Is The Government Backing Down Over Benefits?
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we look at the news that ministers could abandon plans to freeze some disability benefits.
Paddy, Laura and Henry discuss where the news came from, and what the plans were in the first place.
And, after a week in which Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced that he was getting rid of NHS England, they look at how he might be changing other parts of the health service.
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Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O'Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn with Adam Chowdhury. The technical producer was Jonny Hall. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | I have a question. |
| 0:05.9 | You have a question. |
| 0:07.1 | So the BBC has learnt is the thing that's being said in the news about a change to the welfare cuts. |
| 0:15.0 | How does the BBC learn things? |
| 0:17.9 | Well, the BBC learns things by either phoning people up or people phoning them up or WhatsApping or communicating. Talking to people who know things. You're not giving much a way. |
| 0:27.6 | No, you talk to people in government who know things and you either ask them a question and they get back to you or they might phone you to say, actually, you want to get this out there. So, yes, collectively known as briefing. |
| 0:40.3 | But yes, talking to people, journalism. |
| 0:42.7 | Yeah, so, Henry, there's been a big briefing this weekend. |
| 0:45.3 | That's right. |
| 0:46.0 | The BBC has learnt, which is a slightly funny phrase. |
| 0:49.6 | It's a really silly phrase. |
| 0:50.9 | I mean, but it's kind of a way of communicating that this is something the government has told us, but the government don't want to say this is the government saying it in their own voice. |
| 0:58.4 | It's a bit of a funny game in that way, and I'm sure there's a better way for all of us to do it. |
| 1:01.7 | But anyway, the government has let it be known via the BBC that contrary to the expectations, in fact, fears of some Labour MPs, they are not going to be freezing the personal independence payment, PIP. |
| 1:18.6 | And that was set to be one of the big controversies of the coming days. So it is very striking, both for what it tells us about the unease among |
| 1:28.7 | Labour MPs and how the government is responding, that they are not now pressing ahead with that, |
| 1:34.3 | but that does not mean by any stretch that the next few days are going to be calm waters for the |
| 1:39.5 | government because there's plenty of other controversies ahead. And indeed, sometimes these |
| 1:43.7 | things are used, and there'll be plenty of examples ofies ahead. And indeed, sometimes these things are used, |
| 1:44.9 | and there'll be plenty of examples of this over time, |
| 1:47.6 | to dangle something that sounds really scary, |
... |
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