The Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced a range of cuts to benefits payments in the Commons on Tuesday in a bid to save money and get people back to work. On the evening broadcast round that followed, Labour MP and pensions minister Torsten Bell was quizzed on Newsnight about what exactly the reforms would mean. But rather than reassuring viewers, Bell’s tone-deaf interview has left benefits-receiving Brits even more concerned about their futures.
Challenging the Labour minister on how the welfare reforms will affect young people, the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire put it to him that ‘some young people are going to be living on around £70 a week’. Bell, ex-chief of the Resolution Foundation think tank, pushed back, telling his interviewer that ‘people with significant disabilities will be protected’ via the Universal Credit system and personal independence payments (PIP). It didn’t quite answer the question, however, as Derbyshire went on to point out.
VD: And for those who can’t, they’ll be living on about £70 a month.
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