Politics news: Kemi Badenoch pledges to cut £36bn from welfare bill which has ballooned to 'more than the entire GDP of Ukraine'

Live Kemi Badenoch pledges to cut £36bn from welfare bill which has ballooned to 'more than the entire GDP of Ukraine' Stay up-to-date with all the latest political coverage from GB News below The Conservatives have pledged to slash the welfare bill by moe than £36billion, with leader Kemi Badenoch claiming it has now surpassed "more than the entire GDP of Ukraine". Cutting disability and sickness benefits, as well as reinstating the two-child benefit cap and ending benefit claims for foreign nationals without EU settled status, are three of the measures the Tories will look to trim the burgeoning bill by £36.1billion.

The new plans are expected to be unveiled as part of an event later today, where Mrs Badenoch will slam the UK's benefits bill - estimated at more than £330billion for the 2025/26 financial year - as "crushing our economy". "The question of whether we should cut welfare goes to the heart of what sort of country we want to be," she will say. "It exposes a fundamental difference between Labour and the Conservatives. Labour MPs think cutting welfare is always cruel.

"They believe the kindest thing you can do for someone who is struggling is to tell them it’s okay not to look after themselves. That there’s nothing wrong with a life of dependency." The cuts are expected to include £13.7billion raised from disability and sickness benefit cuts, such as scrapping payouts for mild mental health conditions and back pain. Ending benefit claims for foreign nationals without EU settled status is expected to cut £9.5billion from the bill, with a further £3.1billion from the reintroduction of the two child benefits policy, which was scrapped by Labour last year.

Today, Mrs Badenoch will recognise the importance of aid for those who "genuinely cannot work," adding: "But the reality is that millions of people can and do contribute – to our economy, to their families, to their communities – even when they face serious challenges. "Double amputees run marathons. People who are housebound do wonderful creative work from home. People with autism run some of the biggest tech companies in the world. "If you tell a young person that their ADHD means they are defective and will never amount to anything, that mindset is likely to be more destructive to their future than the condition itself.

"That is what our welfare system is currently doing. Conservatives believe in a system that looks at people through the lens of what they can do – not what they cannot." FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY… Sign up to the Politics Newsletter I agree to receive updates and information about my account, the GB News Community, and related products and services from GB News. Email address Sign up By signing up you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and Community Rules.

Thank you for signing up! See the latest from GB News here . Choose GB News on Google - add us as a preferred source Choose GB News Support GB News Champion free speech and independent journalism while unlocking exclusive benefits. Support us Follow for the LATEST UPDATES throughout the day... Labour sets out plans for 'truly phone-free' classrooms Labour will set out plans to encourage "truly phone-free" classrooms to ensure pupils are free from distractions.

The Department for Education (DfE) will issue strengthened guidance to encourage schools to adopt effective policies to make sure phones are inaccessible to young people throughout the school day. Existing guidance, which came into effect in September, calls for schools in England to operate as "mobile phone-free environments by default", but it does not explicitly set out how they should enforce the ban. Education Secretary Lucy Powell stressed that school was for learning and friendship - "not scrolling" - as she laid out her plans.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE. Share ​Lib Dems: Labour are totally failing victims with early release scheme The Liberal Democrats have blasted Labour for "totally failing victims" with the early release scheme. Around 650 offenders who are serving sentences of less than three years and two months will be freed today, joining thousands of criminals who have been released from jail since the scheme began on October 1. Jessica Brown-Fuller told GB News on Tuesday ahead of the latest release that the Sentencing Act was "meant to stabilise the prison population".

However, the system is "totally failing victims" and that, within two years, prisons will still have just 1000 prison spaces available. "We need to end the revolving door of short sentences... a huge number of people have been recalled because of repeat offending or failing licence conditions," the Lib Dems justice spokeswoman told The People's Channel. Mrs Brown-Fuller also said the party would "absolutely" support deporting foreign national offenders - of which there are an estimated 10,000.

Share Prisoners leaving in the first wave of early release Hundreds more criminals freed under Labour early release scheme Hundreds more criminals will be released in the third wave of Labour's early release scheme. Around 650 offenders who are serving sentences of less than three years and two months will be freed. They join the thousands of criminals who have been released from jail since the scheme began on October 1. Criminals released in this wave include people convicted of affray, which has a maximum sentence of three years, burglary and fraud.

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