Overseas nationals denied benefits under a Conservative plan to limit social security to UK citizens would have the option to return to their own countries, the shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, has said.
Before his speech to the Conservative conference on Monday, Stride set out Tory proposals to cut £47bn a year from public spending, with the biggest chunk, £23bn coming from reductions in welfare.
Stride told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that big savings could also come from stopping people with what he called “lower-level mental health issues” receiving long-term sickness benefits.
Another part of the plan would limit benefits to people with UK citizenship, removing it even from those who have been in the country for years or even decades and have indefinite leave to remain.
Asked what options such people who might find themselves in financial need could have if the policy was implemented, Stride said one option would be for them to leave the UK.
“If they’ve come from other parts of the world, they would have an option to return to those other parts,” he said.
Pressed on this, he said: “I can’t speak to everybody’s individual circumstances. There are some where it wouldn’t necessarily impact them, this change. There are … some that will be able to adjust their working arrangements, or perhaps work longer, or whatever it may be as a response to this.
“But the point that I think is important is that UK citizenship should mean something. And I think when it comes to the benefits system, I think most [in the] country feel that it’s right and proper that it is there for UK citizens.”
It is understood, however, that the rule would not apply to EU nationals with settled status in the UK, as their right to receive benefits forms part of post-Brexit arrangements with the bloc.
Under proposals outlined overnight by the Tories, a further £8bn annually would be saved by cutting about 130,000 civil service jobs, and £7bn by slashing overseas aid to 0.1% of GDP. Keir Starmer’s Labour government has already cut it from 0.5% to 0.3%.
Other, slightly more vaguely expressed savings would come from axing what the Conservatives called “costly and ineffective green subsidies”.
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Speaking on Today, Stride sought to portray the Tories as the only party with a sensible fiscal plan.
“We have a welfare budget that is spiralling out of control, and we believe there are substantial savings there, particularly around lower-level mental health issues and getting people into work that have those conditions, rather than being them being on benefits,” he said.
“The size of the civil service has grown very rapidly, by over 35%, since 2016. We think that we can get the civil service to that size at a substantial saving.”
He added: “We really need to do this, because the country is living beyond its things. There needs to be a party, and it is the Conservative party, that will take fiscal responsibility very seriously.”
