benefits

George Monbiot: How is Reform’s charmless candidate still a contender in Gorton and Denton? Ask Labour

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/25/reform-matt-goodwin-labour-gorton-and-denton-byelection-greens

Reform UK’s Gorton and Denton byelection candidate, Matt Goodwin, attends a campaign event in Manchester with Nigel Farage, 5 February 2026. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

This byelection should have been a stroll for Keir Starmer’s party. Instead, all hope of defeating Matt Goodwin now seems to lie with the Greens

Every barb Labour has directed at the Greens can now be returned with interest. “It’s a wasted vote.” “Do you want to see Reform in power?” New polling ahead of the crucial Gorton and Denton byelection this week, while by no means decisive, puts the Greens first on 22%, followed by Reform UK (20%), then Labour (18%), with 31% undecided. But still Keir Starmer falsely claims that “only Labour can beat Reform”. Does he want to see Reform in power?

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A survey of 6,000 people by the group Persuasion UK found that by far the most effective message of five options was focused on corporate interests and went as follows: “Nigel Farage says he’s on people’s side – but when you take a closer look it’s pretty clear who he’s really fighting for, isn’t it? It’s the rich, the powerful, his mates in big business.” It explained that Reform UK has taken vast donations from fossil fuel investors and climate science deniers. This, Persuasion UK said, is why Farage wants to cut public services, workers’ rights and taxes for the richest. “He’s not smashing the system. He and his rich friends basically are the system.”

None of the other attack lines came anywhere near this for efficacy. So why doesn’t Labour use it? Because that might alienate the people Starmer seems keenest to appease: Labour’s own corporate backers and the billionaire proprietors of the rightwing press. The leadership’s key objective is not stopping Farage, but frightening people into voting Labour. Quite frankly, it has nothing else left.

One by one, it has destroyed the hopes that people vested in it, alienating potential voters on everything from Gaza to benefits to its self-destructive apeing of Reform’s rhetoric on immigration; from its vicious factional warfare against leftwingers in the party to its tearing up of environmental protections and attacks on wildlife, which, in a country of nature lovers, is utter, self-defeating madness. Disgust and disillusionment among former supporters is everywhere palpable.

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See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/25/reform-matt-goodwin-labour-gorton-and-denton-byelection-greens

Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage's chasing the racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Continue ReadingGeorge Monbiot: How is Reform’s charmless candidate still a contender in Gorton and Denton? Ask Labour

UN Report Estimates Bold Climate Action Would Deliver $100 Trillion in Benefits by 2100

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Houses in the so-called ‘smart city’ of Etteln, Germany, are seen equipped with solar panels on the roofs on June 6, 2025. (Photo by David Inderlied/picture alliance via Getty Image

“If we choose to stay on the current path—powering our economies with fossil fuels, extracting virgin resources, destroying nature, polluting the environment—the damages would stack up.”

A new report from the United Nations Environment Program has found that addressing the global climate emergency would deliver major economic benefits, in addition to creating a cleaner and more habitable planet.

The seventh edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), released on Tuesday, estimates that making up-front investments in climate action now would begin to yield global macroeconomic benefits starting in 2050, potentially growing to $20 trillion per year by 2070 and $100 trillion by 2100.

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The report, which was the product of nearly 300 multi-disciplinary scientists across more than 80 countries, argues that a total of $8 trillion in annual investment from this year until 2050 would be needed to achieve its climate goals. But, the report stresses, the cost of inaction would be far greater.

“If we choose to stay on the current path—powering our economies with fossil fuels, extracting virgin resources, destroying nature, polluting the environment—the damages would stack up,” the report warns. “Climate change would cut 4% off annual global GDP by 2050, claim many lives, and increase forced migration.”

Other likely consequences of inaction, warns the report, include “Amazon forest dieback and ice-sheet collapse,” along with the loss of “hundreds of millions more hectares of natural lands.” The report also projects that global food availability will fall if the climate crisis is not addressed, and that increased air pollution will cause an additional 4 million premature deaths per year.

The report recommends a rapid move away from fossil fuels, as well as a drastic rethinking of agricultural subsidies so that they no longer “directly favor activities that have significant harmful effects on the environment, including on biodiversity.”

Robert Watson, a co-chair of the GEO assessment, said in an interview with the Guardian that the climate crisis cannot simply be seen as an environmental issue given that it is now “undermining our economy, food security, water security, human health,” and also creating national security problems by increasing “conflict in many parts of the world.”

In an interview with BBC, Watson also accused US President Donald Trump’s administration of sabotaging the report by refusing to even accept its conclusions about the damage being done by human-induced climate change.

“The US decided not to attend the meeting at all,” he explained. “At the very end they joined by teleconference and basically made a statement that they could not agree with most of the report, which means they didn’t agree with anything we said on climate change, biodiversity, fossil fuels, plastics, and subsidies.”

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

Continue ReadingUN Report Estimates Bold Climate Action Would Deliver $100 Trillion in Benefits by 2100

Ditch ‘repugnant’ welfare Bill entirely, MPs and campaigners urge

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ditch-repugnant-welfare-bill-entirely-mps-and-campaigners-urge

 Protesters on Whitehall in London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her spring statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, March 26, 2025

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Long a public opponent of the plans, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth Brian Leishman told the Star: “These so-called ‘concessions’ have succeeded only in turning horrific, cruel and wicked proposals into awful ones.

“I will not be voting for something that cuts £3 billion from the welfare system.

“The government now needs to show some leadership and some common sense.

“They should withdraw the Bill, take the time to talk to MPs, talk to those affected and come back with a plan for a welfare system worthy of the name.”

The view was echoed by Richard Burgon MP, who said: “These changes are nowhere near enough. 

“This Bill is still really all about balancing the books on the backs of disabled people. 

“MPs should not be voting to take away vital support from disabled people who need help washing, cutting up their food, or using the toilet.

“I will vote against the Bill, and I call on the government to withdraw it entirely.”

Mr Burgon highlighted Disability Labour’s continuing concerns about the planned cuts. The group said the legislation still contains raised eligibility thresholds for PIP, reductions in universal credit support for those unable to work, and ”unexplained and unaddressed proposals to change the ’severe conditions criteria’ which determine long-term entitlement to support.”

“It is significant that Disability Labour — the Labour Party’s official disabled person’s affiliate organisation — has issued a statement that the government’s concessions are insufficient and is calling on all MPs to vote against the benefits Bill on Tuesday,” he said.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ditch-repugnant-welfare-bill-entirely-mps-and-campaigners-urge

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Continue ReadingDitch ‘repugnant’ welfare Bill entirely, MPs and campaigners urge

Thousands expected at anti-austerity demonstration

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thousands-expected-anti-austerity-demonstration

 People take part in the People’s Assembly Britain is Broken national demonstration in central London, November 5, 2022

AHUGE demonstration is being held in central London tomorrow to “send a message” to the government over spending cuts and welfare reform.

The People’s Assembly said it expected thousands of trade unionists, campaigners and activists to attend the protest.

The campaign group accused the government of making spending cuts that target the poorest in society.

A spokesperson said: “The adherence to ‘fiscal rules’ traps us in a public service funding crisis, increasing poverty, worsening mental health and freezing public-sector pay.

“Scrapping winter fuel payments, keeping the Tory two-child benefit cap, abandoning Waspi women, cutting £5 billion of welfare by limiting PIP [personal independence payments] and universal credit eligibility and slashing UK foreign aid from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of GDP, while increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, are presented as ‘tough choices.’

“Real tough choices would be for a Labour government to tax the rich and their hidden wealth to fund public services, fair pay, investment in communities and the NHS.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/thousands-expected-anti-austerity-demonstration

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Continue ReadingThousands expected at anti-austerity demonstration

Revealed: The areas where more than half of disabled people could lose their benefits

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https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/benefit-cuts-pip-dwp-labour-disabled-people/

Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Image: Flickr/ Alecsandra Dragoi/ Treasury

Labour’s disability benefit cuts will impact an estimated 800,000 people, of whom half will lose their PIP entirely

More than half of disabled people with daily living needs in parts of England and Wales could lose their benefits under the government’s welfare cuts, the Big Issue can reveal.

Analysis of data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which was published in response to a written parliamentary question from Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Darling, shows that at least half of all current claimants of the personal independence payment (PIP) daily living allowance in ten constituencies could lose this benefit under the government’s plans, which MPs are set to vote on next month.

These include highly deprived Labour seats such as Tipton and Wednesbury and Wolverhampton South East – the constituency of senior cabinet minister Pat McFadden. Meanwhile the least affected constituencies tend to be those with much lower deprivation levels such as Guildford – although even here, more than a third of PIP daily living claimants are at risk from the cuts. 

The most exposed constituency is Boston and Skegness, where 52% of claimants are at risk. The seat is represented in parliament by Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice. Polling for the Big Issue recently found that 68% of Reform voters believe Labour is failing on poverty.  

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The DWP’s dataset is detailed, showing what proportion of current PIP daily living claimants with each type of disability scored under four points in all daily living assessment categories, putting them at risk from Labour’s plans:

  • There are 97 seats where at least 80% of PIP daily living claimants with arthritis are at risk, peaking at 87% in Derbyshire Dales
  • Almost three-quarters of claimants with cardiovascular disease in North Cotswolds could lose out under the cuts
  • More than 70% of claimants with multiple sclerosis and neuropathic diseases in Lewisham East and Sheffield Heeley are exposed to the rule change

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published an interactive breakdown of the figures by constituency, though not including figures for the overall PIP caseload in each seat.

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See the original article at https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/benefit-cuts-pip-dwp-labour-disabled-people/

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.

Continue ReadingRevealed: The areas where more than half of disabled people could lose their benefits