As David Cameron defends his “moral mission” against Cardinal Nichols accusations of welfare cuts being neither “moral nor fair”, new research reveals that a quarter (24%) of British adults think the welfare state will not exist “in any form we would recognise it today” within 30 years. Asked to think about things like things like “pensions, the NHS, tax credits, child benefit, disability living allowance and unemployment benefit”, nearly six in ten (57%) British adults say that the welfare state is destined to shrink or disappear over coming years.

The research is to mark the publication of a new collection from Theos, the religion and society think tank, entitled ‘The Future of Welfare‘. The volume, which asked contributors to consider the moral logic underpinning welfare, includes contributions from Iain Duncan Smith, Matthew Taylor, David Goodhart, Frank Field MP, Anna Rowlands and Shenaz Bunglawala, among others.

The new poll on public attitudes to welfare found that vast majority of British adults (87%) think that the welfare state is currently “facing severe problems”. Young people (aged 18-24) are marginally less anxious about the welfare state -‘only’ 75% thinking it is “facing severe problems”. By comparison, virtually everyone (94%) over 55 thinks it is “facing severe problems”.

Read the full article on economicvoice.com