The battles ahead
Reforming welfare is Tony Blair’s top priority. But succeeding will mean winning arguments as well as votes
THE Labour Party invented the welfare state and only the Labour Party can reform it. That has been the claim made by the Blair government ever since it took office. The idea is that, because Labour is believed to have the interests of the poor at heart, the Blair government will be able to push ahead with reforms that would have been politically impossible for the Tories. The government's aim is to cut spending on social security, and so to free up money for health and education.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The battles ahead”
From the December 20th 1997 edition
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