Badenoch Would Cut Universal Credit by a Third and Bar Spending on Alcohol
The Conservatives would tie universal credit to national insurance contributions, cutting the rate by roughly a third for claimants who have not paid in enough, and pay the reduced sum onto a card blocking alcohol, tobacco, gambling and cash withdrawals. Claimants would get the full rate for six months; two years of work would buy twelve. A single person under 25 would drop to £237 a month, just over £7.50 a day. The party says 350,000 people are affected and the saving is £538m a year.
The contributory principle is the respectable half of this policy and the card is the contentious half. It is modelled on an Australian cashless welfare card that was scrapped after trials found limited evidence it changed behaviour, and the exclusions matter: those in work, about a third of claimants, are untouched, as are housing and child elements. Kemi Badenoch’s framing was blunt — welfare “must be a safety net for those who genuinely need it, not a lifestyle choice for those who can’t be bothered”. Trussell’s Helen Barnard put the counter-case: “If you’re struggling to afford food and rent, childcare or the bus fare to an interview, then finding and keeping a job becomes harder not easier.” Watch whether Reform, which called it “a sticking plaster on a wound they opened”, now bids higher.