Labour's handouts mean that more are relying on the state

13 April 2012

Labour's massive spending on schools, hospitals and welfare has created deeper dependency on the state than ever before, a report warns today.

Also see: • Hardcore unemployed could have benefits stopped, under government proposals

The devastating analysis by the Right-wing think tank Civitas argues citizens are now more likely to look to the government to solve their problems than rely on their own "energy and skill" - with more than ever relying on state handouts.

It concludes that the strategy of big spending on health, education and benefits has been "tested to destruction" under Labour because the approach has been to "treat voters like children".

Ambitious members of society have become more likely to seek employment in the public sector, reducing dynamism in the private sector.

And welfare policy has been designed to create "beholden voters", rather than independent people, it says.

The report says Gordon Brown's flagship policy of tax credits targeted at the poorest households is a prime example of policies "intended to create a grateful electorate rather than free-thinking citizens".

Recent figures suggest 30 per cent of households receive half or more of their income from state benefits.

Labour's former welfare reform minister Frank Field has argued that ten years of

inaction by the party has led to the largest number of households dependent on means-tested benefits since the 1930s economic slump.

Mr Field has also attacked Mr Brown's tax credits scheme for working households, which he says now cost the equivalent of 5p on income tax.

The complexity of the scheme resulted in two million households receiving incorrect amounts of benefit, with demands for overpayments to be handed back causing widespread misery.

Today's report, by David Green, director of Civitas, says: "During the Blair years the strategy of big spending on health, education and welfare was tested to destruction.

"It has not produced the expected improvements in health and education, and benefit expenditure has created not a more empowered people but deeper welfare dependency."

Experts warn some areas of Britain now have economies that rely so heavily on state spending that they resemble parts of the old Soviet Union.

Tens of billions are being pumped from the wealthy South East into poor regions of the country - with the result that swathes of Britain now suffer from acute dependency on the taxpayer.

On schools and hospitals, it adds: "The Blair government's approach to services such as health and education has been treat voters like children. It fears that it will suffer at the polls if voters are told that you only get what you pay for, and so the Government promises that everything is free, there is going to be much more of it, and what's more there will be lots of consumer choice too.

"The champions of New Labour know perfectly well that you can't really have consumer choice without consumer payment, but they are reluctant to say it in public."

While spending on the NHS has doubled since 1999, its activity, quality and access to treatment have risen by only 20 to 30 per cent, suggesting billions has been wasted.

The report also attacks the Tories for failing to call for a reduced role for the state because they fear being "caricatured as uncaring".

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