John Healey said there will be a reduction in the welfare bill before the next election, promising a "tough" approach to young people who do not accept job or training support. Speaking in broadcast interviews after delivering the budget on Wednesday, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: "We have to bring the benefits bill down."

A 'tough' approach to young claimants

The chancellor said young people refusing offers of work or training would face tougher conditions, and set out a benefits bill reduction modelled on previous Labour governments that attached more conditions to welfare payments for the young.

"We will expect, as we've done before, that (young people) take up the offers, take up the offers," Healey said. "There will be a reduction in the benefits bill. We'll do that in a Labour way."

He pointed to the last Labour government, elected at the end of the 90s, which he said faced huge youth unemployment - in his area of South Yorkshire it was one in five.

What the OBR forecasts show

Healey was pressed on the issue after Office for Budget Responsibility documents suggested sickness and disability benefits would cost £100bn a year before the end of the decade. The forecasts framed the interviews:

• •Total welfare spending is forecast to grow from £334bn last year to £431bn by 2030.
• •Half of that spending goes to pensioners, and a quarter to sickness and disability benefits.
• •Overall forecast welfare spending has risen by £8bn since March.

No 'crude cuts', reviews first

Healey said there would be no "crude cuts", echoing Andy Burnham, after Keir Starmer's attempts to cut disability benefits were stopped by Labour MPs. He called the welfare system "unsustainable" and said changes would follow the Milburn review of young people and work and the Timms review of the disability benefit system.

Budget giveaways and the response

The budget Healey defended included cost-of-living measures such as scrapping standing charges on gas bills and £100 energy payments for up to 20m households in council tax bands A to D. He said the choices gave households some "breathing space", paid for by higher taxes on banks and landlords.

The Resolution Foundation called it a "scattergun" budget that did little to address Britain's economic challenges, and expects typical annual energy bills to reach £1,750 after government support in 2026-27, against £1,685 during the 2022-23 energy price jump that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ruth Curtice, the think tank's chief executive, said: "Cost of living support is being spread far too thinly."

Healey deferred decisions on how defence spending at 3% of national income will be paid for and set out no welfare changes in the budget, with both expected at the spending review.