Keir Starmer 'cannot negotiate a good deal with Macron', Whately tells GB News

GB News

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately has declared "zero confidence" in Sir Keir Starmer's ability to secure a migrant deal with France.Speaking to GB News, Whately said that when the Prime Minister negotiates, "Britain loses".FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00We're joined now by the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Helen Waitley MP.

00:05Ms Waitley, welcome to GB News Breakfast.

00:09Great to see you there.

00:11You're attacking the government here for allowing people to be on £25,000 a year from benefits,

00:17but didn't this all happen on your watch?

00:19You had 14 years to get the benefits right.

00:22You completely failed, didn't you?

00:24Well, in our time in government, if you look between the period from 2010 to the pandemic,

00:31we got the benefits bill right down.

00:33We halved unemployment.

00:35We got more people into work.

00:37And we did that groundbreaking reform led by Ian Duncan Smith, Universal Credit,

00:40which is all about making sure work would always pay.

00:42What we have seen, I think you're referring to,

00:45is the rise in sickness benefits that's happened through the pandemic and up to the general election,

00:50in fact, continue to go up under the Labour government.

00:53And we had reforms planned to fix that problem.

00:57Labour councillors said they had their own plans,

00:59but actually what we've seen in Parliament over the last week or two with all their U-turns,

01:03they're in chaos.

01:04They can't achieve welfare savings.

01:06And later today, Kemi Badenok is going to be making a speech about what they need to do

01:10to make those savings that we so badly need.

01:13Talking of chaos, I mean, it's quite chaotic in the Conservative Party at the moment.

01:18I mean, you've had another defection, Sir Jake Berry announcing he's going to reform.

01:23Saying only reform can give us back pride in our own country.

01:27Conservatives are messing up here, aren't they?

01:31Well, I wish Jake well, but clearly I disagree with his choice.

01:37The Conservatives are the only party which are talking about the fact that we need to live within our means.

01:43And part of that is that we need to bring down the welfare bill.

01:47Labour has just voted for more spending.

01:49Reform is also actually calling for more spending on welfare.

01:53They've called for lifting that two-child benefit cap.

01:56So they would inevitably be a party that would end up taxing more or destroying the country's economy.

02:02So actually the Conservatives of the party which are saying it may be difficult things to say,

02:06but we need as a country to live within our means.

02:09Helen Wainley, we're hearing later from the Labour government on its plan to tackle the migration crisis.

02:14You had Rwanda planned.

02:15They've got a one-in-one-out deal.

02:16But we've been in a channel this afternoon, this morning, forgive me, already with Nigel Farage watching,

02:22filming a boat laden with 70 people being escorted across a channel by the French Navy.

02:30I mean, as you're saying, we're seeing thousands of people come here under Labour.

02:36We indeed, as you said, we had a plan involving the deterrent, which the government immediately scrapped.

02:41And people who have been saying in the channel that was going to be something that was going to make it

02:45less attractive to come to the UK.

02:47Well, now they're coming.

02:48And I have no confidence whatsoever in Keir Starmer's ability to negotiate a good deal with Macron on this.

02:54You know, every time we've seen Keir Starmer negotiate, he tends to lose.

02:58But you had, I mean, you know, one of the reasons the Conservatives were voted out is because you messed up on migration.

03:06What gives you the right to criticise when you had 14 years?

03:09And as Christopher said earlier on, you did nothing.

03:11The situation became worse under your watch.

03:15So we recognise, of course, that we've made mistakes and we've talked about that.

03:19And particularly, we were frustrated at how long it was taking for us to put in place our deterrent policy

03:25to tackle people coming across the channel.

03:28But we're now in opposition.

03:30We're under new leadership.

03:31And our job as opposition party is indeed to hold the government to account, to point out their mistakes

03:37and to come up with, as we're working on, alternatives.

03:41And for me, particularly in welfare, setting out, here are the ways that the government could and should save money.

03:46And that's crucial because the country so badly needs it.

03:50Talking of saving money, the announcement that Kem is making today, limiting benefits, face-to-face assessments,

03:55which I think most people would agree with, getting people back into work.

03:58Are these costed?

03:59How much is it going to cost us?

04:03Well, overall, the announcement we're making today would be about bringing the welfare bill down.

04:09There are some really substantial areas of potential savings.

04:12One, as you say, is we're saying that you should bring back face-to-face assessments.

04:15There's been this huge growth in telephone assessments.

04:18Another area where we know that there will be savings is by stopping people receiving sick benefits

04:24for these common mental health problems or well-being issues like anxiety or mild depression.

04:31ADHD, that's been a huge area of growth.

04:34The Centre for Social Justice has done some work on this,

04:36which says that you could save up to £9 billion from tackling that.

04:41And, in fact, you could use some of that money to spend on better support for people.

04:45So, overall, the things we are suggesting are about savings.

04:48And this is crucial because just this week we heard from the OBR,

04:52the OBR has looked at what Labour's been doing with welfare

04:55and how it's unable to make savings from the welfare bill

04:58and has said, and I quote, that the UK is in a very vulnerable position,

05:03highly likely that we see taxes as a result going up in the autumn.

05:06And the Chancellor taking us into a doom loop of higher taxes,

05:09higher unemployment and higher taxes again.

05:11And that's a disaster.

05:12And I say the Conservatives are the only party that are pointing out

05:15that we cannot do this.

05:16Reform wants to spend more on welfare.

05:18Labour wants to spend more on welfare.

05:19We're the ones saying, no, we've got to get it under control.

05:22Helen, just finally, do you think that some of these mental health issues

05:26are being over-diagnosed?

05:27There's been a big increase since the Covid pandemic

05:30in these disabilities, ADHD and the like.

05:32Are they being over-prescripted, you think, in the system

05:35and therefore people receiving benefits when maybe they shouldn't?

05:38I mean, that's something that we are hearing from psychiatrists

05:43and even the mental health community and GPs themselves.

05:45Actually, one of the shocking things that's happening

05:47is people are sometimes receiving benefits of these kind of conditions

05:50without even getting a diagnosis.

05:52They haven't necessarily got a diagnosis.

05:54They're not necessarily getting any actual help or treatment.

05:57So that's one of the problems with the system that we have at the moment

05:59that so badly needs to be fixed.

06:01Helen Motley, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

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