Badenoch denies housing benefit cuts plan causes homelessness
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch defends plans to cut £4bn in housing benefit to fund defense spending, stating claimants in expensive areas must relocate.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch denies housing benefit cuts will increase homelessness.
- The Tories propose cutting £4bn from housing benefit to help fund 3% GDP defense spending by 2030.
- Housing benefit costs are forecast at £39bn this year with over 1 million new claimants since 2020.
- Andy Burnham argues the policy will worsen homelessness and increase long-term government costs.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has rejected criticism that her party's proposal to reduce housing benefit spending would force people onto the streets, insisting the measures are necessary to meet a 3% GDP defense spending target by 2030.
The debate flared up during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, where Badenoch challenged Andy Burnham to commit to specific defense spending timelines and suggested that the necessary funds could be secured by cutting welfare expenditures.
Under the Conservative proposals, the party aims to trim £4bn from the housing benefit budget through several key adjustments:
- Saving at least £2.2bn by freezing social sector rents and removing annual inflation-linked increases.
- Saving £1.8bn by lowering Local Housing Allowance rates for new tenancies based on private rental costs.
- Freezing rates for existing tenancies until market levels gradually align.
During an interview with BBC Breakfast, Badenoch was pressed on who would bear the brunt of the cuts, explaining that individuals living in expensive areas would need to relocate to more affordable locations if they rely on local housing allowances.
"What we're doing is making sure that people are protected, but capping the amount that people get on benefits because we need to look after our national security. We have people who live in areas that are quite expensive and if people need local housing allowance they will need to move somewhere cheaper..."
Kemi Badenoch
Responding at PMQs, Andy Burnham countered that the proposed policy would exacerbate homelessness and ultimately cost the government more money in the long run. He reiterated that the Labour government intends to reduce the welfare bill through its own methods, such as boosting council housebuilding, helping young people find employment, and expanding mental health support.
This political clash highlights the difficult fiscal trade-offs UK politicians face as defense pressures mount. With Department for Work and Pensions data showing that housing benefit claimant numbers have surged by over one million since 2020 due to soaring private rents, balancing national security funding against social safety nets remains one of the most contentious domestic policy debates.
Source: BBC Politics
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