The major question thrown up by Labour's welfare plans

Faisal Islam: Labour 's reengineering of the broken welfare system throws up a major question.

Government is making two related judgments: the country cannot afford to sustain recent ballooning increases in the health-related benefit bill and caseload.

But it will argue that a job is the best medicine, and Labour should invest in getting people back into work.

Two fifths of new incapacity benefit claimants under 25 came directly from education.

Rise in state pension age resulted in 89,000 older workers instead claiming health-related benefits.

Welfare structure has become overly binary, failing to accommodate a growing demographic who should be able to do at least a bit of work.

One suggestion involves reintroducing intermediate support for part-time work.

Welfare-to-work programs can pay for themselves eventually, but the Government feels it needs to book faster cuts.

Ultimately, the economic imperative is clear - to bring a cohort of young people suffering a combination of mental ill health and joblessness back into work.

There is going to be quite the backlash from disability charities and in turn from backbench Labour MPs.