“The Conservatives seriously damaged the UK's welfare system over 14 years.”

The evidence from multiple authoritative, independent sources — the IFS, NAO, House of Lords, Resolution Foundation, and academic researchers — consistently documents that Conservative policies over 14 years materially degraded the welfare system through sustained benefit cuts, the problematic Universal Credit rollout, intensified conditionality and sanctions, and regressive reforms that disproportionately harmed the poorest households. Key findings include: 1. **IFS (June 2024):** The working-age welfare system was "reshaped entirely" under Conservative chancellors from 2010–11 to 2024–25. Reforms were "regressive across most of the distribution," with the poorest fifth of households losing an average of £1,800 (10.2% of income). Out-of-work families with children lost £5,500 per year on average. 2. **House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee (2020):** Found Universal Credit had "substantial problems with its design and implementation that have undermined the security and wellbeing of the poorest in our society," including the five-week wait driving rent arrears, foodbank reliance, and debt, and an "overly punitive" sanctions regime. 3. **NAO (2024) and Public Accounts Committee (2024):** Documented ongoing Universal Credit implementation problems, including cost overruns, delays (completion pushed to 2028, at least six years later than planned), and risks that vulnerable people were falling into financial hardship during migration. 4. **LSE/CASE academic paper:** Described "a drastic and far-reaching hollowing out of provision" that "left the welfare state in poor health to respond to Covid-19 and then the cost-of-living crisis." 5. **Cambridge academic article ("Retrenched, Reconfigured and Broken"):** Argued the decade of austerity "undermined the financial base of key parts of the welfare state, reshaped it and redefined its priorities." 6. **Resolution Foundation (2024):** Detailed how working-age households were affected by regressive reforms, with the poorest fifth losing 5.9% of income in the 2010–2015 period alone. 7. **Epidemiological study (Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health):** Found social security cuts were associated with lower life expectancy — every £100 decrease per head of working-age population was associated with a 1-month reduction in life expectancy. The system was not eliminated, but the weight of evidence supports that it was seriously damaged. The word "broke" is politically charged, but the substantive claim is well-evidenced by mainstream, authoritative analysis. Even Labour's own Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall described the system as "broken." The causal link between Conservative policy decisions and welfare system degradation is clearly established — these were direct, deliberate policy changes implemented by Conservative-led governments. Sources: Institute for Fiscal Studies, "The distributional impact of tax and benefit reforms since 2010" (https://ifs.org.uk/publications/distributional-impact-tax-and-benefit-reforms-2010); House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, "Universal Credit isn't working: proposals for reform" (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5801/ldselect/ldeconaf/105/10504.htm); National Audit Office, "Progress in implementing Universal Credit" (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/progress-in-implementing-universal-credit-report.pdf); Public Accounts Committee, "Progress in implementing Universal Credit" (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmpubacc/458/report.html); LSE/CASE, Welfare reform working paper (https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/casepaper236.pdf); Resolution Foundation, "Ratchets, retrenchment and reform" (https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2024/06/Ratchets-retrenchment-and-reform.pdf); Cambridge University Press, "Retrenched, Reconfigured and Broken" (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/social-policy-and-society/article/abs/retrenched-reconfigured-and-broken-the-british-welfare-state-after-a-decade-of-austerity/8D22A00BB05BE03F8139EC623BF78C95); Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, "Social security cuts and life expectancy" (https://ovid.com/journals/jeche/fulltext/10.1136/jech-2023-220328~social-security-cuts-and-life-expectancy-a-longitudinal)