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7 hours ago
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In the face of growing opposition, the government finally stopped ignoring the warnings from its own backbenchers and made changes to its disability benefits bill. No one doubts these concessions are welcome. But the real question is whether they go far enough. For me and many of my Labour colleagues, the answer is clear – they don’t.
At best, these concessions make a terrible bill slightly less bad. But the bill still represents a devastating attack on disabled people. It still strips billions in support from those who need it most, still forces huge numbers into poverty, and still undermines the dignity and independence of disabled people. As an example of just how cruel these cuts still are, MPs will be asked to vote on Tuesday for a bill that will take away essential support from disabled people who will need help with basic daily tasks such as cutting up food, washing themselves or using the toilet.
If these cuts go ahead, approaching half a million disabled people will lose their personal independence payments between the end of next year and 2030. On average, they will lose £4,500 a year – about £100 a week. That’s a life-changing reduction for people who rely on Pip to help with the extra costs of disability, including the one in six Pip recipients who are in work, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
On top of that, there are deep cuts to the universal credit health component for low-income sick and disabled people. Three-quarters of a million new claimants will be forced on to a rate that’s half the current level and be left £3,000 a year worse off. For people already struggling to make ends meet, this is not just a cut – it’s a catastrophe.
And how can it be right that someone who would qualify for support today would be denied it simply for becoming disabled after next November? Do we really want a two-tier system where future generations of disabled people receive less support than disabled people today? Especially when already three in four of those using food banks are disabled themselves or live with someone who is.
All this flies in the face of what should be a key purpose of every Labour government: to lift people out of poverty, not push them further into it. It’s no wonder that disabled people’s organisations, including Labour’s own affiliate Disability Labour, remain so firmly opposed to this bill.
Of course, ministers have been sent out to claim that these changes are all about helping people. But if you cut billions in essential support to disabled people, you cannot then sincerely claim to be helping them. The truth is these changes are driven by the desire to make savings. Even after the concessions, the majority of the original cuts planned are still in the bill – totalling a staggering £3.5bn.
Sadly, the government has made a deliberate choice to balance the books on the backs of disabled people instead of pursuing the much more Labour option of taxing those with the broadest shoulders. So many fairer alternatives exist. As an example of one of them, I will be presenting a petition in parliament on the eve of the vote, already backed by more than 75,000 people, calling for a wealth tax. Such a tax of just 2% on assets over £10m could raise £24bn a year – over six times more than the government’s so-called savings from these cuts.
It would also be popular, with one recent poll showing that two-thirds of people support tax increases on the super-rich. It’s a policy that would place Labour firmly on the right side of public opinion – something the government has struggled with in its first year.
As we count down to Tuesday’s vote, there will be increasing pressure on MPs to fall into line, accept the concessions as sufficient and back the bill. But the question MPs need to ask themselves isn’t whether this bill is better than it was before the concessions. It’s whether this bill will leave disabled people worse off than they are now. The answer is obvious.
That’s why I will vote against it. And that’s why I am calling on the government to withdraw the bill entirely.
The government has treated this as a political problem to be solved before Tuesday’s vote. But it’s an artificial deadline. Why not postpone the vote and then use the next few months to get this right? Working with disabled people, we could design a welfare system that is fair and compassionate, that recognises the barriers disabled people face and provides the support they need to live full, independent lives.
As we mark one year of Labour in government, this is about our values – and the kind of country we want to build.
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Richard Burgon is the MP for Leeds East and secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs
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One year of Labour, with Pippa Crerar, Rafael Behr and more On 9 July, join Pippa Crerar, Rafael Behr, Frances O’Grady and Salma Shah as they look back at one year of the Labour government and plans for the next three years
