“The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity"
The prime minister Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves are coming under increasing pressure to abandon their planned cuts to disability benefits. The cuts will see a tightening of criteria for Personal Independence Payments which will see many people who would receive a daily living payment become ineligible for this.
The cuts, announced earlier this year, are projected to hit 700,000 people already in poverty, and push around 250,000 people below the poverty line. In total, it is expected that around 3 million people will see their benefits affected by the changes.
Today, 42 Labour MPs have signed a letter to the prime minister calling for the cuts to be scrapped.
In their letter, the MPs say: “The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity and over 3 million of our poorest and most disadvantaged will be affected.”
The letter continues: “Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine. Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.”
Many of the MPs who signed the letter are on the left of the party. However, a substantial number of the signatories are from the right and centre.
The full list of Labour MPs who have signed the letter is as follows:
- Diane Abbott
- Paula Barker
- Lee Barron
- Lorraine Beavers
- Apsana Begum
- Olivia Blake
- Richard Burgon
- Dawn Butler
- Ian Byrne
- Stella Creasey
- Neil Duncan-Jordan
- Cat Eccles
- Barry Gardiner
- Mary Glindon
- Sarah Hall
- Chris Hinchcliff
- Imran Hussain
- Terry Jermy
- Kim Johnson
- Mary Kelly Foy
- Peter Lamb
- Ian Lavery
- Brian Leishman
- Emma Lewell
- Rebecca Long-Bailey
- Rachael Maskell
- Andy Mcdonald
- John McDonnell
- Abtisam Mohamed
- Grahame Morris
- Charlotte Nichols
- Simon Opher
- Kate Osborne
- Richard Quigley
- Andrew Ranger
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy
- Zarah Sultana
- Jon Trickett
- Chris Webb
- Nadia Whittome
- Steve Witherden
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Simon Dawson / Number 10 – Creative Commons
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