Labour adviser says long-term sick should be forced into work

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Former health secretary Alan Milburn called for reform of the ‘crazy’ system Ms Milburn presented a report alongside work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall which said getting people back into work was “the only route to higher levels of economic growth”. In her first major speech since taking over the department in Barnsley, Ms Kendall said: “Under my political leadership, the DWP will shift from being a department for welfare to being a department for work.” open image in gallery Liz Kendall said Labour will get the employment rate to 80 per cent She said the current system is “both too siloed and too centralised” and that “the Conservatives put political point-scoring ahead of solving problems”. She said: “Their divisive rhetoric about strivers versus scroungers or claiming people just felt ‘too bluesy’ to work may have grabbed headlines, but it did absolutely nothing to actually get Britain working again. Labour’s goal to reach an 80 per cent employment rate would currently mean getting 2 million more people back into work, she said.