Welfare reform proposals must be judged on substance not spin

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 17th May 2005

Commenting on the three Welfare Reform Bills announced in the Queen's Speech, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, David Laws MP said:

"The test will be in the substance of the new proposals rather than in the Government's spin.

"The Government has long talked about pensions reform, reform of incapacity benefit and housing benefit without achieving much."

On Incapacity Benefit Reform:

"Recent signals from David Blunkett suggest that the Government remains unclear about its so-called "reform agenda".

"Reform must offer real help for those able to return to work, and must change the benefits system so it reflects the sometimes complex nature of people's physical and mental disabilities. We believe that a partial capacity benefit should be considered for those people whose capacity to work inevitably varies due to the nature of their condition.

On a Pensions Reform:

"The existing pension system is deeply flawed and unsustainable. We hope that Mr Blunkett will succeed in sweeping away much of the Chancellor's means-tested mess of a pensions system.

"The Turner recommendations should be used to establish a cross party consensus on long term pension reform.

On a Housing Costs Bill:

"Simplifying Housing Benefit, giving claimants genuine choice, and work are reforms that are long overdue.

"However, the early findings from evaluation of the Local Housing Allowance pilots have not been promising and searching questions need to be asked about the detailed proposals."