Spending review: ‘what do they eat while job hunting?’
There are mixed reactions to George Osborne’s spending review; charities and unions attack curbs on welfare but business groups praise the chancellor’s commitment to infrastructure spending.
Mr Osborne announced a cap on total welfare spending (excluding the state pension), seven-day waits before people can claim benefits, and a requirement that claimants should learn English or have their benefits cut.
Helen Barnard, from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, tweeted: “7 day wait to claim benefits. What do they eat while job hunting?”
She also questioned the plan for benefit claimants to learn English: “Require English lessons until claimants speak it. Looking forward to improvements in quant and quality of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision.”
Read FactCheck's verdict in full: Osborne's English lessons are no threat
‘Toxic mix’
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “This is a toxic mix of bad economics, nasty politics and dishonest presentation.
“Many services will be hard hit. Worst of all is a new attack on some of the most vulnerable in our society through the seven-day wait and other conditions for social security payments.”
There was also criticism from the Local Government Association, whose chairman Sir Merrick Cockell said the 10 per cent spending cut for councils “will stretch essential services to breaking point in many areas”, with some local authorities not having “enough money to meet all their statutory responsibilities”.
Sir Merrick added: “Services such as culture and leisure facilities, school support, road maintenance and growth related programmes will bear the brunt of these cuts.
“No area of spending can be totally immune and some services will be wound down entirely.”
7 day wait to claim benefits. What do they eat while job hunting? #SR2013
— Helen Barnard (@Helen_Barnard) June 26, 2013
Require English lessons until claimants speak it. Looking forward to improvements in quant and quality of ESOL provision. #SR2013
— Helen Barnard (@Helen_Barnard) June 26, 2013
But there was praise for the spending review from business organisations, although they said they wanted wanted to know when construction work on roads and rail would begin.
John Cridland, director general of the CBI , said: “Infrastructure is rightly singled out as the most effective engine for growth, as we urged. While the government talks a good game on infrastructure we’ve seen too little delivery on the ground so far.
‘Critical’
“It is critical we see a real pipeline of projects announced tomorrow, so investors know what schemes are going ahead, where and when.”
John Allan, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “It is good that the government has taken a long-term view of how to plan capital spending to the end of the decade.
“It is something we raised in our submission, however, what we now need is a clear timetable for delivery.”
The chancellor also announced a boost for science spending. Professor Sir Peter Knight, president of the Institute of Physics, said: “We’re delighted to hear of the £1.1bn increase in capital funding available for science.
“The announcement that the current science budget will be maintained at £4.6bn is a welcome recognition of the importance of science as an engine for future growth, but it needs to be noted that inflation has already substantially eroded the value of funding for science in the UK, by 2-3 per cent per annum since 2010’s flat cash settlement.”