Tories lay out plan to save £36bn by cutting mental health support and reinstating two-child benefit cap

Housing benefit and payments to people suffering from mild mental health and physical conditions would be slashed under Tory plans to cut more than £36 billion from Britain’s ballooning benefits bill, the party has said. Britain’s £333.8 billion welfare bill is “more than the entire GDP of Ukraine”, Tory leader told a press conference in Westminster on Tuesday. She added: “The current system is unsustainable.”Ms Badenoch announced plans to cut £36.1 billion per year of benefits at the Conservative Party conference last month and the party today set out further details of how it would get there.Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch (left) and shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately speaking during a press conference in WestminsterPAThe cuts include £13.7 billion from reforms to disability and sickness benefits, including scrapping payments for mild mental health conditions and routine back and joint pain.Another £9.5 billion will come from ending benefit claims for foreign nationals without EU settled status. Some £3.1 billion would be saved by limiting child benefits to two children per family – a policy scrapped by Labour last year, the Tories said. Child disability living allowance would take the form of support rather than cash handouts for mild learning and behavioural conditions, in cuts worth £2.8 billion. New plans to tackle fraud and error would raise £1 billion, the party said. The Government spends an estimated £333.8 billion on welfare and benefits each year, with pensioners taking the largest share at £161.4 billion. Ms Badenoch denied the Conservatives were blaming young people with their plans for sweeping cuts. Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch GettyAsked whether there was a risk of blaming young people, she said: “No one is blaming young people. “What we’re blaming is the system that has been created where too much money is being spent on welfare and the Government doesn’t really want to do anything about it.”Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately indicated the Tories would not spend more money on employment support while acknowledging some young people coming off welfare would need “intensive” help to get into work. Asked whether there would be more money for training and help for jobseekers, Ms Whately said “there is already substantial funding for those kind of programmes”. She added that young people coming off benefits would need “intensive support” to get a job, “but if they don’t show up they won’t get welfare”.