“These cruel cuts are not just robbing the most vulnerable people of security. They are robbing them of dignity: and the government should be ashamed of the hateful rhetoric they have fuelled.”
Jeremy Corbyn and the Independent Alliance group of MPs have issued the following statement in response to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement announced today in Parliament.
After 14 years of Conservative rule, we were told that austerity was over. That was a lie.
Ever since this Labour government was elected, they have chosen to balance the books off the backs of the poor. First, they refused to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Then, they chose to cut winter fuel allowance. Now, they are slashing vital support for 1.2 million disabled people and implementing yet more public sector cuts.
Children in poverty. Pensioners. Young people. The sick and disabled. Who’s next? The government has not just refused to undo the suffering the Tories have inflicted. They have gone further than even the Tories ever dared.
These cruel cuts are not just robbing the most vulnerable people of security. They are robbing them of dignity – and the government should be ashamed of the hateful rhetoric they have fuelled.
People with disabilities are not a cost to society. They are creators, performers, artists, teachers and campaigners – and they are being dehumanised by a heartless government, one broken pledge at a time.
The government says there isn’t any money to help people. We don’t believe them. Having just announced an enormous increase in military spending, the government should be honest about what they really mean: no money for the poor, endless money for war.
There is an alternative: tax the super-rich to fix our public services and empower those in need. Instead of going after the most vulnerable in society, let’s “crack down” on corporations, billionaires and tax evaders hoarding this nation’s wealth.
Austerity is not a tough choice. It’s the wrong choice. The right choice is redistributing wealth and power to bring about a more equal and caring society for all.
Adnan Hussain MP (Blackburn)
Ayoub Khan MP (Birmingham Perry Barr)
Iqbal Mohamed MP (Dewsbury and Batley)
Jeremy Corbyn MP (Islington North)
Shockat Adam MP (Leicester South)
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