Kemi Badenoch says having ADHD does not justify disability benefits as she unveils plan to cut £36billion from welfare bill

Kemi Badenoch has said young people with ADHD should not be on disability benefits as she unveiled plans to slash £36 billion from the welfare bill. The Conservative leader argued paying disability benefits to young people with ADHD was "likely to be more destructive to their future than the condition itself" as she vowed to overhaul the welfare system. In a major speech this morning, Ms Badenoch warned that "too much money is being spent on welfare" as she pledged to scrap payments for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain.

The Tory leader said: "The reality is that millions of people can work 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. Read more: Louise Haigh refuses to rule out tax rises to pay for soaring £353bn welfare bill as she stands in for Burnham at PMQs Read more: If NHS cannot survive without immigration then model must change, Badenoch tells LBC "If you tell a young person that their ADHD means they are defective and they can't do anything, that is likely to be more destructive to their future than the condition itself.

"Yet that is what our welfare system is currently doing. We are going to change that." The Tories have published a 52-page plan setting out how they will slash £36 billion from welfare costs. The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast welfare spending will rise to £431 billion by the 2031-32 financial year, largely driven by health-related and pensioner benefits. Reviews into disability benefits and getting more of the 45% of young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets,) led by Stephen Timms and Alan Milburn respectively, are expected to report back in the coming weeks.

Under the Tory plan, £13.7 billion would be saved from reforms to disability and sickness benefits, including scrapping payments for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain. The party also claims it could save £9.5 billion will come for blocking foreign nationals without EU settled status from being able to claim benefits. And scrapping the two-child benefit ca p - a policy reversed by Labour last year - would save £3.1 billion a year, according to the Tory plans.

In her speech, Ms Badenoch pointed to the latest figures showing that the UK spends £180 billion a year on welfare for working age people. The figure is the equivalent of £500 million a day and outstrips spending on defence, education and policing combined. Ms Badenoch said the contrasting attitudes to welfare exposed a fundamental divide between the Tories and Labour, which she accused of thinking that "cutting welfare is always cruel and that there's nothing wrong with a life of dependency".

Asked whether there was a risk of blaming young people and failing to acknowledge the impact of changes in the job market, the Tory leader said: “No-one is blaming young people. “What we’re blaming is the system that has been created where too much money is being spent on welfare and the Government doesn’t really want to do anything about it.” But shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately indicated the Tories would not spend more money on employment support.

Asked whether there would be more money for training and help for jobseekers, Ms Whately said “there is already substantial funding for those kind of programmes”. She said young people coming off benefits would need “intensive support” to get a job, “but if they don’t show up they won’t get welfare”. The new Conservative “ welfare that works” plan sets out several further measures for cutting the welfare budget. It includes saving £2.8 billion from stopping child disability living allowance cash payments for mild learning and behavioural conditions and £1 billion from tackling fraud and error.

Child Poverty Action Group policy director Sara Ogilvie said the move would “take the UK back to the dark ages” and prompt the biggest overnight increase in child poverty since records began. “We need all our politicians to commit to a plan to reduce child poverty rather than condemn the next generation to a future of struggle,” she said. Mrs Badenoch brushed off the criticism, saying the best way to keep children out of poverty was to get parents highly-paid work.

She said: “Child poverty groups are there to say that there’s going to be more and more child poverty unless, you know, their demands are met. “We have to balance what they are saying with what the facts say, and with what we are seeing on the ground. “We are MPs as well. We see what’s happening in constituencies. Of course, we don’t want to see child poverty, but the best way to stop child poverty is to make sure that parents have well-paying jobs.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Tories let the welfare bill soar on their watch. Now they have the audacity to pretend it was nothing to do with them. You can’t trust them to solve problems they created in the first place. “The Conservatives designed and implemented this benefit system, which has driven large numbers of people to be signed off and written off. In the Tories’ last year in government, the welfare bill rose by a record £33 billion.

“Labour is tackling the collapse in face-to-face assessments, bringing in personalised employment support for sick and disabled people, and spreading opportunity to young people through the Youth Guarantee. “Further reforms will follow the Milburn and Timms reviews.” Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP called on the Tories to face up to “the damage their botched Brexit deal has done” and warned it would be “disabled people and children growing up in poverty who will pay the price”.

“The only way to avoid Labour’s painful tax hikes and the Conservatives’ punishing welfare cuts is to grow the economy, starting with a new growth and defence partnership with the EU,” she said.