Welfare

Lara Bird Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lara Bird (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) (SNP)]

It is heartbreaking that we still have a such a large proportion of working poor in our society, and that so many people across my constituency, and the constituencies of others Members, are working hard, making sacrifices and doing their best, yet are still being punished by increasingly oppressive policies that take one look at the reality of hardship faced by folk, and decide to look the other way. One thing that is clear, and has always been clear, is that we cannot cut our way to prosperity—the Tories’ own record shows that to be true. The way to get the welfare bill down is not to arbitrarily pick targets and experiment with people’s lives to score political points, and it is genuinely insulting that Conservative Members can come here today and try to offer half-baked solutions to problems that they created.

This is largely a problem of the Conservative party’s own making. Conservative Members are trying to blame those in our society who rely on support because they cannot accept responsibility for their own actions. We must make it clear how misguided at best, or intentionally reckless at worst, the Conservative party is when it comes to welfare, because its austerity-fuelled cuts were linked directly to rising levels of poverty, and they have exacerbated the overall cost, long term. Anyone minded to listen to the Conservative party on their arbitrary welfare targets might need to seriously check themselves.

Of course we do not want people to rely on welfare long term, but there is a trend over past years—largely instigated by Conservative Members, but it is increasingly found wider afield—to blame those who rely on additional support for Government mismanagement, instead of recognising that many who receive such support are already valuable, contributing members of our society. This trend completely fails to address why so many working-age, motivated and skilled individuals still have no choice but to rely on additional support. Indeed, many people are able to contribute to our society and economy only because they receive additional support. Rather than blame those people, there must be more intense scrutiny of why so many people have to rely on that support, why so many are dependent on universal credit despite being in full-time employment, and why so many young people are relying on jobseeker’s allowance. It is not because they do not want to work and are not looking for work; it is because the Labour Government have priced them out of employment by creating such a hostile hiring environment. So many parents and families rely on the Scottish child payment because life is just so unaffordable.

I am especially concerned about young people who are coming of age today. A young person in my constituency who graduated from a university in England or Wales might have over £60,000 of debt, which they will likely be paying off for their entire life, and that amount will rise year on year because of interest. They have started paying that debt back earlier because Labour refused to amend the threshold freeze. A young person might not be able to find a job because the employer national insurance contribution hike is pricing young people out of work, or because of the refusal to cut VAT on hospitality, or because of the total mismanagement of minimum wage reforms. A young person could be paying more than £1,000 in energy bills; they are due to rise again in January, because of Labour’s choices. A young person who cannot afford to save knows that they will likely never buy a house, might never receive a state pension, and faces unaffordable monthly living costs.

As one of the youngest Members in this House, it is so frustrating to come here and hear others speaking about the reality for young people without actually understanding what they are facing, and to see the discrepancy between apparent support from the Government and the reality for young people in my constituency. Yes, I want the welfare bill to come down, but the way to reduce it is to introduce effective employment support. The SNP will not support the Opposition motion this afternoon, and it is laughable to think that anyone would take their lead when it comes to addressing the welfare budget.