“Callous cuts cost lives.”
Disabled people are heading to Parliament to Lobby MPs against welfare cuts – they must have our support, writes John McDonnell MP
This week has seen further expressions across both Parliament and society as a whole of the level of opposition that there is to the Government’s plans to cut welfare for disabled people, including in the Parliamentary Labour Party itself.
Specifically, The Times reported that more than 100 Labour MPs added their names to a private letter raising concerns about the cuts, representing roughly a quarter of the PLP. It has also been reported that this letter is separate from the widely-reported public letter signed by 42 MPs last week.
This follows the fall out of Labour’s recent election results, where campaigners reported anger at these proposed cuts and the earlier scrapping of the Winter Fuel Allowance.
As I argued after the election, “Labour supporters feel deeply that their party has turned its back on them. It’s not just that they feel they are not being listened to. It’s that the Starmer and Reeves government is doing things that they believe no Labour government should ever do… People are also questioning the moral compass of a government that increases poverty among children by keeping the Conservatives’ two-child limit and among pensioners by means-testing the winter fuel allowance, as well as one that puts the welfare of hundreds of thousands of disabled people at risk by cutting their benefits.”
The message to ministers from the electorate was to drop these plans to attack disabled people, but instead we have seen a tin-eared response, doubling-down on disastrous plans for yet more austerity,
In this context, on May 21 Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) are organising for a mass lobby of Parliament, to ask MPs not to make these cuts to vital benefits that are being proposed in the Pathways to Work Green Paper.
As DPAC and many others have commented, what is being proposed are nothing less than extremely dangerous and callous cuts, which will have devastating consequences.
As Kathy Bole of Disability Labour has written, “The green paper as it stands now is being touted as a consultation, however, many of the problems with the green paper are not up for debate such as the 4-point rule. This fast-paced race to get this welfare reform done will result in continued confusion, anxiety and the possibility of driving people to suicide.”
In total, 800,000 people are facing losing their Personal Independence Payment (PIP.) Meanwhile, removing Limited Capability for Work or Work Related Activity as part of reforms to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA,) will leave disabled people across the country at risk of facing sanctions.
Some key points DPAC have highlighted for us to understand with regards to the human impact of the proposed cuts are that:
- It is estimated they could cause over 3 million disabled people to lose payments.
- It is predicted they could cause 350,000 people or more, including 50,000 children, to fall into poverty. (Even the government’s own department of Work and Pensions has shown that the benefit cuts for disabled people will push 250,000 people into poverty. )
- They could see disabled people losing on average £1720 a year.
These proposals will also impact carers at a time when social care is in a grave crisis of its own nationally, with 150,000 carers expected to lose payments. Currently, according to Carers UK research, 42% of carers who receive Carer’s Allowance struggle financially, while 1.2 million carers live in poverty.
These are just some of the vital reasons why DPAC are calling on people to arrange meetings with their MPs and join us them Westminster Hall in a mass lobby putting pressure on as many MPs as possible to reject these cuts. They need the help of activists across the labour movement and beyond to make it a success, and I will be amongst speakers at the rally at the Green opposite Parliament at the end of the lobby.
Please do join us there and keep up the campaigning. Moving forward, our message is clear – callous cuts cost lives and yet more austerity is the wrong choice.
- The lobby will be held on Wednesday 21st May, between 1-4pm. Register to join the DPAC lobby and full information here.
- If you can’t make it, DPAC recommend still emailing your MP and telling them why they need to vote against these cuts, and you can use Inclusion London’s tool to help.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
I’m disabled and frightened to death I’m 58 with a bad heart and 4 stents ,I also suffer with spdsd , And servere borderline personality disorder, as growing up in northern ireland through the troubles I was raped by a loyalist when I was 10 years old and shot when I was 15 years old,I also suffer with epilepsy, Type 2 diabetes, ashma and bronchitis, Also sciatica I can hardly walk as I have osteoarthritis in 4 of my toes and my knee I’m waiting gor full knee replacement, I also suffer with sleep apnea were I stop breathing in my sleep I have a machine with a alarm fitted but don’t heart it I gave someone stay eith me yo watch over me when I sleep, incase I stop sleeping ,I’m frightened of the 4 point rule and pip cuts ,This will drive me over the edge and take my life I heavily depend on pip to help me with a better way of life ,I’m enhanced on both daily living and enhanced mobility personal independence payment pip and get ESA support, I’m so scared that I won’t want to be here if they cut my pip or fail me on the 4 point rule
Contact the HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION this is a breach of the DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT created by John Major in the Ninties they can’t make you do something that you are Physically incapable of doing they will find themselves in Court in deep shit!