Rachel Reeves is setting out Labour’s tough new benefits policy today. The Tories don’t need to be unduly worried, given the poll lead they enjoy on welfare matters, but just in case, Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa May have penned a joint op-ed in the Daily Mail accusing Labour of a ‘shameful betrayal’ on welfare reform and controlling immigration. They list the party’s failures in government, saying:
‘With one hand, Labour doled out millions of pounds for people to sit on benefits. With the other, they opened the door to mass migration, with those from abroad filling jobs which our own people didn’t want or couldn’t get.’
Conservative spinners, meanwhile, are explaining in some detail that their own benefits proposals are much tougher than anything Reeves will set out today, pointing out that George Osborne’s ‘earn or learn’ policy begins from the first day of a young person claiming Jobseekers Allowance.
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