Does the government have the stomach to fix Britain’s addiction to sickness benefits?
DOES the Government have the stomach to fix the one foundation which must be fixed before almost all others?
We mean Britain’s worsening addiction to welfare, sickness benefits especially.
Past Labour regimes made payments so generous it wasn’t worth working for minimum wage.
The Tories ended that trap, cutting handouts and propelling vast numbers into jobs and better lives.
Covid then encouraged millions to believe the State COULD just pay us to do nothing.
For some, furlough never ended.
Plenty more remain trapped on benefits for mental and physical conditions, endlessly awaiting NHS treatment.
Others cannot retrain without losing handouts — or cannot get reassessed to return to work because the DWP handles such pitiful numbers of cases a day.
Meanwhile productivity among those who are in work is dismal — worse even than the Government feared, once massive migrant influxes are factored in.
Millions of course work hard. Too many others, says ex-Waitrose boss Lord Price, “want to be paid better for being off sick”.
Sicknote culture, the benefits trap and a nationwide lack of motivation.
End those, or Labour’s growth dream is doomed.
THIN EXCUSES
WHY would a Government serious about growth unleash yet another meddling clampdown which can only harm it?
The ban on TV ads for “junk food”, incredibly including porridge, is predicted to slash “billions of calories” from kids’ diets.
What shameless spin.
It’s 2.3 calories a day each: A biscuit crumb.
That will slim no waistlines, nor ease NHS pressure . . . only erode profits and jobs at food firms and TV stations.
Its sole real purpose is to enable politicians, too weak to rebuff nanny-state lobbying, to pretend they’re taking action.
FEEBLE BEEB
EACH day the Gregg Wallace accusations worsen — and it becomes more incredible the BBC failed to act before.
Why was nothing done when, as MasterChef contestant Emma Phillips-Jennings claims, he repeatedly thrust his groin at her face?
Or allegedly groped another woman cooking on the show?
The panicked Beeb yesterday axed two MasterChef Christmas specials.
But how did its spineless execs leave this scandal to fester for so many years?
FUEL RELIEF
THE grim October Budget wasn’t exactly an early Christmas present.
But pump prices ARE now at their lowest since before Covid, partly down to The Sun’s campaign persuading the Chancellor to bin any fuel duty rise.
A fill-up is £6 less than last year — enough for a festive drink.
Almost.