By Kevin Henry
The new series of welfare cuts implemented by the Starmer administration in Westminster is a deeply cruel attack on those in desperate need. It is estimated that through the Government’s proposed Personal Independence Payments (PIP) cuts, between 800,000 and 1.2 million disabled people will lose between £4,200 and £6,300 per year by 2029-2030. The Labour Party’s research predicts that an additional 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, will be in relative poverty after housing costs in the financial year ending 2030.
There are many aspects to the attack, including massive cuts to the health component of universal credit, which will reduce it from £97 a week to £50 a week for new claimants. This will cost sick and disabled people £2,800 per year. They are also considering cutting the health component to people under the age of 22, meaning over 100,000 18-21 year-olds who currently claim this benefit will lose out.
Labour’s lies
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and other Labour MPs comments that this is about going after false claimants are complete lies. The Government’s research shows fraudulent claims to PIP amount to a paltry 0.1%. In fact, many multiples of that – 4%– is estimated to have gone unclaimed, despite entitlements. The reality is that after years of Tory cuts, thousands of those who apply to PIP are rejected. For example, I have had a heart attack, stroke and serious heart failure, including an LVAD and needing a heart transplant. However, I am still deemed well enough not to receive the daily living component of PIP, despite going through gruelling interviews which detail your life.
Fourteen years of Tory disability attacks, including the Bedroom Tax and two-child policy, measures described by experts as incompatible with human rights, mean our welfare system is profoundly inaccessible and has resulted in over 50,000 deaths.
Money for weapons of death
These attacks on welfare come at a time when the Government is engaged in an aggressive campaign of rearmament – £2.5 billion has already been announced in extra spending, with much more to come as part of a plan to increase military spending to 3% of GDP; it currently stands at 2.6%. All of this is linked to a broader programme of rearmament across Europe, which will involve spending €800 billion.
This shows the reality that the money exists to fund these services. Shamefully, political choices are being made to prioritise the highly profitable armaments industry, linked to growing rivalry between capitalist powers, rather than look after the disabled. It is also part of a broader round of austerity measures, which demonstrate the Labour Government’s commitment to continuing these measures, despite their disastrous impact
on ordinary people. This includes the scrapping of winter fuel payments and the failure to pay compensation to WASPI women, despite previous commitments to do so.
The Government could also take a very different direction and tax the rich; a recent wealth report from Oxfam UK found that billionaires saw their fortunes soar by £11 billion last year. Such taxes could raise billions and are supported by three-quarters of the public. However, Labour won’t change course unless it is forced to by public pressure. If an alternative isn’t built, the anger will be reflected in people voting for the far-right Reform party.
Protest movement needed
The primary responsibility for these cuts lies with Westminster and particularly the Labour Party, but the Executive parties at Stormont are also responsible. They have shown no will- ingness to implement mitigations, which would protect people here from these measures.
To build a movement that can win, we need to create a broad coalition of ordinary people, including disability groups and trade unions. Already, protests have been organised by disabled people against cuts, backed by unions such as NIPSA and Unite. In Britain, the People’s Assembly has called for protests in London, supported by unions like PCS and the RMT. Groups should come together to call protests here on that date and discuss how welfare reform can be pushed back.
