The British Government's desire to reform the welfare state must be balanced with care for the needy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, warned yesterday.
The warning came as the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, attempted to dampen the row over proposed cuts in disabled benefits in newspaper and television interviews claiming the government would be sensitive to the needs of the disadvantaged.
While Dr Carey approached the reform issue with words of caution for the Prime Minister, Mr Blair was busy defending the proposals stressing the need to address the rising cost of disability benefit.
"On the one hand," Dr Carey said, "I think it is important to reform the welfare state. We're paying something like £100 billion on the welfare state . . . The other imperative is to care for the needy, the marginalised, the disadvantaged . . ."
In interviews for Sky News and the BBC, Mr Blair tried to reassure the voters, and many of his backbenchers, by claiming that reform was necessary.
"Many people who need help don't get it. Some people often find that they are better off on benefit than in work which is why the system needs changing. My challenge to those who say keep it all as it is, don't reform anything, don't change anything is you justify the present system, because I can't."
In the Sun, Mr Blair said "scaremongering" would not work. The government did not intend to take away benefits from the most vulnerable in society, rather a reform of the welfare state would "ruthlessly" tackle abuse of the benefit system.
"Tackling the 6 per cent annual rise in disability and incapacity benefit will have to be handled with great care. But not reforming is simply not an option," Mr Blair said.
Equally robust in his defence of the proposed reforms, Mr Brown pointed to the need to approach the issue with "proper sensitivity". However, in a radio interview later, he was asked if the government could guarantee the existing level of benefit for disability claimants.
His vague reply - that those incapable of working would get a "fair deal" from the government - drew yet more criticism from the Tories. The Shadow Home Secretary, Dr Brian Mawhinney, rounded on Mr Brown accusing him of indulging in a "mantra" that the public would not understand. "Gordon Brown will not say whether at the end of this principled review, the total amount of spending will be the same, or more, or less, so people assume it will be less."
Meanwhile, the abolition of voting rights for hereditary peers has "every likelihood" of becoming law in 1999, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, confirmed yesterday.
The government wants to avoid the House of Lords being seen as the "biggest quango in our nation's history", Lord Irvine said and as such he will be considering reform on the basis of a fully elected chamber, a nominated chamber or a combination.
For the Tories, their leader in the Lords, Viscount Cranbourne, welcomed the assurance but appealed for the hereditary element to be replaced by a new "independent element".