We need to build a welfare system which genuinely works for the UK, not yet more ‘culture war’ nonsense from the Tories.

After 14 years of Tory misery, Rishi Sunak has set out his failed Government’s appalling record for Britain: a failing health system, too many people stuck waiting for mental health treatment and a lack of support for people with health conditions who want to work.

Under the Tories, we have the highest ever number of people who are out of work because they are unwell. We’ve got the highest number of economically inactive people for 12 years, miles’ long mental health waiting lists, and an NHS in crisis.

Labour is clear, people who can work, should. But rather than a proper plan to fix our health system and help people back to work, all we have from the government is more slogans, consultations, and reheated proposals.

The Government are consulting on the future of PIP (Personal Independence Payments) – a system created by the Tories that isn’t working for disabled people and isn’t working for the taxpayer.

We will look closely at what the government brings forward, but Labour want to see a system that allows disabled people to live independently and enable as many as possible to work. Merely consulting on this now, after overseeing years of failure, proves this Conservative Government is out of ideas and out of time.

They say that they want to tackle long-term sickness but they have no plan to ensure that people can get the treatment they need when NHS waiting lists are out of control. We all know that under the Tories far too many people with mental health problems just can’t get access to the treatment they need.

They say they want to stop the stigma of mental health and then tells us “there is a danger that this has gone too far”.

Contrast that to Labour’s long-term plan to build a healthier nation and get people back into work.

We will tackle the root causes of economic inactivity which are locking people out of work and driving up the benefits bill by bringing down NHS waiting lists, reforming social security, making work pay, and supporting people into good jobs across every part of the country.

Labour plan includes:

• Driving down NHS waiting lists by getting patients treated on time with 2 million more weekend and evening appointments – paid for by cracking down on tax dodgers.
• Tackling the crisis in mental health by providing specialist mental health support in every school and walk in access in every community, tackling one of the key drivers of economic inactivity before it takes hold – paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.
• Reforming Jobcentres so that they have a new focus on tackling the barriers to good employment; devolving new powers over employment support and changing their duties to require collaboration with other support agencies, including the NHS.
• Overhauling Access to Work for disabled people, so they know what equipment, adaptations or personal support they’ll get before they start work – giving them the confidence to take the plunge.
• Into work guarantee: Introducing changes to incapacity benefits to encourage disabled people and people with ill health who are currently not required to seek work by the benefits system – to try work without fear of losing their income or having to be reassessed if the job doesn’t work out.
• Our New Deal for Working People will improve workers’ rights for the first time in a generation, guaranteeing better contracts, stronger unions, and higher wages.
• Our Green Prosperity Plan will create more than half a million new jobs in clean power, green industries, and for construction workers, plumbers and retrofitters across the country.

It’s Labour’s mission to give our country its future back. The next generation deserves so much better than 14 failed years. Instead of making speeches complaining about the problems he himself has created, the Prime Minister should call the general election and let the people have their say.