This week it was revealed that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning to make major cuts to benefits in her spring budget, with over £6 billion of welfare savings in the pipeline. These “will see far tougher tests imposed for a key disability benefit, some payments frozen in 2026, and major changes to the way Universal Credit is calculated”, according to one report.
Clearly the benefits system is a complete mess and one of many things bleeding Britain dry, with the UK forecast to spend £319.1 billion on the social security system in 2024-25. There’s no doubt that it needs a radical rethink and slimming down. But I wonder if Reeves could have picked on easier targets to make savings. Benefit cuts are controversial, and come with a real risk of harming vulnerable people, unfairly punished on behalf of others abusing the system. In short, why not go for some brazenly ridiculous things first (which I will show you in this article)?
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