Labour is right to make deep welfare cuts but its plan risks falling at the first hurdle - Renee Hoenderkamp

But the big one is the suggested overhaul of the benefits system. If they manage this, it will be a long overdue service to the taxpayers of this country. And let us not forget, every single benefit paid is paid for by the taxpayer. So let's look at what is happening.

Around 13 per cent of 16-24 year olds are not in education, employment, or training, with 987,000 young people in total. That’s 987,000 people who are young and fit and just not working, not paying tax and not securing all of the benefits of working; dignity, friends, mental stimulation, pride. And the state is not enjoying the tax that they would be contributing to the societal tax pot.

There are 3.7 million people of working age receiving health-related benefit support – 1.2 million more than in February 2020. It cannot possibly be the case that sickness making someone unable to do any work has risen exponentially after being fairly static prior to that. We spend £56.4 billion a year on this benefit. That’s more than the defence budget.

One thousand new applications for Personal Independent Payment are being approved every single day - this is unsustainable.

Consider we have an ageing population and fewer babies being born, more young people than ever refusing to join the workforce and become net contributors to the tax pot and more people than ever claiming health-related benefits. It cannot continue, it isn’t sustainable, and frankly, it’s a Ponzi scheme. It’s close to the inevitable end that all Ponzi schemes meet: collapse.

Am I being callous and cold? Absolutely not. I absolutely and resolutely believe that a moral society has a safety net for those in life who truly cannot work in any capacityand of course, there are those people. There also needs to be a safety net for those acute situations where someone hits a buffer and needs support whilst they get back on the rails.

The problem lies in two main areas. The first is what is now being deemed an illness preventing work in any capacity. The second is the level of benefits that are making work uneconomic. I truly know of someone who has not worked for years and tells me that they would need a job paying £48,000 to come off benefits and his sofa, and before you shout, he does spend most of his day on his sofa playing computer games and smoking weed.

We need to define what is a disability that would prevent someone from doing any work at all. Work comes in many forms, from physical to office requiring travelling from home and working from home in sedentary, computer and telephone-based roles. It is hard to imagine many illnesses or disabilities that would prevent all and any work, but I accept that there are of course, some, schizophrenia, paraplegia, learning disabilities, strokes that affect cognition and speech, brain injuries, terminal and end-stage cancers to name but a few.

There are of course more but my point is that we need to define the list and once we have done this and agreed, then everyone else needs to come off the disability benefit list and be given the support to find work that they can do within the confines of the illness or disability they have. We cannot accept that knee pain, shoulder pain, anxiety, depression and so many more illnesses render someone unable to do any work at all.

Once we have defined who can and cannot do any work, the decision is simple: support those who cannot work at all fully as a safety net absolutely should. Support those who can do certain work into work and do it in a defined time period. I would argue, as in other countries in the world, that there is a time limit to the latter group who are in the unemployment benefit group – you have a year to get work. There is nothing more motivating than knowing that the safety net has a time limit.

We also need to examine very carefully the many fringe benefits that would be lovely if the money tree were ever sprouting but it isn’t, it's dying. We are paying for cars via the bloated and not fit-for-purpose ‘Motabilty’ scheme.

The day I saw a car showroom advertising for benefit claimants to get a car from them via this scheme, I knew it needed scrapping. As has recently been exposed, people are getting cars via this scheme for ADHD, mental health conditions and more. The only people who should be getting help with their car are the severely physically disabled.

And finally, a word about GPs being the gatekeeper to money via FitNotes (sick notes). This is flawed and needs to end. Of course, it’s fine for GPs to be able to issue a note for two weeks when someone has flu but thereafter it should be taken away from GPs and independent doctors should have to issue them who have no relationship to the patient. It is impossible to maintain a relationship with a patient if you say no to a Fit Note which means they can’t get the benefit they are applying for. I refused a man's request for an indefinite FitNote for his painful back recently, he won’t come to me again and will see another doctor, even another practice until he gets his way, and get his way he will because all GPs know this.

So back to the start. Labour needs to do this, society cannot continue if they don’t because working people who are paying for the additional 1000 PIP claimants a day, will just give up in the end. We need to move back to a society where people feel a duty to work, not a right to claim. I was raised with a very clear message from my mother, that claiming benefits was not something I should ever do unless I had explored every single option and that I should clean toilets for a job first. I have never forgotten the message, it was about pride. Will Labour do it? Well, we will see. I have my doubts.