US welfare cuts delight Redwood

JOHN CARLIN

Washington

John Redwood yesterday welcomed controversial American welfare reforms as a model for cutting back long-term social security costs in Britain.

In Washington on an American tour as part of his long-running campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Mr Redwood was in "rejoice, rejoice" mood.

He was fulsome in his praise of the US government for having agreed on Wednesday to pass a Bill that reduces access to welfare benefits for close to 40 million people. At a news conference yesterday morning, he congratulated President Clinton three times on his decision to sign the Republican Bill.

Mr Redwood approved of the emphasis on "self-help" in legislation which "offers people the chance of a job rather than a welfare chit". He said: "Your welfare Bill has broken new ground here in the US.

"In Britain we are also making important changes. Jefferson warned us all that the coat which fits the boy needs replacing in manhood. So it is with the welfare coat, as we grow to greater prosperity."

Mr Redwood's metaphor was perhaps ill-judged since the Bill's American opponents - among them senior members of Mr Clinton's Democratic Party - estimate that 1 million children will be thrown into coat-less poverty.

What the Bill does, among other things, is reduce families' eligibility for cash welfare payments to a maximum of five years in total, and reduce help with food. Nearly 13 million Americans are on welfare and 25.6 million receive food stamps.

Mr Redwood backpedalled somewhat when asked whether he believed Britain might adopt some of its provisions, notably the one imposing five-year limits on access to welfare. "No," he said. "I'm not recommending that in the British situation."

Mr Redwood admitted he occupied positions some way to the left of his Republican friends. "On very many issues," he said, "Tony Blair is well to the right of me." As examples he gave Mr Blair's proposals to introduce curfews for children and take grants away from students, proposals which the Republican Party would consider blasphemy to oppose.