British prime minister David Cameron today stressed his commitment to cutting the country’s deficit and said an overhaul of the welfare system would soon begin.
Welfare consumes a third of British government spending and finance minister George Osborne is looking for massive savings in the welfare budget as part of efforts to shrink the deficit from close to 11 per cent of GDP to almost zero in five years.
Welfare reform and how it fits into the agenda to stave off market fears of a debt crisis by slashing public spending will dominate debates at the annual Conservative Party conference, which starts today.
"What we're putting forward is the most radical reform of the welfare state ... for 60 years," Mr Cameron said in a pre-conference interview on BBC television.
"I think it will have a transformative effect in making sure that everyone is better off in work and better off working rather than on benefits," he said, promising a new system that would give incentives for millions of people to take jobs.
Mr Cameron is under pressure to use the conference, the first since the Conservatives returned to power in May to show that his government has positive goals alongside its drive to cut public spending.
Constant talk of the looming cuts and fears that they will hamper economic recovery, throw public sector workers out of work and reduce cherished public services have left some Conservatives concerned that their popularity will plummet.
An opinion poll published in the Sunday Times put Labour two points ahead of the Conservatives, and pollsters predict worse figures for Mr Cameron's party as the cuts start to bite.
Mr Cameron played down talk of disquiet among Conservatives over the coalition arrangement with the Liberal Democrats, although he did say in a separate interview that he would work extra hard to keep his party on side.
"I do accept that in a coalition you have to spend a lot more time taking your party with you ... I have been doing that and I will do even more of that because that's how coalitions can come unstuck," he said.
Apart from health and development aid, which Mr Cameron has ringfenced, other departmental budgets are to be slashed by as much as 40 per cent as part of a Comprehensive Spending Review whose results will be announced on October 20th.
Reuters