Wes Streeting confronted on accusations of ‘Labour changing into Tories’ over welfare reform

Wes Streeting confronted on accusations of 'Labour turning into Tories'Sky News

Transcript

00:00You more or less bragged that you are doing the things that the Conservative Party wanted

00:05to do but didn't do and you said I bet they're glad that people chose change with Labour.

00:14Some of your less favourable friends are saying the change with Labour is that Labour is changing

00:20into the Tories.

00:21No, look, I kind of reject that argument. I don't think that it is a Labour argument

00:28to say that we would want people consigned to a life on benefit and not able to go to

00:34work when we know that they can.

00:35Aid cuts, wind to fuel allowance cuts, benefit cuts.

00:38We would also say that the situation we've inherited in terms of the level of spending,

00:45the level of borrowing, the level of national debt, that is not a position the Labour Party

00:52is happy with. What we are absolutely doing is trying to reform the state so that it's

00:57more effective, get our economy growing again so that we can invest in our public services

01:02without hiking taxes and put more money back into people's pockets.