In the light of the recent (Nov 2025) budget, much has been written about the decision to lift the two child cap on benefits. There has been political point scoring around the prime minister saying a year ago that he’d like to lift it but that the country can’t afford to, to now saying he backs tax rises to pay for it. But this isn’t really at the heart of the issue – even if the country was running a surplus and cutting taxes, lifting this limit is still bad policy. Here’s why.
Fundamental to a healthy society is the conviction that each person should contribute as much as they are able for both their own wellbeing and that of the wider community as a whole. Where people don’t contribute we see time and again that there is a negative feedback loop. It is therefore imperative that we never create, or permit to exist, a system which perpetuates and rewards opting out.
It has been shown in various newspapers that we now have millions of people living entirely (or nearly entirely) off the state (ie their fellow citizens). Moreover, for many of these they are making the financially rational choice that staying on benefits is financially superior to working, or increasing their working hours. I say ‘financially rational’, because whilst there may be such a case, it is clearly poor for mental health and wellbeing to not be contributing, and furthermore it fosters a mindset of dependency which is corrosive to the individual and is passed on to their children for whom this becomes an accepted norm.
It is unacceptable to hear stories of workers cutting back their hours when there’s a rise in the minimum wage because to keep working the same hours would mean they are financially poorer due to the benefits trap. It is unacceptable to hear stories of people refusing to seek work because doing so results in a loss of income! And the answer to this is not to continually lift benefits, enlarge the state, and further erode the self-determination of huge swathes of society, but instead to create a system in which there is every incentive to work, contribute and to be rewarded for doing so.
So that’s the first point – raising benefits is not a question of whether the country can or cannot afford it. Rather it’s a question of whether benefits are set in such a way as to avoid incentivising people to make understandable decisions for their finances, but which are ultimately harmful to themselves and society.
The second thing the Left get wrong around benefits is the view that those of us on the political right are either indifferent to poverty or callous and uncaring in our approach towards it. This is to fundamentally misunderstand; in fact I’d go so far as to say that these oft repeated accusations amount to gaslighting. I am as desirous as anyone to see children and families lifted from poverty – however, increasing our current benefits structure in the UK does not do that. What lifts families and communities out of poverty is education, jobs and economic growth. Increasing taxes, benefits and the size of the state does precisely the opposite – it entrenches dependency, it slows growth and removes personal responsibility and accountability. I do not doubt that for many on the political left their positions come from a place of care and concern, but the medicine they are proscribing is the equivalent of thalidomide for pregnant mothers, or lobotomies for those with mental health issues – i.e. utterly wrong.
Where I live in the north east of England we have some of the highest levels of poverty, drug dependency, and welfare beneficiaries in the country. Will we sort this by giving ever larger benefit packages and more methadone and free housing? Of course not – if that medicine was working things would have improved over the past 50 years and not got worse as they have done. What we need isn’t more welfare, it’s decent jobs, it’s investment in industry, construction, business and agriculture. Give people job security, a purpose and self worth, the ability to make choices for themselves and their families, to prosper economically, socially, physically and spiritually and then you’ll see renewal and hope and improvement.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that socialism has never succeeded in lifting people out of poverty anywhere – not in China, not in Europe, not in Africa, not in the Nordics… in all these cases, where poverty has been eased it is through effective open markets, good governance, effective & accepted legislation, low levels of corruption and a high work ethic.
So my message to this government is – please don’t send us more handouts, help us invest in jobs and let us show you how we can lift people out of poverty.