Kemi Badenoch denies housing benefit cuts plan would make people homeless – BBC News
By Jennifer McKiernan, Political reporter
Published 31 minutes ago
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has denied her party’s plans to cut housing benefit would make people homeless, but suggested some would have to "move somewhere cheaper".
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, she challenged Andy Burnham to commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, saying the cost could be covered by cuts to welfare.
The Conservatives have claimed £4bn could be cut from the housing benefit bill, in part by allowing tenancies in areas where housing is expensive to come to an end.
Asked whether she would be willing to make people homeless in order to fund defence, Badenoch told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the party would "protect existing tenants".
"What we’re doing is making sure that people are protected, but capping the amount that people get on benefits because we need to look after our national security." – Kemi Badenoch
During PMQs, Burnham argued national security "can’t come at the expense of social security". He repeated that a target date for increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP would be announced in the spring.
The PM insisted he would get the welfare bill down in "the Labour way", by boosting council housebuilding, supporting young people into work and providing more mental health support.
Key Quotes:
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"We have people who live in areas that are quite expensive and if people need local housing allowance they will need to move somewhere cheaper." – Kemi Badenoch
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"I don’t think, myself, that taking £4bn out of housing benefit is going to get the right consensus… that would create levels of homelessness… that we wouldn’t have seen before." – Andy Burnham
