Wes Streeting has been grilled by GB News host Camilla Tominey on Labour's latest U-turn on welfare reforms, as she told the Health Secretary that Sir Keir Starmer "doesn't know what he's doing".Following the decision to backtrack on the welfare bill vote, the Prime Minister admitted he was "distracted" by several issues, including the Middle East.FULL STORY HERE.
01:13The benefits bill has gone up by £86 billion in a decade.
01:16Because of this U-turn, you're now shaving a mere £2 billion off it.
01:20And by the way, the benefits bill will still be higher at the end of the Parliament than it is now.
01:25So you're not tackling benefits at all, are you?
01:31Well, we are. And one of the important ways we will be reducing the benefit bill is by getting people who can work and therefore should work back to work,
01:39whether through providing employment support or, in my case, with the NHS, making sure that people who are off work, off sick,
01:47making sure that we're cutting waiting lists so they're not just back to health, they're also able to go back to work.
01:53Can we agree, can we agree, the benefits bill is going to be higher at the end of this Parliament than it is now?
02:01So any talk of cuts to benefits is actually just a barefaced lie?
02:05Well, that is a fact you've just stated, that we will be paying more for the welfare system at the end of this Parliament than we do today.
02:15It's one of the reasons why this government is determined to reform the system, to make it sustainable.
02:21And that's the context in which we've been having this debate.
02:24Of course, we've got to tread carefully in this issue of support for disabled people,
02:28because there will be lots of people who, through no fault of their own, simply cannot work.
02:33Those people deserve and are entitled to a good level of income.
02:38Those people who can work should work.
02:41And those are the principles that lie at the heart of this system.
02:44I think where you've seen the debate with Labour MPs this week is being driven by the fact that what we all fear,
02:50including ministers, is you don't want someone coming to your advice surgery on a Friday saying,
02:54look, this is my situation, and your reforms have actually impacted negatively on me.
02:58And we're sitting there thinking, but that wasn't supposed to happen to you.
03:01So we want to get this right.
03:03And OK, this week could have been smoother, not going to make any bones about that.
03:07But are we in a better place, having debated with each other, listened to each other, found a way through?
03:13Yes, we are in a better position.
03:14And there'll be lots of disabled people watching this morning, I suspect, on PIP,
03:18who've now got the peace of mind of knowing their situation is not going to change, they'll be protected.
03:21Well, weirdly, there were the PIP changes to actual disabled people and people with debilitating conditions like chronic arthritis.
03:28No changes at all in anyone claiming for mental health problems.
03:32Now, I completely understand the need to claim PIP if you are so incapacitated by chronic depression that you cannot leave your house.
03:41Why on earth are people claiming PIP for mild depression, mild, and I stress mild autism, and conditions like ADHD?
03:51Well, we will be looking at those issues as we reform the welfare system and also are making inroads on mental health.
04:00You know, remember, we promised eight and a half thousand more mental health workers at the general election.
04:05We're already well on the way to living that.
04:07We're at six and a half thousand at the moment, and there'll be more mental health support available.
04:11So that was partly my responsibility to get that bill down by making sure that people have got that mental health and well-being support
04:20to make sure that people can live happy lives and healthy lives and fulfilling lives without relying on the benefit system.
