Helen Whately is Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and MP for Faversham and Mid Kent
Of the many hard messages I received on the doorstep in the run up to the last election, one of toughest was ‘It’s not clear what you Conservatives stand for any more’…
It was tough because in some ways I agreed. Faced with the problems of Government did we always ask ourselves ‘What’s the Conservative way to fix this?’
As Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, one big problem I am thinking about is our welfare system. We need to get Britain working again, and that starts with our principles.
As Conservatives we believe in personal responsibility. That means it’s up to you, not the state, to support yourself, your family and the lifestyle you want to lead. This isn’t because we don’t care—quite the opposite. Personal responsibility gives people freedom, choice, and agency, and it’s the foundation of prosperity.
We believe in living within our means, and making the most of what we have. For our workforce, that means not signing millions of young people off sick at an exorbitant cost, while relying on low-skilled migration to fill the gaps.
We believe the state should do less and do what it does better. That means while some things must be done by Government, it shouldn’t always be the first port of call.
Life is full of ups and downs. The best way to handle these is to be prepared for a rainy day. If that’s not enough, your family, friends or community can rally-round. You look out for others, and others look out for you.
But as Conservatives we’re realists, and we’re compassionate. Some people have such bad luck that every day is a rainy day. Some people have such a tough start in life they don’t get a chance to prepare for a rainy day. And not everyone is lucky enough to have family to fall back on.
No one wants to see people destitute. And we recognise that it benefits no one to live in a society where people risk losing everything if, for a brief time, they are unable to support themselves.
Quite the opposite, in fact. A dynamic economy depends on people taking risks which might fail. Productive businesses sometimes need to lay off staff. And if someone loses their job, a little help from the state while they learn a new skill will have them back working as soon as possible.
A safety net benefits all of us. But a functioning safety net must act as far as possible like a trampoline – cushioning people’s fall and propelling them back onto their feet. A hand up is always better than a handout.
When instead your net becomes a trap, you risk becoming what Kemi has called ‘a welfare state with an economy attached’. More and more people drop out of the workforce. Fewer and fewer people shoulder the load. The tax burden rises exponentially.
The reality is that our welfare system is starting to look like this.
Not by design, but instead because it is simply not built for the 21st century. It’s built for a world in which people did one thing (more or less) for 40 years, retired for the next 10, and then died. For a world in which industries petered out slowly, and high birth rates meant the next working age generation was always coming along to pay for the last.
The world doesn’t look like that anymore, nor is it likely to any time soon.
Now many people live into their 80 and 90s, helped by wonderful (but not cheap) advances in healthcare. Fewer people are having children, and they’re doing so later. Add to that the implications of AI and our changing place in the world, and to me it is clear: we need to reimagine what a welfare system looks like in the 21st Century.
That means turning around the trajectory of people not working due to poor mental health. We’ve worked hard to reduce the stigma of mental illness, but we mustn’t accept a lifetime off work for people struggling, nor medicalise normal ups and downs of life.
It means making the most of people’s talents and experience in their 50s, 60s and even 70s – when so many people are still thankfully in good health.
And we can’t ignore social factors either. It’s small wonder that increased reliance on the state comes at a time of fraying family structures and less community volunteering.
Luckily, we live in an age where every day new solutions become possible. Artificial intelligence is seen as a threat to many jobs, but it will also transform how people can be supported.
But first, we as Conservatives must once again win the argument that it is not cruel to expect someone to work. What is cruel is to write someone off to a lifetime of dependence, hooked up on an IV drip of support which can pay better than working.
You might ask why we didn’t make changes when we were in government.
The truth is, we did make progress. Universal Credit, introduced by Iain Duncan Smith, simplified a fragmented benefits system and improved incentives to work. And as Health Minister, I worked with DWP Secretary Mel Stride to tackle economic inactivity due to ill health after the pandemic – introducing reforms to the fit note process and piloting ‘Workwell’ initiatives.
But governing is relentless, and as a Minister it’s hard to step back and come up with radical plans, not least when you have a daunting election hurtling towards you.
Kemi is right not to bow to pressure for her to start churning out policy as a one woman think tank. We’re on the cusp of a new industrial revolution driven by AI, and 20th-century solutions to our problems won’t cut it.
We need to be farsighted. That will mean working not only with think tanks but with a wider community of centre-right thinkers – people at the frontline of change in business, technology, academia, in other countries and among our members.
This period will be one of the most important in our party’s history, seeking out solutions to the historic challenges our country faces. Because who else is going to do it?
Labour have come into office after 14 years with no ideas. They are not and have never been the party of the future. They only have one playbook. Higher taxes, red tape, and banning things. We know how ineffective this playbook is.
And Reform show no sign of doing the hard yards on policy work, like reimagining our welfare system.
People won’t put us back in Government simply because Labour are awful. They will put us back in office for the same reason they always do. Because they trust us to steer this country though a storm, and out the other side.
To win that trust we need to have the right plan for the future of our country. That’s why the next few years will be as important as any we spend in Government.
Of the many hard messages I received on the doorstep in the run up to the last election, one of toughest was ‘It’s not clear what you Conservatives stand for any more’…
It was tough because in some ways I agreed. Faced with the problems of Government did we always ask ourselves ‘What’s the Conservative way to fix this?’
As Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, one big problem I am thinking about is our welfare system. We need to get Britain working again, and that starts with our principles.
As Conservatives we believe in personal responsibility. That means it’s up to you, not the state, to support yourself, your family and the lifestyle you want to lead. This isn’t because we don’t care—quite the opposite. Personal responsibility gives people freedom, choice, and agency, and it’s the foundation of prosperity.
We believe in living within our means, and making the most of what we have. For our workforce, that means not signing millions of young people off sick at an exorbitant cost, while relying on low-skilled migration to fill the gaps.
We believe the state should do less and do what it does better. That means while some things must be done by Government, it shouldn’t always be the first port of call.
Life is full of ups and downs. The best way to handle these is to be prepared for a rainy day. If that’s not enough, your family, friends or community can rally-round. You look out for others, and others look out for you.
But as Conservatives we’re realists, and we’re compassionate. Some people have such bad luck that every day is a rainy day. Some people have such a tough start in life they don’t get a chance to prepare for a rainy day. And not everyone is lucky enough to have family to fall back on.
No one wants to see people destitute. And we recognise that it benefits no one to live in a society where people risk losing everything if, for a brief time, they are unable to support themselves.
Quite the opposite, in fact. A dynamic economy depends on people taking risks which might fail. Productive businesses sometimes need to lay off staff. And if someone loses their job, a little help from the state while they learn a new skill will have them back working as soon as possible.
A safety net benefits all of us. But a functioning safety net must act as far as possible like a trampoline – cushioning people’s fall and propelling them back onto their feet. A hand up is always better than a handout.
When instead your net becomes a trap, you risk becoming what Kemi has called ‘a welfare state with an economy attached’. More and more people drop out of the workforce. Fewer and fewer people shoulder the load. The tax burden rises exponentially.
The reality is that our welfare system is starting to look like this.
Not by design, but instead because it is simply not built for the 21st century. It’s built for a world in which people did one thing (more or less) for 40 years, retired for the next 10, and then died. For a world in which industries petered out slowly, and high birth rates meant the next working age generation was always coming along to pay for the last.
The world doesn’t look like that anymore, nor is it likely to any time soon.
Now many people live into their 80 and 90s, helped by wonderful (but not cheap) advances in healthcare. Fewer people are having children, and they’re doing so later. Add to that the implications of AI and our changing place in the world, and to me it is clear: we need to reimagine what a welfare system looks like in the 21st Century.
That means turning around the trajectory of people not working due to poor mental health. We’ve worked hard to reduce the stigma of mental illness, but we mustn’t accept a lifetime off work for people struggling, nor medicalise normal ups and downs of life.
It means making the most of people’s talents and experience in their 50s, 60s and even 70s – when so many people are still thankfully in good health.
And we can’t ignore social factors either. It’s small wonder that increased reliance on the state comes at a time of fraying family structures and less community volunteering.
Luckily, we live in an age where every day new solutions become possible. Artificial intelligence is seen as a threat to many jobs, but it will also transform how people can be supported.
But first, we as Conservatives must once again win the argument that it is not cruel to expect someone to work. What is cruel is to write someone off to a lifetime of dependence, hooked up on an IV drip of support which can pay better than working.
You might ask why we didn’t make changes when we were in government.
The truth is, we did make progress. Universal Credit, introduced by Iain Duncan Smith, simplified a fragmented benefits system and improved incentives to work. And as Health Minister, I worked with DWP Secretary Mel Stride to tackle economic inactivity due to ill health after the pandemic – introducing reforms to the fit note process and piloting ‘Workwell’ initiatives.
But governing is relentless, and as a Minister it’s hard to step back and come up with radical plans, not least when you have a daunting election hurtling towards you.
Kemi is right not to bow to pressure for her to start churning out policy as a one woman think tank. We’re on the cusp of a new industrial revolution driven by AI, and 20th-century solutions to our problems won’t cut it.
We need to be farsighted. That will mean working not only with think tanks but with a wider community of centre-right thinkers – people at the frontline of change in business, technology, academia, in other countries and among our members.
This period will be one of the most important in our party’s history, seeking out solutions to the historic challenges our country faces. Because who else is going to do it?
Labour have come into office after 14 years with no ideas. They are not and have never been the party of the future. They only have one playbook. Higher taxes, red tape, and banning things. We know how ineffective this playbook is.
And Reform show no sign of doing the hard yards on policy work, like reimagining our welfare system.
People won’t put us back in Government simply because Labour are awful. They will put us back in office for the same reason they always do. Because they trust us to steer this country though a storm, and out the other side.
To win that trust we need to have the right plan for the future of our country. That’s why the next few years will be as important as any we spend in Government.