CONSERVATIVE LEADER David Cameron has described as “shameful” the Labour government’s latest plan to force single mothers of pre-school children to start preparing for a return to work.
Mr Cameron confirmed yesterday that “radical welfare reform” remained integral to the Tory vision for “a more responsible society”.
Addressing a Westminster press conference, he repeated that for this reason he would help the Government steer its new welfare reform Bill through the Commons in face of any Labour revolt.
However, the Tory leader described as “a rotten apple in this barrel” the proposed requirement that parents of children aged between one and seven start preparing to return to work, and vowed to press ministers to drop it.
As part of his continuing challenge to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call an early general election, Mr Cameron attacked Labour “waste” and “incompetence” and “incompetence leading to waste” as evidence “of a government that has been in power too long”. He said there was “a big choice opening up” in British politics, on both the economy and society.
On society, Mr Cameron claimed: “Labour just don’t want to know. They can’t believe that so many pieties, so many public spending programmes, have not only failed to elevate our society but eroded the bonds that held it together. So they pretend everything is fine. We don’t – our society is broken, and we have a plan to fix it.”
Part of that plan involved welfare reform: “But there is a rotten apple in this barrel. The government wants to force single mothers of pre-school children to start the process of getting back into work.
“That includes mothers of children possibly as young as one year old. Many parents choose to go back to work, and we should support them in that but the state prodding and pushing them into work like this – that is wrong.”
Mr Cameron continued: “I don’t know if James Purnell is trying a little too hard to look tough or if he genuinely thinks it’s okay to force mothers of very young children to go to work. Either way, this is a shameful proposal.”
Mr Purnell hit back saying Mr Cameron “bangs on about Britain being broken” but would “do nothing” to help people off benefits. “We want everyone on benefits to do something in return for their money, including asking lone parents to take active steps to prepare for a return to work,” said Mr Purnell.