“An eruption is underway within the labour movement, amongst disabled people, charities, campaigners and across civil society organisations working to deal with the impact of poverty, over what the government is planning to do.”
By Simon Fletcher
A government source today derided MPs opposed to Labour’s planned cuts to the welfare state as engaging in ‘pearl clutching.’
But the row cannot be scorned so easily. An eruption is underway within the labour movement, amongst disabled people, charities, campaigners and across civil society organisations working to deal with the impact of poverty, over what the government is planning to do. The government’s plans were characterised earlier in the week by the Guardian as ‘austerity rebranded as reform.’
Attention has focused on possible freezes – ie cuts – to Personal Independence Payments amongst other measures, within the wider cut to the whole welfare budget of £6bn a year.
According to Politico’s London Playbook today some MPs ‘told Playbook PM they are somewhat relieved about the noises on welfare cuts after briefings in Downing Street.’ The government insider dismissing MPs’ fears as ‘pearl clutching’ shows that such credulous reactions from attendees at Downing Street briefings are a road to nowhere.
There will be a longer post on this tomorrow but for now, this tool from Momentum can be used to write directly to MPs so they know the strength of feeling in their constituencies, ahead of the publication of the government’s green paper next week. MPs need to hear from all those opposed to the cuts.
- Simon Fletcher is a campaigner, blogger and political consultant- you can follow him on Twitter/X, Bluesky and Threads.
- This article was originally published on Simon’s blog Modern Left on 13/3/2025– you can subscribe to receive exclusive content and support the platform here.
