Keir Starmer said he believed people on long-term sick benefits should look for work.
He added that there would be some “tricky situations” and that the government and businesses should help those who were anxious about returning to work, but that “the basic proposition that you should look for work is correct”.
The prime minister spoke to the BBC’s Today programme following his party conference speech, in which he said he wanted to have a “frank and honest discussion” with the country about the “pros and cons” people would face.
He told Labour activists: “If we want to continue to support the welfare state then we will legislate to stop benefit fraud and do everything we can to tackle unemployment.”
He was asked in an interview on the Today show after his speech whether he agreed with the assertion that few people could collect benefits without trying to return to work.
He responded: “The basic idea is that you should find a job.”
“People need to find work, but they also need support.
“That’s why I’m going to look at businesses’ plans to support people with long-term illnesses to return to work.
“I think a lot of times, the reason behind this is that people who are chronically ill are worried about ‘will they be able to go back to work? Will they be able to cope? Will everything go haywire?'”
The unemployment rate, or the number of people who are unemployed or not looking for work, surged during the coronavirus pandemic and has remained high since then.
Nearly 3 million people are unemployed due to poor health, 500,000 more than in 2019.
The Office for Budget Responsibility says the cost of sickness and disability benefits will rise by £30bn over the next five years.
Following Sir Keir’s conference speech, Labour announced it would send doctors specialising in speeding up surgery to areas where the highest numbers of people have lost their jobs due to ill health.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting will outline the measure to Labour campaigners on the final day of the conference in Liverpool.
He is expected to say the “best service from the NHS” will help “sick Britons get well again and back to work”.
In an interview with the BBC, the prime minister was also asked about other trade-offs he listed in his speech, including that the public must accept high-voltage pylons if they want cheaper electricity.
He said people with concerns should be listened to, but added: “We want cheaper electricity, we need cheaper electricity and we can’t pretend we can do that without poles in the ground.
“Politics is about being honest with people and saying: ‘If you want xyz, then we have to do the following’.”
On illegal immigration, Sir Keir said there was a backlog of tens of thousands of asylum seekers waiting for their applications to be processed and the Government was paying for their accommodation.
He accused the former Conservative government of “pretending there was some magical way to make that number go away”.
He said the British government would deal with the backlog of cases and deport refugees who had no right to stay in the UK.
“But I made it clear that if there was a process like that, there would be people who would be vetted and be able to apply for asylum.”
As of the end of June 2024, about 97,000 people had applied for asylum, with the largest number of people coming from Afghanistan. Other countries with large numbers of asylum applications include Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh.
In the same year, 7,190 people who were not granted asylum were deported.
One of the prime minister’s first decisions was to scrap the Conservative government’s Rwanda plan, which was designed to stop people trying to enter the UK illegally by crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The prime minister said the policy was nothing but an expensive gimmick and instead said they wanted to crack down on smuggling gangs who arranged the crossings.
