The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has signalled he is taking charge of the debate about controversial welfare reform.

Addressing his constituency party in Sedgefield, he announced he would chair a new Government working party on the issue - but insisted there was "no backing down" on the drive for reform.

Mr Blair set out a vigorous defence of the Government's welfare reform plans and explained why he believed an escalating social security budget must be tackled.

He said it was the Labour Party's responsibility to help those in society to help themselves. "For those of us who can work, work itself is the best answer to poverty," he said.

Mr Blair set out the principles underlying the changes he wants to make:

• society is responsible for the welfare of others

• people have a responsibility to provide for themselves where they can

• those who can work should - because work is the best answer to their poverty

• the system should be designed to reduce fraud and to root it out.

"To say we need to reform is not a betrayal of our traditional Labour principles. On the contrary, it is about retrieving the principles of the past and re-applying them in a way relevant to the modern world," he said.
 

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