Labour’s planned cuts to welfare are deeply immoral, will leave many destitute, and do nothing to get anyone back to work, explains Terina Hine 

The government’s slashing the welfare bill by £5bn has been described as the largest attack on disability benefits on record. Starmer wants to continue and deepen the Tory austerity programme, he is happy for the cuts to fall harshly on some of the most disabled, disadvantaged and isolated people in society. 

Liz Kendall, Work and Pensions secretary, announced swingeing welfare cuts on Tuesday. Starmer claimed her proposed reforms were a ‘moral’ decision that would help get the sick back to work; in reality the proposals are deeply immoral. The cuts will make disabled people poorer, they are an attack on their dignity and independence and will leave some facing destitution. 

The new rules will reduce access to personal independence payments (PIP) designed to help disabled people with the additional costs of living with a disability. They will prevent those under 22 accessing higher rates of Universal Credit for disabilities or health reasons. These changes will see over a million people lose between £4,200 and £6,200 per year according to the Resolution Foundation, with some claimants being hit by a double whammy: restrictions on qualifying for PIP making them ineligible for Universal Credit top-ups. 

Shame on Torsten Bell, former chief executive of the anti-poverty think tank the Resolution Foundation, who as a newly appointed MP and now Treasury minister, was given the unfortunate job of defending the indefensible reforms. In an interview on BBC’s Newsnight, he confirmed that he ‘absolutely’ could not live on £70 per week, the amount his government expects young people to manage on, because he has a ‘mortgage to pay’. His arrogant and tone-deaf interview told viewers everything they needed to know about Starmer’s Labour. Mr Bell has clearly abandoned the principles he espoused in his former role at the Resolution Foundation, aping the very policies he opposed. Once he was ‘terrified by how swiftly’ the then Tory government had gone from ‘reluctantly having to cut benefits’ to wanting to ‘punish the work-shy’, now he is fully onboard displaying a complete lack of compassion for those less fortunate.  

Labour’s Diane Abbott correctly accused Starmer, Rachel Reeves and the Treasury of attempting to ‘balance the books on the back of the most vulnerable.’ Her condemnation at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons echoed that of numerous charities, unions and some of Labour’s backbenchers. Eleven national trade unions have written to the government to raise their concerns over the cuts. Starmer obviously hopes his MPs will fall into line and a sizeable rebellion is averted, he also hopes voters will not worry about those less fortunate and desert the party as a result of these callous announcements. He may succeed at whipping his MPs into shape but voters are another matter; his already abysmal poll ratings are likely to plummet even further. As some from his own ranks have already said, this is not what anyone elected Labour to do. 

All this is not to deny that there are 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term illness, and that welfare spending on disability and incapacity benefits for working-age people has risen dramatically since the pandemic: by £19bn in real terms. But forcing the sick and disabled into work will not make them better any more than denying the existence of a mental-health epidemic will make the epidemic disappear.  

The cuts are also unlikely to improve government finances. By pushing the disabled and sick further into poverty, pressure on already overstretched public services will simply increase, most obviously in the NHS and social-care system. The tightening of PIP eligibility may even push people out of rather than into work. It is expected that about one million disabled people will be denied support, including help with washing, dressing and eating. 

There is a twelve-week consultation period for these callous proposals, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have called on us to turn our anger into action during this period, and have organised a demonstration for 26 March, coinciding with the government’s Spring Statement and the People’s Assembly will be marching on 7 June to oppose the government’s austerity policies. You know what you need to do.