As Paul Waugh notes, James Purnell’s article for the Times today (£) is striking for its attack on universal benefits. “I have never bought the argument,”
writes the former welfare secretary, “that universal benefits bind the middle classes in. It feels too much like taxing with one hand to give back with another.” Although this is, in
truth, a point that he has been making for some time. He said something similar in a speech back in April.
The question, really, is how much Purnell’s viewpoint will percolate down through Labour circles. During last year’s leadership election, it seemed as though universal benefits were to become one of the defining divides of this Parliament: with Labour standing up for measures such as the Winter Fuel Allowance and bus passes, and the coalition slowly stripping them away to hasten along deficit reduction.
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