Andy Burnham did the whole country a favor at yesterday’s PMQs. Finally he said the quiet part out loud. For our new Prime Minister, social security (also known as welfare) takes precedence over Britain’s national security.
Since becoming Conservative leaderI have repeatedly warned that the Labor Party has become the Welfare Party. Keir Stermer had already taken them a long way down that road, but Burnham isn’t changing direction. If anything, he is dragging Labor further to the left as he chases voters who have drifted to the left Green Party.
The first duty of any government is to defend the country, not to pay more benefits.
Labor has forgotten that government brings choices. Andy Burnham wants to spend more and more on Social Security, while pretending that someone else can foot the bill for our national security.
Labour’s own welfare minister, Pat McFadden, admitted in private WhatsApp messages this summer that ‘every’ conversation he has with Labor MPs begins: ‘Who can we tax to spend more on benefits?’
That is not an economic strategy. It’s an addiction to spending other people’s money. And like any addiction, eventually you can’t get enough of other people’s money.
Labor money is quickly running out. Just this week, Britain’s third-biggest taxpayer, Chris Rokos, announced he would leave the country, taking his £330 million annual tax bill with him. That’s the equivalent of more than 38,000 average British taxpayers.
Entrepreneurs like Rokos, who started businesses, took risks, mortgaged their homes and created jobs, are deciding that Britain is no longer worth the effort.
Billionaire Chris Rokos – this country’s third biggest taxpayer – announced he was leaving Britain, taking his £330 million annual tax income with him. Labor quickly runs out of money…
Kemi Badenoch, pictured yesterday challenging the Prime Minister on defense spending, says the Conservative Party is committed to restoring British national security
We should worry about this, not because rich people deserve special treatment, but because Britain needs people to set up businesses here, employ others and pay taxes. Before the government can redistribute wealth, someone has to create it.
The same fundamental truth applies to prosperity. Conservatives will always support a strong safety net for those who really need it. But we are against a system that allows people who should work not to, while expecting those who do work to pay more and more to support that system. It’s a simple matter of honesty.
Welfare reform and properly financing our nation’s defense should not be treated as separate issues. They are about what kind of country we want to live in.
That is why, unlike Labour, I have a plan to bring defense spending to 3%
Gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030. It means reintroducing the ceiling on the two child benefits, because people on benefits have to make the same choices when it comes to having children as those who don’t.
It means a reduction in housing benefit, because poorer taxpayers should not have to pay for people on housing benefit to live in areas they could never afford.
It means eliminating tax exemptions for the Motability leasing program, because that program is being abused by people who don’t need the government to pay for their cars.
These plans are fully budgeted, proportionate and based on fairness. We do the hard work necessary to translate promises into policies that can actually be delivered.
Reform may claim they have plans, but they are too mired in scandal and fighting with each other to accomplish anything.
I understand why some voters hear that and point to our record in government. The Conservatives have made mistakes – to say otherwise would be ridiculous. But I am now the leader of the Conservative Party and I will make the tough decisions, even if people tell me they are politically uncomfortable.
Britain cannot continue to tax the people who create wealth to fund an ever-expanding welfare state, while neglecting the armed forces that protect us.
The choice for the voters is now between a PvdA that wants that put more and more of your money into benefitsand a Conservative Party determined to restore our national security.
A government has many responsibilities. But before it can promise anything else, it must protect the country.
For me, national security always comes first.
