Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on the UK Government unveiling a benefit crackdown designed to save £5bn

The UK Government has unveiled a series of measures designed to slash £5 billion from the current welfare bill.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall has revealed the number of new people claiming the benefit is 'not sustainable'.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says this been met with backlash from some groups - and some feel the Government hasn't tightened things enough.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gavin Gray is a UK correspondent, given good evening to
you guy there. Now we've had a call between Donald
Trump and Posen which has not been as successful as
a a lot many would have hoped. How is Europe
reacting to it?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well? I think yeah, good news is as short supply
as most sit things really aren't they at the moment.
But I'm afraid that the news hasn't gone down well.
Many perceive that Russia is gaining in the upper hand
in these negotiations. Certainly the US side has not got
out of this most recent phone call. What they were
hoping to announce a general ceasefar is not happening. Only

(00:39):
this cease far on attacking power plants and energy related sites.
And I think across Europe there is this growing feeling
that perhaps Donald Trump doesn't realize he's being played by
a man who frankly doesn't care very much about keeping
this going for a long time, to make it very
uncomfortable for Europe, to make it uncomfortable for America, and

(01:01):
hoping that he gets quite a lot of land and
rare minerals out of Ukraine, not really caring too much
about the loss of life. So we've had a meeting
in Berlin with the French President Emmanuel Macron and the
German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, and they are saying that this
limited ceasefire plan is an important first step, but both

(01:23):
are saying we need a complete ceasefire. What is the
problem with that. The British Prime Minister Sekirstarma has spoken
to Vladimir Zelenski of Ukraine and reiterated the government's on
wavering support. So I think lots of people thinking, okay,
well that's a start. It's not what I think the
American President was hoping to announce, but let's see where

(01:45):
this next meeting goes in a few days time.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
And on the issue of work well beneficiaries being paid
for not working, this has obviously been something that's been
rumbling along for a couple of weeks now, but the
government refusing to rule out further cuts to benefits.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yes, so Ron, I mean, for those who haven't heard,
in the UK, we have more than four million people
signed off from work with either physical and or mental
health conditions. It currently costs roughly one hundred and forty
billion New Zealand dollars a year in benefits, and that

(02:22):
is said to be rising within five years to more
than two hundred and twenty billion New Zealand dollars years.
It is quite unsustainable, and yesterday the government announced cuts
equating to about eleven billion. They've tightened on the eligibility
of getting these disability related benefits. They've also cut some

(02:43):
of the amount of the benefits. And yet people have
immediately turned around and said, well, first of all, some
groups representing charities said this is immoral and devastating. But
on the other side there are people saying this doesn't
go far enough. The total bill, as I said, could
be up to two hundred twenty billion New Zealand dollars
in five years, so five billion is a bit of

(03:04):
a drop in the ocean. But the government being us, look,
with the growth target not being reached in the UK
and the need to tighten the belts even further, are
you going to need to cut more? And the government
not giving a direct answer to that, but certainly they
are admitting this is painful. They are admitting many of
their own MPs don't like it, but they do have

(03:24):
a big majority and many of those are on side
with the Prime Minister.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now we know that inflation, the CPI is calculated using
a basket of goods. In the UK, the statisticians are
going to change what's in the basket, what's in, what's out.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, this is fascinating as to what they now consider
is not relevant and what is. There's a basket of
seven hundred and fifty two items and the Office of
National Statistics, a government body, collects the costs of these
products and services across different retailers to come up with
monthly inflation figures. So what we have now lost are

(04:01):
basically turkey mints is one thing that's been removed. Another
thing is advertising in a newspaper has been removed, and
another thing is DVD rentals. I mean, gosh, I was
surprised to see that still in the list. But we
have added yoga mats I know, and virtual reality headsets

(04:22):
have both been added to the list this year. It
is quite extraordinary to see who comes up with these things.
But yeah, the spending on virtual reality headsets has written
massively and now stands at well over a billion New
Zealand dollars as we look into twenty twenty six. Is
the expectation and exercise mats not only used for yoga,

(04:43):
but other times of home workouts home gyms as well,
so men's sliders or pool sandals have been added. Pulled
Pork has already substituted an other and ready Gammon joint.
Mango is added to the selection of fruits. Cushions are
into bolster, the soft lounge, furnishing side of things and
what I Love. Though we didn't see any return ees

(05:06):
so Vinyl records were out of the list about thirty
years ago. Last year they came back in after the
sudden boom of young people in particular wanting to listen
to new music on vinyl.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Goodness, mate, fascinating stuff, Gavin, thank you very much for that.
Gavin Grande are UK europe correspondent, Yoga Mets, Men's Sliders
and Paul Pork of all thanks.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
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Speaker 1 (05:31):
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