Labour ‘would match benefits with inflation’

Labour has pledged to raise all benefits in line with inflation every year in a move that would potentially add billions to Britain’s welfare bill.

Karen Buck, the shadow minister for social security, said handouts would always keep pace with prices if her party wins the next election. She accused the Government of stoking poverty by failing to ensure payments went up at the same rate as the cost of living. In a debate in the Commons, she also said Labour would scale back “unproven” benefits sanctions.

Tory MPS said that the remarks showed Sir Keir Starmer wanted to return Britain to being a “somethingfor-nothing welfare state”.