Helen Whately: How Labour sabotaged itself three different ways on Welfare - and still misses the real point

Helen Whately: How Labour sabotaged itself three different ways on Welfare - and still misses the real point

Helen Whately is Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and is the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent. Beware unintended consequences. They are the pitfall of many a well-intentioned ministerial plan. As the health and sickness benefits bill heads towards £100 billion, with 3,000 people signing up every day, the creators of the welfare state can’t have intended it to turn into this. In 2013, the Coalition Government launched Universal Credi…