FRESH THINKING IS NEEDED TO REFORM BENEFITS CULTURE

Such long-term voluntary unemployment – often disguised by payments such as incapacity benefit – is an immense burden on the taxpayer and has in turn encouraged an explosion in migrant labour, with all the problems that has brought to British society.

Yet little fresh thinking about how to tackle the scourge of benefits dependency is coming from the Government. Ministers ultimately lack the political willpower to turn the money tap off and instead prefer to indulge in meaningless sloganising and gimmickry.

Massive changes are needed to reduce the benefits bill and foster personal responsibility in place of state dependency.

The idea, from the Right-wing think-tank Politeia, that people should be given individual and finite welfare accounts rather than access to a bottomless pit of state support has much to commend it.

Everyone is entitled to a welfare safety net when times are tough. But nobody should be allowed to regard a lifetime on benefits as an acceptable career option.