Jenrick says Reform would make long-term benefits claimants clean up high streets – UK politics live

Reform UK unveils compulsory community-labour scheme for long-term benefit recipients

Wanderstayfinder.com – Former Conservative cabinet minister Robert Jenrick laid out a sweeping overhaul of Britain’s welfare architecture on Monday, announcing that people who have claimed state support for extended periods and are deemed physically able to work will be required to complete twenty hours of unpaid community labour each week. The measure, branded under the party’s “welfare to work” banner, would assign tasks ranging from sweeping urban thoroughfares and tending neglected green spaces to performing minor structural repairs and manning public libraries and neighbourhood centres. Local authorities would administer the placements, and Jenrick warned that councils failing to deliver the scheme “in full” would see their central-government funding reduced.

Speaking at a Reform UK event in central London, Jenrick framed the proposal as a matter of basic fairness. He outlined the full catalogue of duties the party has published, which extends beyond street-cleaning to include staffing community centres and supporting local charities and volunteer organisations.

“They’ll work to clean up high streets and parks, to beautify neglected places, to carry out minor repairs, to staff libraries and community centres to perform many other tasks from the list that we’ve published today. We’ll also embrace local charities and community groups and ask them to help us and take part. If claimants refuse to participate or fail to show up, they’ll face penalties. Let me speak very plainly. If people who are capable of work refuse, then they’ll get nothing. That’s fair.”

The financial case Jenrick presented centred on a projected saving of roughly £50 billion, which he attributed to two linked moves: stripping disability benefits from millions of recipients and removing nearly all welfare entitlements held by foreign nationals. In his telling, failure to enact these changes would push the welfare bill into what he called a “genuine national debt crisis.” A 2024 study by the Resolution Foundation had noted that pensioners were the only demographic group whose welfare costs had not risen sharply in recent years, underscoring the pressure on other categories of claimants.

Climate scepticism at the Reform podium

The same afternoon’s question-and-answer session produced a second flashpoint. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, pressed on whether climate change is real, acknowledged the phenomenon but spent several minutes questioning the efficacy of net-zero targets and urging the public to simply adapt to warmer conditions. He pointed to the extended spell of hot, dry weather that had battered crops, stressed wildlife habitats, and human health across the country earlier in the summer, yet argued that active policy intervention was neither proven nor necessary.

“Of course climate change is real. But where is the evidence that net zero is going to stop it. Where is the evidence? There isn’t any. Climate change has always happened – it always will. Maybe the smarter thing to do is to adapt to it than think arrogantly that you can stop it. I am old enough to remember 1976 this feels a bit to same. That was 50 years ago. I think when it is a bit warm, let’s enjoy it. And if it means that English wine and sparkling wine gets better and better – fantastic! That means we can take on the French, fantastic! Lets celebrate some of things rather than just be sort of doom and gloom about it.”

Tice’s remarks drew particular attention because they arrived amid ongoing debate over whether the UK’s agricultural sector and coastal communities are already absorbing measurable climate impacts. His suggestion that a boom in English sparkling wine production should be treated as a reason for celebration rather than a signal of shifting growing zones struck many observers as a deliberate deflection from the policy question at hand.

Housing secretary visits wildfire-destroyed homes in Stourbridge

Elsewhere in the political cycle, Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner travelled to the West Midlands to inspect the charred remains of nineteen houses reduced to skeletal frames by a wildfire that swept through Quarry Park Road, Stourbridge, the previous week. Rayner was photographed walking among the gutted structures, a visit intended to signal ministerial engagement with the aftermath of what residents described as a fast-moving blaze that consumed an entire residential block within hours. The incident has intensified scrutiny of building-material regulations and local emergency-response protocols in areas where dense housing stock meets dry summer conditions.

Scottish Labour narrows leadership race to two candidates

In a separate development, the contest to replace Anas Sarwar as leader of Scottish Labour has narrowed to Michael Marra and Joe Fagan. Sarwar departed the role after being elevated to a UK government ministerial post and installed in the House of Lords. Monica Lennon, who had entered the race, announced she could not gather sufficient member endorsements to reach the final ballot. In a statement issued after her elimination, Lennon levelled sharp criticism at the party’s direction.

“Scottish Labour is stuck in the past. We are not listening to all of our members, the wider movement that built us or the millions of Scots who won’t vote for us. This leadership contest should have been a wide debate, rooted in courage, humility and the imagination to become a modern political party for workers and working class communities in Scotland. Our values mean nothing without vision, conviction and committed action. We must be a party where people can believe in fair work and a healthy planet; where women’s rights and LGBTQ rights are a shared struggle; where engaging in debate about Scotland’s place in the UK and the global community is a strength, not a weakness.”

Marra and Fagan now face a month-long campaign to win the backing of Scottish Labour members. The outcome will shape the party’s approach to the next general election in Scotland, where questions over independence, economic policy, and the party’s relationship with Westminster remain unresolved. Lennon’s departure, while not unexpected given the endorsement threshold, has left the remaining candidates facing a membership base that many local branches describe as deeply divided over the direction of travel.