Camilla Tominey pressed Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride on why the Conservative Government allowed foreign nationals to claim disability benefits during their 14 years in power, fuming, "you never stopped it".
The fierce exchange came as the Conservatives announced new proposals to restrict Personal Independence Payments (Pip) and Universal Credit health top-ups to British citizens only.
Under current rules, foreign nationals can claim these benefits, worth up to £1,200 monthly, if they have lived in Britain for two of the past three years.
Speaking on GB News, Camilla said: "There are many people watching and listening to this, Mel Stride, who might wonder: why on earth can foreigners claim disability benefits? And why did the Tories allow that to happen over the last 14 years?"
Camillia grilled the Shadow Chancellor
GB NEWS
Stride responded: "What we're putting forward is an amendment to the Welfare Bill, such as it is, given it’s been largely gutted by this Government.
"But what remains of it would essentially require the Government to come forward with a discussion document to look at this whole area.
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"We believe British citizenship should mean something. And when it comes to welfare, we know the costs are spiralling ever upwards, we need to get that under control.
"That’s a big dividing line between ourselves and Labour, and indeed between ourselves and Reform, who want to spend more, for example by removing the two-child benefit cap.
"So we believe there should be a serious national discussion about this, particularly in terms of reducing the size of the welfare bill.
Camilla pressed: "But why on earth did the Tories allow people who aren’t UK citizens to claim benefits of up to £1,200 a month?
"Why didn’t you do something about it when you were actually in power?"
Stride hit back: "Well, what we did do, and I was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for the final 18 months of the last Government, was bring in some fundamental reforms around the Work Capability Assessment. That’s the gateway into long-term sickness and disability benefits.
"The Office for Budget Responsibility scored those reforms as delivering £5billion worth of savings, and preventing 450,000 people from going onto those benefits people who, instead, were directed towards the world of work."
He added: "We had very detailed plans, particularly around Personal Independence Payments, which we had already consulted on. Then the general election came along and interrupted that process.
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"There were a whole range of other issues we would have brought forward had we been elected, which would have delivered very substantial savings.
"In our manifesto, we outlined an additional £12billion of annual savings. So that was the clear direction of travel and it was backed up by the fact that we’d already demonstrated we could make significant savings on welfare.
Camilla finished off: "But you never said, while in office, that you should stop foreigners from claiming sickness benefits, did you?"
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