- Reform UK has unveiled plans requiring long-term benefits claimants fit for work to complete 20 hours of community service per week or face losing their payments.
- Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick stated the proposals aim to cut £50 billion from the welfare bill through major overhauls to sickness and disability payments.
- Under the policy, foreign nationals including EU citizens would be barred from claiming almost all UK benefits, requiring a renegotiation of the Brexit deal.
- The party also proposed cutting employers' national insurance rates to encourage businesses to support workers on long-term sick leave back into employment.
- Political opponents heavily criticised the plans, with the Liberal Democrats describing them as senseless and cruel, and the Conservatives dismissing the figures as fantasy.
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