For many right-wing politicians and their media allies, ‘welfare cheats’ is a line that bears endless repetition.
News broke this week that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is investigating the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over its treatment of disabled people, specifically whether the department failed to make reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities or long-term mental health conditions when carrying out benefit health assessments.
“The DWP has been failing disabled people for decades now” and “full transparency and accountability is imperative,” said David Linden MP, the SNP’s Social Justice Spokesperson, in response to news of the investigation.
For years, successive Tory governments and the media ecosystems that support them, have demonised benefit claimants, presenting them as ‘scroungers,’ ‘frauds’ and ‘cheats.’ Who can forget the Sun’s ‘Beat the Cheat’ campaign in 2012, encouraging readers to be “patriotic” by reporting suspected benefit cheats to a benefit fraud hotline? In 2016, the then chancellor George Osborne refused to apologise for attempting to slice £4.4bn off benefits for people with disabilities, as he defended his controversial budget which led to the resignation of the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
Today, very little has changed, except that the country is mired in a cost-of-living crisis that has fuelled the sharpest increase in absolute poverty in 30 years.
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Disability benefit fraud a ‘non-issue’
Meanwhile, separate and more recent DWP figures show that there were almost norecorded lossesto the taxpayer due to fraud in the disability benefits system in the financial year ending 2024.
Disability Living Allowance fraud was just 0.1 percent, rounded down to £0m. PIP cheating was found to be 0 percent in the same period, the data showed.
PIP overpayments represented 0.4 percent, equating to around £90m lost in a year, marking a significant decrease from the previous year, when such overpayments stood 1.1 percent (£200m). The overpayments were said to be mainly due to errors made by the department when allocating award levels at the assessment stage.
Responding to the figures, Mikey Erhardt, campaigner at Disability Rights UK described PIP fraud as a ‘non-issue.’
“New data shows what we, as disabled people, have known for years – PIP fraud is a non-issue. PIP fraud is now the lowest on record – despite the government placing fraud front and centre of their latest public announcements,” he said.
Erhardt added: “If the government is concerned about fraud, it would be serious about the £15.2bn that multinational companies hide from the UK via tax havens. Money which could fund public services that we all need and use. Instead, disabled people continue to be demonised.”
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer welcomed the latest energy price cap drop, but warned it still left average consumers with bills £400 higher than before the energy crisis.
Denyer said:
“Consumers are still paying for a crisis not of their making.
“Neither the Conservatives nor Labour are offering the real, practical, lasting solutions that can bring down people’s bills and protect the environment by reducing home energy use.
“Fiddling with the price cap is not enough.
“A mass programme of government-backed, council delivered home insulation starting immediately after the General Election is a win-win solution for people and the planet and offers people hope and positive change.
“We could reduce bills for the long term and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by building new homes that are easier and cheaper to heat and boosting insulation in existing homes. Insulating people’s homes means they can stay warm while using less energy, save money and produce fewer harmful carbon emissions.”
There is no risk of letting the Tories in in Islington North. This will be a Corbyn versus token-Labour contest. Given the Labour Party nationally echoes Tory policies on public spending, crackdowns on protest rights and effective support for Israel’s brutal war in Gaza, the value of having a voice for peace and socialism who has never been afraid to challenge ministers, Tory or Labour, on their actions in Parliament is obvious.
It matters that we send the bullies and political fixers who dominate Westminster politics a message that they will not always get away with it.
It matters too that re-electing Corbyn, a nationally recognised figure, sends a national message that the socialist resurgence his 2015-20 Labour leadership represented has not been snuffed out.
Majorities consistently tell the pollsters they want higher taxes on the rich, more public spending, rail, mail, water and energy back in public hands.
A deeply undemocratic political system and a deeply dishonest and manipulative media are adept at obscuring that reality. Re-electing Jeremy Corbyn will make it that bit harder for them to do so.
Britain’s chief prosecutor has blocked an attempt to serve visiting Israeli politician Tzipi Livni with an arrest warrant for war crimes, stemming from her time as Israel’s foreign minister.
The decision Thursday by Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer comes weeks after Britain revised its law on universal jurisdiction.
The revised law allows British courts to prosecute foreigners accused of crimes against humanity, wherever they were committed. But such prosecutions require the consent of the director of public prosecutions.
Finance Minister and West Bank colonial governor Bezalel Smotrich, left, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Smotrich is vowing to punish Palestinians with more Jewish settlements on Palestinian land after Norway, Ireland, and Spain announced their intention to recognize the State of Palestine. | Pool photo via AP
HAIFA—On Wednesday, Israel’s extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take “immediate punitive measures” against the Palestinian Authority in response to the decisions of Norway, Spain, and Ireland to recognize the State of Palestine.
Smotrich called for an immediate meeting of the Colonial Planning Council in the occupied West Bank, which he heads, to approve 10,000 new illegal settlement units to be prepared for occupancy by Israeli citizens.
He also called for the cabinet to approve on Thursday the establishment of a new Jewish settlement on Palestinian land for every single country that recognizes the Palestinian state. He instructed the directorate responsible for settlements to prepare a strategic plan to construct three entirely new settlements in response to the actions of the three countries in question—Norway, Spain, and Ireland.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced on Wednesday that his country will recognize the State of Palestine as of May 28. The decision to recognize Palestine as a state, under Article 28 of the Norwegian Constitution, requires the approval of the King in the Council of State. After the adoption of a royal decree next Friday, Palestine will be officially informed of the recognition through a verbal note.
This scene from Oct. 10, 2015, is a typical one in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank territory. Israeli police rough up a Palestinian man in the streets of Hebron. With Israel vowing to punish Palestinians after more countries recognized their statehood, many expect more deadly violence from the government and ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers. | Nasser Shiyoukhi / AP
Recognizing Palestine as a state means that Norway will consider Palestine an independent state with the rights and duties that result from that.
Later in the day Wednesday, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris confirmed that his country also now recognizes a Palestinian state, saying, “We are confident that more countries will join us in the coming weeks.”
Harris added that it is a historic and important day for Ireland and Palestine, as both countries share a history of being colonized and subjected to imperialist violence. Ireland was the first member state of the European Union to recognize the “Palestine Liberation Organization” in 1980.
Rounding out the list, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also announced his country’s recognition of the State of Palestine. Sanchez stressed that his country’s declaration is in line with a foreign policy that respects international law in Palestine, and Spain’s vote in the United Nations for full membership of the State of Palestine was in support of this decision.
He continued: “We tell the innocent Palestinians that we are with them. Despite the destruction and siege, the State of Palestine will remain in our hearts.”
All three governments said the decision to recognize Palestine is intended to apply further pressure on Israel to end its genocidal war in Gaza, its oppressive occupation of Palestinian lands, and to negotiate a permanent ceasefire and lasting peace.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the three declarations and said they are proof of the international support for the Palestinian people and their inalienable and legitimate rights in their land and homeland despite Israeli and U.S. obstinance on the issue.
Over 140 countries—most of the United Nations—already recognize the State of Palestine. The addition of Norway, Ireland, and Spain to the list shows the increasing isolation of Israel and the U.S., as they are now losing the backing of even their usual European allies.
Israel opposes a Palestinian state, while the U.S. government sticks to a policy of officially supporting the future creation of a Palestinian state but only as a result of negotiations and Israel’s approval.
Abbas said the list of countries that recognize Palestine will only continue to grow.
The leaders of three countries have announced their governments will join the list of nations recognizing the State of Palestine. Top: Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Bottom left: Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris. Bottom Right: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. | Photos: AP
“The right of peoples to self-determination is an established right recognized under international law,” he said, “and we renew our continuous call to countries that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine to stand up to their responsibilities and acknowledge the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and restore confidence in a global system based on…equal rules and rights for all peoples of the Earth.”
The Palestine Liberation Organization also welcomed the recognition of the State of Palestine by Spain, Norway, and Ireland. The secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Hussein Al-Sheikh, said in a statement on the X platform:
“This is a historic moment in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, occupation, racism, murder, oppression, abuse, and destruction.”
He also expressed his thanks to the countries of the world that have recognized and will recognize the State of Palestine, stressing that “this is the path to stability, security, and peace in the region.”
As for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it summoned its ambassadors to Norway, Ireland, and Spain for “emergency consultations.” Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused the three countries of “award[ing] a gold medal to Hamas murderers and rapists.” He warned, “This hasty step will have serious repercussions.”
So far, though, it is Palestinians who are on the receiving end of the Israeli government’s anger.
In addition to his demands for new illegal settlements on Palestinian land, Smotrich also stated that he is working to cancel the “Norwegian path” that the cabinet approved a few months ago. Under that program, funds are transferred to a bank account in Norway for the use of the Palestinian Authority. Smotrich said he would order the transfers to stop and demand the return of all funds previously transferred.
He indicated that he would also demand the permanent cancellation of all VIP permits from Palestinian Authority officials for all checkpoints and impose additional financial fines on senior officials and their families.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, meanwhile, staged an intentionally provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, called the Temple Mount to Jews. Standing there, he declared, “We will not even allow a statement about a Palestinian state.”
dizzy: Zionists collectively punishing Palestinians for actions that they are not responsible for and have no control over. These are the people ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are supporting. Keir Starmer – has said “I support Zionism without qualification.” I think that means that he supports Zionism in all circumstances, whatever Zionists do. Doesn’t it?
