By Sue Berry
Rachel Reeves has wasted no time in adopting the role of a Tory austerity chancellor. Labour’s huge cuts to welfare benefits for sick and disabled people not only targets the most vulnerable in society, but are an attack on the whole working class.
Reeves is attempting to fill a deficit of around £11.5 billion from last year’s budget with £5 billion worth of ‘welfare savings.’ This includes a restriction on who can qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), along with cuts to sickness and disability benefits designed to force people back to work.
Young people under the age of 22 – the very cohort most damaged by their experiences of Covid and lockdowns – will be prevented from claiming Universal Credit top-up payments for health conditions. This is a political choice that avoids taxing the rich and preferring instead to load the shortfall onto the backs of the poorest in society.
Hypocrisy
Starmer’s hypocritical appeal to ‘morality’ echoes the tired and dangerously divisive narrative of successive Tory Chancellors. George Osborne famously tried to divide the working poor from ‘undeserving scroungers’ who have their “blinds down” in the morning while the so-called ‘strivers’ go to work.
As socialists, we reject such false narratives. Workers not currently in employment would happily take up well-paid and fulfilling jobs. But those likely to see their benefits cut are those chasing precarious and low paid work, driving them further into poverty. Around 15% of those currently claiming PIP are already in work, and a cut to their benefits would remove significant extra support.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed that 70% of people receiving these benefits are in the lower half of the income distribution cohort, rising to 89% of those only receiving the Universal Credit top-up. These cuts will damage the financial security of these low and medium income families the most.
Cuts can be fought
These cuts can and must be reversed. Disability rights campaigning groups such as Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have highlighted that previous attempts to implement austerity on sick and disabled people under George Osborne in 2016 were roundly defeated. A campaign on a similar scale can be effective, but given the scale of the current capitalist crisis it is likely that widespread action alongside the organised working class will be necessary to force the government’s hand.
Socialist Alternative supports the protests organised by disability rights groups including DPAC. However, pressure on Labour MPs alone will not be sufficient. An anti-cuts network needs to be established across the country. Workers also need a political alternative to these divisive austerity policies. This is why we call for a new left party of struggle which can unite socialists, trade unionists and disability rights campaigners in a coordinated struggle.
Seeing the importance of this work, Socialist Alternative members have in recent months established a Disability Caucus to discuss a socialist programme for disabled people. Recent meetings have focused on the social model of disability, neurodiversity and capitalism, the Bill on Assisted Dying and the potential threat to disabled people, and this current round of welfare cuts.
