Just before Christmas Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke presented a 10 Minute Rule Bill calling for a welfare cash card for benefits claimants. At the time Guido thought it seemed a promising idea – not least for the invective it inspired from the skiver-loving left. The wonks over at the Demos think-tank say 59% of the country backs the move.

Demos, where Blairite-ultra Philip Collins is Chair of the Board of Trustees, have published a paper calling on the government to embrace the idea by issuing the Universal Credit on a pre-paid welfare card. Crucially it would exclude disability benefit and the basic state pension. This is not some Orwellian statist attempt to control people’s lives, it could be a much-needed means of protecting the taxpayer and tackling dependency culture…