We are Lean Welfare UK

We believe that job seekers universal credit should be an emergency lifeline not a career choice. We would limit this to a maximum claim duration of 3 months with no further claims allowed for 36 months.

Personal Independence Payments are a widely abused benefit with a low barrier to entry. We would end PIP as a welfare benefit.

Whilst recognising this a deeply sensitive and personal subject, we must acknowledge that we have reached a crazy situation where people are told they are disabled, written off from work and signed up to a lifetime on the welfare state. We must be aspirational with disabilities through the advancement of modern and developing technologies capable of bridging and enabling a number of needs.

We only need to look at Stephen Hawking to be inspired by what is possible, he undoubtedly achieved greatness, showed true resilience and a determination to continue his work despite his disability. We must not have a culture that writes people off of work for life, but instead is determined to help them find work they can do so they can enjoy a all the joys of working and earning.

Currently carers allowance is non means tested. This means as a state we are paying this to people regardless of their own ability to pay for care. We have heard of elderly husband and wife claiming for being each others carers, if you need a carer how can you be a cared? We would introduce means testing to ensure that this is only paid when it is financially required and that it is paid to genuine carers.

We would end the motorbility scheme which pays for people to have new cars.

If you are claiming any welfare and travel abroad your welfare will stop. The only exception to this would be for terminal illness. Why should your taxes pay for someone to go on holiday?

The state pension is a completely unfunded pension scheme as in so much as there is not a pot of money to back the payments. This means that all state pensions are paid immediately out of tax receipts. This is unsustainable and irresponsible of government, as a pension business would never be able to trade in this way as it is a crisis waiting to happen. Despite understanding it would be hugely unpopular we would introduce a sunsetting of the state pension.

If you move to the UK you must add value to the UK. For this reason if you are not in work or education, and require the use of the welfare state your visa would be cancelled and you would need to return to your home nation.

We believe it is unfair that there only people in England pay prescription charges. We would introduce a universal prescription charge across all nations of the union and remove all exemptions. Prescriptions are already heavily subsidised and we believe it is fair to pay your part.

NHS dentistry is in chaos and simply doesn't work, it has become a postcode lottery and many in the UK simply can not access it. We would end NHS dentistry as it is. We would introduce a student loan style scheme insuring that anyone can access funds of their private dental treatment and repay over time through their wage.

We believe being able to afford private health insurance or pay for private healthcare directly is something to celebrate, as you are freeing up NHS capacity. We are saddened when politicians try to hide this and claim to use the NHS. We need an NHS which is well funded, fast and world leading.

We would ban health insurance offering cash benefit for using NHS services. If you can go private you should go private. This frees up waiting lists and makes the experience better for those who can't go private. We think NHS care should be as good as private care, but being able to pay private fees is another way of adding value to your country.

We would introduce a set daily fee for NHS insurance for people visiting the UK, this would cover their use of emergency medical treatment by the NHS. This would cover emergencies only.

We would not provide translation services for NHS patients or DWP service users. We would provide these services in English. If a translator is required they would need to be privately funded and supplied.

Currently the government are paying load of landlords mortgages at market value for people on universal credit with a need for social housing. If you own your own home they will not support with mortgage payments preferring you to lose your home and move into a rental property which costs them more, creates further reliance and demotivates people.

We would overhaul the social housing system, we would introduce a government backed mortgage scheme via the private sector banks allowing people to borrow 100% of the required funds to purchase a sensible property as an interest only mortgage. The government would pay the interest free mortgage whilst they qualify for social housing and cover a shortfall if the property is sold for less that the purchase protecting the bank. Once the person homes off social housing they would take over the payments and could remortgage to begin paying off the mortgage. This is an inspirational policy aimed at helping people get their own home, a place on the property ladder and something to aspire to look after, pay off and be able to pass down.

We recognise the vulnerability of these children however the industry has some of the worst profiteering we have seen with private providers offering semi-independent 16-18 accommodation charging £800 per week for a room offering minimal in return. It is clear that £3200 to rent a room is extortion. We would ensure that councils are required to provide a safe and nurturing home for young people in their care but equally show they are doing in a manner that respects the tax payer. We would also introduce child maintenance payments from parents who's children enter care. The only exception to this would be babies requiring adoption.

Many people are concerned about the “small” boat crossings made by illegal immigrants. These people have often travelled through a number of countries including launching from France, paid criminals £2000 and have ultimately decided to enter our country illegally. We would have a clear and simple rule, if you enter the UK illegally you will not be able to claim asylum here.

We have all been horrified by the deaths of migrants on the sea, especially children. This must stop. We believe the only way to stop this is to ensure that it is worthless. We believe through our striping of the welfare state that these people expect to arrive and receive the life of Riley through we will already put these people off. But by ensuring they expect to be rejected immediately regardless of genuine claim or not, it becomes a pointless journey.

Anyone arriving in the UK illegally would be taken to secure detention centre where they would be bio-metrically processed, with iris, photos and fingerprints taken to ensure they are never able to come here through any legal means in the future. They would be removed to their country of origin. Undocumented migrants would be removed to a 3rd country such as the Rwanda scheme.

However we must equally play our fair part in offering asylum to people who's lives are in genuine danger as enshrined in international law. We would therefore open accessible legal routes to claim asylum. Only asylum claims made outside of the UK would be considered. We would allow people to request asylum at any British embassy. Their claim would be assessed and if they were able to present clear and obvious evidence of their life being danger we would then consider them to enter the asylum probation scheme.

Under the asylum probation scheme they would arrive in the UK and immediately enter an asylum probation centre, this is a 6 month program during which they will need to learn fluent English, British culture and laws they must follow. We would partner with warehousing businesses to provide them with work within the probation centre to pay their way. After 6 months if they have shown they have participated fully with the program, they will be supported to enter the community and find work.

Committing a crime, requiring the welfare state or breaching the rules of their probation would cancel their right to remain and they would be returned to their country of origin.

We would ensure that we have strict control over the number of people accepted into our probation scheme and would reject any outside of this number expected the international community to also provide their part in offering fair and accessible schemes.

This would be an opportunity for people to claim asylum in a safe county but would be a far removed experience from the hotel lifestyle migrants currently experience. They would be expected to work, learn and contribute to society. They are held to a higher standard of accountability as committing a crime or requiring benefits would end their opportunity. We believe in safe, legal and humane routes but we marry that up with an expectation to be self-reliant, add value to the country and integrate.

We would stop the crazy situation whereby courts can prevent deportations due to dietary requirements, medication or family situation.

We would introduce a common sense approach to people injured whilst committing a crime. We have all heard horror stories of churches being sued by someone who fell from the roof whilst stealing the lead. We would impose a simple rule, if you are injured during the process of committing a crime, then that's on you. You will not be able to sue either a person such a security guard, a business or public body.

Anyone who commits a crime and is found guilty of said crime whilst on a visa, as an asylum seeker or a dual citizen will have their right to be in the UK removed permanently and deported.

Shop lifting costs all of us through supermarkets needing to price in the cost of thefts. We would empower store security guards to carry out their duty to the full. We would ensure that where reasonable force is used they are legally protected from prosecution.

We would allow stores to directly impose fines where evidence of shop lifting is clear and obvious, allowing the person to be clearly identified. The store would be able to impose fines in excess of the goods stolen and would be entitled to request these are paid via the recipients wage or welfare payment.

We currently spend £2 billion on legal aid. We recognise the importance of accessing legal advice and the protection it provides however this is a huge sum for the tax payer to fund. We would end legal aid and replace it with a legal loan scheme similar to the student loan system where you would be expected to pay back your legal fees.

We would not provide legal aid or the new legal loans to non visitors in such cases as failed asylum claims, deportations or visa rejections.

We would enshrine in law a requirement for governments to reduce national debt as a percentage of GDP each financial year, if national debt needs to be increased it should be for something beyond the governments control such as war, pandemic or financial crash. They should be required to make a statement to parliament with a clear rationale, associated costs and plan to get it back down.

We can not borrow our way out of debt. The cost of servicing the debt in terms of interest payments is crippling and has an impact on our tax. Just like managing a household, debt needs careful management and a clear plan out of it. We can not saddle future generations with today's problems.

We are committed to making tax easy. You should not need a degree in accounting to understand tax brackets and how much you need to pay. No one likes paying tax so the least the government can do is make it easy.

We would introduce a student loan style scheme allowing for people to access funds to allow them to start their own business in a trade. This is part of our vision of building an aspirational Britain where people feel empowered and enabled to start their own business.

We are committed to creating an economy where aspiration is rewarded and people can always push themselves to the next thing.

We have been shocked and alarmed at how national infrastructure projects such as HS2 have become a blank cheque sign off, with the cost of the project spiralling out of control. We now have a situation where HS2 is costing far more than expected and not doing what it was supposed to do with the northern stretch beyond Birmingham cancelled.

We would enshrine in law that when the tax payer are signed up to a national infrastructure project that the plans are not changed, the costs are adhered to, and that the tax payer isn't signing a blank cheque.

We would commit to spending 6% of GDP on defence. We recognise the all member states of NATO need to pay their way, and we commit to showing our partners and our adversaries that we are serious about the defence of our nation, and it's interests.

We would seek to ensure that we limit the instability of Europe and the expansionist ambitions of the European Union, to ensure that the UK are not dragged into wars against our national interest. NATO should open membership to countries that but the whole alliance at risk of conflict.

We leave NATO if we felt that our national interests are not supported or our peace put at risk by expansion beyond it's original purpose.

So far the UK has committed £25 billion to Ukraine in their fight against Russia. Whilst we recognise Ukraine are defending themselves against an illegal invasion from Russia, we are also concerned about the current support. There are wide ranging claim even from within the Ukrainian government about corruption with money going missing. We are also concerned that our support of Ukraine have strayed from defence into offence, enabling them to use British weapons to strike deep into Russia bring the UK further and further into this war.

Ukraine have done a tremendous job of withstanding Russia, something people thought impossible, many assuming Russia would win within weeks. However we are now not far from the 5 year mark and things are unchanging.

We believe that a diplomatic settlement is the only way to peace.

We would cease all further financial support for Ukraine due to the corruption. We would withdraw support of offensive strikes on Russia as this is further escalating the war and risks direct conflict. We would encourage and support all moves towards peace talks and a negotiated lasting peace. To be clear we would not commit to policing the peace, we would not put boots on the ground and we would not support Ukraine becoming a NATO member.

We would immediately end all foreign aid, both civil and military aid. We would not pay reparations for historic events such as slavery.

We were alarmed at the news of councils spending tax payers money to take out injunctions of flying of the National flags. We would not allow fines or punishments to be issued for flying the Union Jack, or nation flags of England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.