This week, our changes to the welfare system are introduced. Both myself and Robert Buckland MP have written in our columns about the changes, making the arguments about why they are fair and how the most vulnerable in society will be protected. I also think it important to put the changes in perspective.
Britain used to lead the world. Our economy was king, our trade networks vast and our social and political progress revered throughout the world. Not anymore. We are now challenged by the billions joining the world's workforce in vast new economies like China and India. Yes we should celebrate this as human progress, but it poses a very real danger to the future of our country if we do not act.
Inaction risks Britain being overshadowed by rising Eastern economic dominance. The golden age of Western economic growth risks replacement by a post-developed age of economic decline, with a stagnant economy and falling living standards. If we're not careful, Britain risks being out-worked, out-competed and out-smarted by those hungry for a better life.
It is this ambition that Conservative Governments seek to nurture and support. This country is full of people who work hard, hungry to create a better life for themselves, hungry to see their children grow up in a better world. It is this drive that makes us some of the hardest workers in Europe and British inventions among the best in the world.
Yet we are held back from turning this determination into an ambitious economy ready to take the world on. How can we compete when 7p from every pound earned and paid in tax is spent just servicing interest on our debt? It costs us over £120 million a day, money that could be spent educating our children, improving the health of our population or helping people into work. It is unsustainable and it must stop.
That is why we have had to make changes to every area of government, but welfare in particular. The success of our welfare system is tied to the success of our workforce and economy. We cannot compete with China when we are carrying millions of people whose dreams were long ago shattered and ambitions crushed by a welfare system that punished work. It is not fair on those in work who pay the bill, but it is especially unfair on those who are trapped by that system.
This is why we are making changes that ensure that work will always pay. It is about helping everyone find that determination, rekindle their ambition and make something of their lives. Everyone should have that chance. That is fair. In a world where ambition is king and where every individual is key to their nation's future, for Britain, we cannot afford not to.
