Kemi Badenoch defends plan to slash £4bn from housing benefit to fund defence

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has defended plans to slash £4 billion from the housing benefit bill to help pay for defence, rejecting warnings that the move would trigger a homelessness crisis.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Badenoch argued that while existing tenants and pensioners would be protected, future claimants in expensive areas would simply have to "move somewhere cheaper". The proposed welfare cuts are designed to help fund a Conservative commitment to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.

Why is Kemi Badenoch defending the policy?

Ms Badenoch insisted that the trade-off is necessary to protect the country, describing defence as the government's primary responsibility.

"Without national security, there aren't going to be any benefits," she told the Today programme. "We're all going to be in danger, far more people will be homeless, and the government's first duty is defence of the realm."

She also told BBC Breakfast that taxpayers should not be expected to fund people to live in high-cost areas indefinitely. "I think you should aspire to live wherever you want to live," she said, "but you shouldn't aspire for the government, i.e. other taxpayers, to pay for you to live wherever you want to live."

How have critics and charities reacted?

The plans have drawn sharp criticism from the government and housing advocates. During Prime Minister's Questions, the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, warned that taking £4 billion out of housing benefit would cause unprecedented levels of homelessness, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of children stranded in temporary accommodation. He argued that national security "can't come at the expense of social security", promising instead to control the welfare bill by building more council houses and helping people back into work.

Charities also disputed the idea that families could easily relocate. Mairi Macrae, campaigns director at the homelessness charity Shelter, called the suggestion "unrealistic". Because housing benefit rates are set locally, she said, families would still struggle to find affordable housing, "no matter where they live."

Karen Buck, the chairwoman of Generation Rent, warned the proposals would cause severe financial hardship and leave local councils facing crippling bills for temporary accommodation.

What are the proposed cuts?

The cost of housing benefit is forecast to reach £39 billion this year, driven by a rise of more than one million claimants since 2020 as private rents have soared.

To achieve the £4 billion in savings, the Conservatives propose:

• Freezing social sector rents to save £2.2 billion, by removing annual inflation-linked increases.
• Lowering Local Housing Allowance rates for new tenancies to save £1.8 billion.
• Freezing rates for existing private tenants, allowing them to gradually fall in line with the new caps over time.

The wider package would also see the reimposition of the two-child benefit cap, which limits universal credit or tax credits to a family's first two children.