Bulls and Horns

While the Labour party frontbench has been left looking decidedly flat-footed in Westminster over welfare reform - some Labour backbenchers can see the need to grab the 'benefits bull' by the horns.

Frank Field - Labour MP for Birkenhead - for example is not just talking about the need for reform 'in principle' - he is arguing that the government's plans don't goo nearly far enough.

Some readers may recall that years ago - at the start of the 1997 Labour government - Frank Field was given a brief by the new Prime Minister - Tony Blair.

Frank's role was to 'think the unthinkable' on welfare benefits and the need to reform the creaking system.

But as soon as he did so - Frank was bundled off the job by the combined efforts of Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman.

A famous double act that went on to become Labour's leader and deputy leader respectively in 2007 - and who led the party to a resounding defeat on 2010.

Frank Field's point is that the proposed cap of £26,000 is actually too high - he is proposing a number of different and lower caps - to reflect the much lower housing costs in many areas outside London.

Frank's argument goes that £26,000 - more than the the UK's average salary (before tax) - might be acceptable for couples with children - but why set the ceiling so high when dealing with childless couples and single people.

And in this regard Frank is not a lone voice on the Labour benches - he has broad support from another Labour MP - John Mann the member for Bassetlaw in Nottingham.

The point that people like Frank Field understand is that the basic principle that work has to be seen to pay - is widely supported working class communities - Labour's traditional heartlands.

Hard working people and their families resent the fact that their neighbours don't go out to work - and never have done.

Yet can receive more in housing and other benefits - than those who do get up and go out every day to earn a living.

The nettle in the system that needs to be grasped - is the one that allows people to be on benefits for years on end.

Because it's one thing - the right thing - to help and support people who have fallen on hard times.

But it's quite another if people have been living quite contentedly on welfare benefits - for years and years.