government officials insist they are still committed to reforming both systems before the next general election due in 2029. Milburn’s review is due to report back at the end of this summer and Timms’ is due in the fall. That means welfare reform is unlikely to be given a fixed bill in the May 13 king’s speech, but will be on the agenda all the same. Tension will be felt between the Treasury, Department for Work and Pensions and Starmer’s MPs, who all have ideas about the best way to balance spending cuts against reform.  People protest ahead of the budget in Downing Street, London, on Nov. 25, 2025. | Kymberley Apiro/Getty Images Chancellor Rachel Reeves initially hoped for nearly £10 billion of savings from the welfare …

Officers On A Welfare Check Relieved To Discover Elderly Woman Playing Video Game

Officers On A Welfare Check Relieved To Discover Elderly Woman Playing Video Game

Published by Jenni Sidey

We all have our vices, spending our free time totally engrossed in fun that we forget the world around us. Being elderly doesn’t make anyone immune to those activities, either.  Case in point, a 91-year-old Westlake, Ohio resident. When she didn’t answer any of her calls throughout the day, including her daily check-in, a welfare check was requested. It turns out, one of her newfound obsessions, a game on her phone, was distracting her.  Police were relieved when they caught the 91-year-old woman playing a video game on her phone. The concern began on April 9th, when the Westlake resident did not answer her daily check-in phone call, which was programmed through an automated system designed to send daily calls to vulnerable residents.  The system alerted a dispatcher, who also could not reach the woman. After contacting her daughter, who claimed that her mom should be home, the dispatcher sent police to her residence to conduct a welfare check. However, the police found a similar result when knocking on her door: no answer.  SHVETS production | Pexels …

Tenerife-bound easyjet flight forced to divert to Gatwick Airport after ‘welfare issue’ | UK | News

Tenerife-bound easyjet flight forced to divert to Gatwick Airport after ‘welfare issue’ | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

An easyJet flight departing from the UK and heading to a popular holiday hotspot was forced to divert to London following a “welfare issue”. Flight EZY3201 departed Edinburgh Airport at 3.35pm on Wednesday, April 22, bound for Tenerife South Airport. The Airbus A320 was scheduled to touch down in the Canary Island airport at around 8.05pm that same day, but was forced to divert to Gatwick Airport following the incident. Data from flight tracking app FlightRadar24 shows the aircraft travelling southwest at around 35,000ft over Brittany in northwest France. It then made a sudden turn to the northeast and proceeded toward Gatwick Airport, where it landed safely shortly after 5.30pm. The budget carrier has said that the flight was diverted due to a “welfare issue” but no further details have been release by easyJet. Despite the incident, it is understood the flight crew did not transmit a squawk 7700 code – the international code for a general emergency. Squawk 7700 is a universal aviation transponder code set by pilots to indicate a general emergency to …

Defence spending should not be a choice of welfare or warfare | Military

Defence spending should not be a choice of welfare or warfare | Military

Published by Sam Flores

I was pleased to see your editorial challenging the rightwing narrative from George Robertson, who is demanding less welfare and more warfare (The Guardian view on defence spending: should the UK’s security rest with Donald Trump?, 14 April). Why not extend the argument about the purpose of UK defence strategy to Nato more generally? The role of Nato is tied to the declining power of the US, as we can see when Donald Trump resents paying for it, but then expects support when he lashes out at other nations such as Iran. The fact is the Nato “alliance” has always been about an extension of American military power, a threat which triggers the increased militarism of other nations as a response. All the grand talk of alliance obligations will amount to nothing if the US opposes the action, something we will see for ourselves if Israel extends its regional wars to Turkey (a Nato member). Does anyone really believe the UK will be going to war against Israel if Turkey invokes the mutual defence agreement?Joe HartneyLondon …

Germany’s center left is on the brink of oblivion – POLITICO

Germany’s center left is on the brink of oblivion – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

The country’s non-starting “autumn of reforms” has already turned into the “spring of reforms,” with concrete proposals on several fronts yet to be reported. The initials results, on long-term care, are expected soon, followed by those on health care funding. After that, plans to reform the pension system are expected by June, so legislation can be drafted and submitted to parliament before it breaks for summer recess in July. Normally, all this would be a tall order for the SPD. But “major reforms must take place,” Klingbeil admitted in a recent keynote speech, and they must lead to “lower taxes, lower levies, less bureaucracy, competitive energy prices. In short: A country where work is worthwhile again.” This means the battle within the coalition will be focused on points of detail and priority that Merz and Klingbeil will argue over — both in private and performatively in public — to present their credentials to voters. But a much bigger question still looms over the SPD, just as it does with similar social democratic groupings in other …