00:00Our country is living beyond its means. Our economy has stagnated. We are borrowing and
00:05taxing way too much. Welfare has ballooned and we are failing, failing utterly to invest enough
00:14in defence. That's what Faversham and Midkent's MP said this week at the Conservative Party
00:20conference. This comes after she recently unveiled party plans to limit what people
00:26claiming benefits can spend their benefits on, like alcohol, cigarettes, gambling and
00:31even withdrawing cash. In August this year, almost 2,000 people in the Faversham and Midkent
00:38constituency claimed unemployment-related benefits. But what do the people of Faversham really
00:44think about Helen Waitley's new policy? It's difficult because obviously defence is
00:49one of those things where if you don't spend a lot on it, people die. But then again, I
00:55think you also have to accept that with benefits, if you don't spend a lot on it, people still
00:59die. Since Covid, I know that lots of people are out of work and do try to find work, but
01:08not everybody does. And so to be able to spend it on cigarettes and drink is wrong.
01:15And one local councillor believes that cutting people's benefits is not the right thing to
01:20do. Faversham's voted a number of times and it's made it pretty clear that those are not
01:25that town's values. We care about our residents and our residents care about each other. Faversham
01:30is a town that looks after its own and welcomes visitors as well. And we have to do that to
01:36the best of our ability and Liberal Democrats and their local councillors will continue to
01:40oppose that kind of policy and make sure people get the support they need.
01:43Both parties have their ideas on what the benefit system should look like, but Faversham
01:49residents will have to wait and see if their MP turns her policy into reality.
01:54Justine Lata for KMTV in Faversham.
