Starmer Cuts UK Welfare by £5 Billion, Risking Labour Rebellion
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The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party.
The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday. The reforms are expected to save over £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030, she said.
The move to arrest a ballooning welfare budget has already stirred discontent within Starmer’s cabinet, and risks now sparking a wider revolt within the parliamentary Labour Party, with several backbenchers openly voicing concerns in recent days. But ministers argue they’re trying to prevent people from being caught in a welfare “trap” by coaxing them back into the workforce, while also reining in public spending.
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The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party.
The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday. The reforms are expected to save over £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030, she said.
The move to arrest a ballooning welfare budget has already stirred discontent within Starmer’s cabinet, and risks now sparking a wider revolt within the parliamentary Labour Party, with several backbenchers openly voicing concerns in recent days. But ministers argue they’re trying to prevent people from being caught in a welfare “trap” by coaxing them back into the workforce, while also reining in public spending.
More money is lost from wealthy tax dodgers than the disabled and unemployed. They are targeting the wrong people
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More money is lost from wealthy tax dodgers than the disabled and unemployed. They are targeting the wrong people
They know exactly who they are targeting, this isn't about saving money
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They know exactly who they are targeting, this isn't about saving money
what is it about then?
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what is it about then?
It's about keeping them poor so they have less time to think about politics and are more inclined to accept job offerings that pay subpar wages, which fills the pockets of rich donors, because they get access to a new workforce that will accept predatory wages to avoid landing on the street
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The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party.
The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday. The reforms are expected to save over £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030, she said.
The move to arrest a ballooning welfare budget has already stirred discontent within Starmer’s cabinet, and risks now sparking a wider revolt within the parliamentary Labour Party, with several backbenchers openly voicing concerns in recent days. But ministers argue they’re trying to prevent people from being caught in a welfare “trap” by coaxing them back into the workforce, while also reining in public spending.
After 13 years of conservative government it's ridiculous to believe there's any more welfare that could be cut without inflicting unnecessary pain.
£5 billion is a tiny proportion of government spending, and this is money that would immediately be re-spent by recipients so it directly contributes to our economy.
The only reason to push ahead with this is to get some headlines and appeal to some of Reform voters who inevitably moan about benefit scroungers.
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The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party.
The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday. The reforms are expected to save over £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030, she said.
The move to arrest a ballooning welfare budget has already stirred discontent within Starmer’s cabinet, and risks now sparking a wider revolt within the parliamentary Labour Party, with several backbenchers openly voicing concerns in recent days. But ministers argue they’re trying to prevent people from being caught in a welfare “trap” by coaxing them back into the workforce, while also reining in public spending.
Cuts and caps to benefits have always harmed people, not helped them into work
[...] While spending on disability-related support has gone up [in the UK] in recent years, the overall welfare bill has not. On top of that, the proportion of people who are not in work and who are claiming disability-related social security is actually about the same as it has been for the last 40 years. Indeed, the fact it is so low, given population ageing, could be read as good news [...]
The best evidence we have right now suggests that making it more difficult to claim social security and placing more strenuous work-search requirements on claimants will simply push people with poor health (particularly mental ill-health) further away from the labour market [...]
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It's about keeping them poor so they have less time to think about politics and are more inclined to accept job offerings that pay subpar wages, which fills the pockets of rich donors, because they get access to a new workforce that will accept predatory wages to avoid landing on the street
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