Hand-out culture must be ended

Moreover, it is a burden this country cannot afford, and it is a tragedy for those whose existence has become dependent on what they can receive rather than what they can achieve.

It is simply farcical that for so many in this country living on

benefits is more rewarding than finding gainful employment. The need for reform is clear.

While there is understandable anger among the hard-working millions in Britain that so much of their income continues to be given over to benefit claimants, it is important to recognise that the current system is also failing the very people that it should be helping.

This is why the appointment of Iain Duncan Smith to lead these reforms is crucial. For the past six years, his work at the Centre for Social Justice think-tank has been focused at finding ways of helping our country's most needy out of poverty.

The reforms he proposes are not driven by a desire to make political capital by attacking a popular target, but by a genuine desire to change Britain for the better.

Such reforms not only need to tighten the way benefits are paid but also to ease the way in which they are withdrawn for those who find work.

By failing to do this, the current system simply rewards idleness and traps people over generations into a mindset that having a job does not pay.

Of course, there are many who are unable to work and any reforms must

have at their heart the commitment to protect the most vulnerable.

However, this compassion must be allied to a determination to bring to an end the hand-out culture which has blighted Britain for too long.