Reform have published an update on the welfare state by Nicholas Boys Smith, a former Conservative Party parliamentary candidate. Welfare expenditure is now more than the money spent on education, twice as much as law and order, whilst rivalling the National Health Service. Boys Smith concluded that the weaknesses of tradtional welfare: expansion, means-testing and the poverty trap had been built up and exacerbated by Brown's complex changes. It would be impolite to dignify these changes with the word reform.
Instead, Britain now has the deepest poverty trap in the Western world, with thousands of people stuck in low-paid and part-time work because any extra money that they earn by finding a better job or working longer hours would have to be handed over to the Treasury.
Just under 800,000 working parents lose more than 70p in every extra pound they earn, and nearly 400,000 lose more than 90p in the pound. About 34,000 people lose more than £1 for every £1 they earn.
We should welcome any report that brings public attention to the utter failures of the welfare state we're in. Yet, government's failure and the unfitness of Brown to continue in political office, only arises when we see Treasury's response:
A Treasury spokesman said: “Since 1997 the Government has lifted 700,000 children out of poverty, and employment is at record levels. Reforms of the tax and benefits system mean that families with children are on average £1,500 per year better off in real terms since 1997, and those in the poorest fifth are £3,400 per year better off.”
Their response is based on the premise that if you say something long enough, people will believe, even if it is not true. This may have acquired credibility in the early years of the administration but the drift between utterance and reality can only lead to cynicism and contempt if these problems are not grappled with.
Welfare reform will have to wait until Brown's personal and political failings lead to his fall. He is a divisive figure, unable to work in Cabinet, contemptuous of politician and people. The electorate is more intelligent than he thinks; Brown is more flawed than Labour anticipates.