'There are people swinging the lead': Cameron vows to get tough with anyone refusing to make the effort to find a job

Prime Minister dismisses claim cuts will worsen north-south divide

Insists it is fair on those in work to reform Britain's benefits system

Defends decision to link Philpott manslaughter case with need for change

David Cameron today vowed to step up his plans to rein in welfare spending, claiming some people are ‘swinging the lead’ by refusing to work.

The Prime Minister dismissed complaints that benefits reforms would worsen the north-south divide, insisting the problem could not be addressed with ‘larger and larger increases in the welfare bill’.

And Mr Cameron defended his claim that the case of Mike Philpott, who started a fire which killed six of his own children, raised wider questions about ‘what’s happened without our welfare system’.

David Cameron today vowed to press ahead with reforms to the welfare system, insisting too many people refused to make the effort to get a job

A study suggested changes to state handouts would take almost £19 billion-a-year out of the UK economy and hit northern England hardest.

Academics at Sheffield Hallam University said people in the Lancashire resort town of Blackpool will lose out more than anywhere else in Britain.

Former industrial areas including Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Glasgow would also be disproportionately affected.

But Mr Cameron insisted the government was right to act to curb welfare spending, claiming too many people refused to work.

He told Sky News: ‘We ask people what’s become unfair about Britain, they will say what is unfair is I’m working hard, but there are people who are swinging the lead on welfare, there are people who are not making the effort.’

Pay rises for people had been outstripped by increases in benefits, the Prime Minister added.

The Prime Minister took part in a Q&A session with employees of energy company E.ON as part of a tour of the West Midlands

‘If you look back over the last five years, people on out of work benefits have seen their incomes go up by 20 per cent whereas people in work have seen their incomes only go up by 10 per cent.

‘That’s because so many people in work have had no pay rise, they’ve had a freeze.

‘Some people have had to take a pay cut, and that’s why the decision we took to say that the key in-work benefits were only going to go up by 1%, that’s so important. Because it’s an issue of fairness.

‘You shouldn’t be better off out of work with a bigger increase in your benefits than you are in work, working hard.’

The Sheffield Hallam University study suggested people in wealthier areas, predominantly in the South, such as Cambridge, Surrey and the Cotswolds, will see the smallest financial losses.

Jobless father-of-17 Mick Philpott was jailed for life for killing six of his children in a house fire

Researchers assessed the financial impact of changes made by the coalition to housing benefit - including the so-called bedroom tax on public housing tenants who have unused rooms - disability living allowance, child benefit, tax credits, council tax benefit and several other hand-outs.

Professor Steve Fothergill, from Sheffield Hallam's Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, led the study, which was based on a range of official statistics.

He said: ‘A key effect of the welfare reforms will be to widen the gaps in prosperity between the best and worst local economies across Britain.

‘Our figures also show the coalition Government is presiding over national welfare reforms that will impact principally on individuals and communities outside its own political heartlands.’

Generally, the more deprived the local authority, the greater the financial impact, Prof Fothergill found. He said the three regions of northern England - the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humberside - can expect to lose a total of £5.2 billion a year in benefit income. Much of the south and east of England outside London escapes comparatively lightly.

But Mr Cameron said: ‘Labour tested to destruction the idea that simply through larger and larger increases in the welfare bill you can heal the north-south divide – you can’t.

‘What Labour did is create a more welfare dependent country. We need a smaller state and a bigger private sector.

‘I want us to be a fair country, but fairness is principally about if you work hard, do the right thing, are you treated fairly by the system?’



Mr Cameron also defended his decision to link the arson case of Mike Philpott to the need to reform the benefits system.

Philpott, a father of 17, was jailed for life last week for the manslaughter of six of his children after setting fire to the family home in Derby. His wife Mairead and accomplice Paul Mosley were each jailed for 17 years.

Mr Cameron said: 'First and foremost, and this is absolutely key, we have to hold Mr Philpott responsible for his crimes.



'Personal, individual responsibility, that is absolutely vital. But does this case lead to a wider debate about what’s happened with our welfare system, the signals it sends, yes, I think there is that debate.



'I made a speech some months ago pointing out a whole series of reforms that we could consider in terms of working age welfare to make sure that the welfare system is sending the signal that it supports people who work hard and the welfare shouldn’t be a lifestyle choice.

