[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 93 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   BLAIR SCOLDS BRITISH ``WORKLESS CLASS'' IN OUTLINE OF WELFARE PLAN

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                          HON. JAMES A. LEACH

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 26, 1997

  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to read excerpts from 
the attached article from the June 3, 1997, edition of the New York 
Times. The article recounts a recent speech given by British Prime 
Minister Tony Blair regarding what he describes as a culture of 
dependency on government. In the speech, given outside a notoriously 
neglected housing project in South London, Prime Minister Blair called 
for an ``ethic of mutual responsibility,'' where government 
institutions are re-fashioned.
  During the House's consideration of H.R. 2, the Housing Opportunity 
and Responsibility Act of 1997, I urged my colleagues from the other 
side of the aisle to abandon the policies of extreme liberalism and 
consider the recent electoral success of the new, pragmatic Labor Party 
in Britain. Many of the concepts expressed by Prime Minister Blair in 
his speech are surprisingly similar to the ideals contained in the 
House's public housing reform bill. Much like Prime Minister Blair's 
``New Labor'' philosophies, H.R. 2 creates a mutuality of obligation 
between public housing residents and the Federal Government. The 
approach contained in the House bill is intended to help end the cycle 
of property, where generation follows generation in an environment 
devoid of hope and opportunity, and instead encourage self-sufficiency 
and the process of moving people from welfare to work.
  In anticipation of House consideration of the conference report on 
the House and Senate housing bills later this year, I commend the 
attached article to Members' attention.

                [From the New York Times, June 3, 1997]

   Blair Scolds British ``Workless Class'' in Outline of Welfare Plan

                            (By Sarah Lyall)

       London.--Appearing at a notoriously neglected housing 
     project in South London, Prime Minister Tony Blair today 
     denounced the culture of dependency on government that he 
     said had created a ``workless class'' of people who live off 
     the state and have no motivation to find jobs.
       Mr. Blair, who has resolutely moved his party away from its 
     old working-class roots and remodeled it as a centrist 
     movement that he calls ``New Labor,'' said one of the 
     cornerstones of his Government would be getting people off 
     welfare and putting them back to work.
       In doing so, he called for a ``radical shift in our values 
     and attitudes'' and said that the welfare state, long 
     associated with the old Labor Party, had to change along with 
     the times.
       ``Earlier this century, leaders faced the challenge of 
     creating a welfare state that could provide security for the 
     new working class,'' he said. ``Today the greatest challenge 
     for any democratic government is to refashion our 
     institutions to bring this new workless class back into 
     society and into useful work.''
       * * * The Prime Minister's speech came as his Labor 
     Government, which swept into power with an overwhelming 
     majority a month ago, prepares a major overhaul of the 
     country's welfare system. In its review, Mr. Blair said, the 
     Government would ask a simple question about all of Britain's 
     benefits: ``Do they give people a chance to work? Or do they 
     trap them on benefits for the most productive years of their 
     lives?''
       * * * But Mr. Blair warned that young people would have 
     responsibilities of their own. ``There will be and should be 
     no option of an inactive life on benefit,'' he said. ``Where 
     opportunities are given, for example, to young people, for 
     real jobs and skills, there should be a reciprocal duty to 
     take them up.''
       Mr. Blair called for an ``ethic of mutual responsibility'' 
     in Britain. ``It is something for something,'' he said. ``A 
     society where we play by the rules. You only take out if you 
     put in. That's the bargain.''
       * * * Mr. Blair said: ``In the 1960's, people thought 
     Government was always the solution. In the 1980's people said 
     Government was the problem. In the 1990's, we know that we 
     cannot solve the problems of the workless class without 
     Government, but that Government itself must change if it is 
     to be part of the solution.''

     

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