Kemi Badenoch has said welfare spending could be considered ‘unchristian’.
This week, the Tory leader has been highly critical of Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget, in which the chancellor increased welfare spending by £16bn.
The most notable measure was the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, which will cost the treasury £3bn but is expected to life some 450,000 children out of poverty.
Reacting to the budget on Wednesday, Badenoch had crassly labelled it a ‘budget for Benefits Street’, language for which she has been criticised.
Now, she has suggested spending on the welfare state is ‘unchristian.’
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Earlier this month, Badenoch quoted St Paul’s advice to Timothy in the Bible as she argued that the “responsibility and dignity of work” was a Christian imperative, the Times reports.
She said: “St Paul, we read, in the first Epistle to Timothy proclaims that ‘Anyone who does not provide for his own household … is worse than an unbeliever’.
“This is the Christian recognition that we all have duties … To ourselves, to our families and to the community we are part of. Conservatives believe in making work pay, in rewarding risk, in ensuring effort matches reward.”
Appearing on Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast on Friday, Badenoch was asked if she was implying that welfare spending was “unchristian.”
In response, she said: “You can argue that.”
She continued: “My message is let’s get people off welfare into work. Let us not leave debt for our children and grandchildren. That is the worst unfairness.”
When she was asked to elaborate on what she meant, Badenoch continued: “In early Christian times there was no state or welfare so I think that you can argue that, actually. The Christian tradition is about communities and families and charity, not about compulsory taxation in order to pay welfare.
“What we saw with Rachel Reeves’s budget was a lot of people being dragged into paying income tax, now subsidising others who are now on benefits… We need a party that still talks about personal responsibility. We are the only party that is talking about limiting welfare.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Badenoch defended her strong choice of words towards Reeves after the budget, when she labelled the chancellor “spineless, shameless and completely aimless” and “wallowing in self-pity.”