The Treasury is in panic mode this morning after a spokesman went rogue by suggesting the government would be so bold as to cut the welfare bill before the election. Unfortunately that spokesman happens to be the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Here is what Healey told Nick Robinson on the Today programme:
Robinson: “Briefly, because I want to give you the chance to talk about other things. There will be cuts in welfare before the election.”
Healey: “There will be, there will be a reduction in the benefits bill, we’ll do that in a Labour way and we will do that because it is simply not good for Britain or progressive to have a bigger and bigger benefits bill and I feel a moral, a moral duty to deal with these youngsters who at the moment have been written off by previous governments and I’m not prepared to see that happen in the future.”
According to BBC Political Editor Chris Mason, now the Treasury has been on the phone to complain that “it was an over-interpretation of the exchange and it was overly prominent” to say Healey was promising to do this before the election. They added “had he wanted to say that, he would have said it in the Budget statement itself“. A car-crash interview in the Labour way…
On the date of that election, Healey said “the Prime Minister’s ruled out the election next year. There will be an election, it’ll be at some time before 2029”. So… 2028, according to the Chancellor.
Robert Jenrick told a rally on Monday:
“They say Chancellors are either undertakers or bookies. This one is an ostrich – and when the Chancellor buries his head in the sand, the rest of us, we’re left staring at his you know what.”