… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: disabled people

  • 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

    …

    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.

    …

    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.

  • NEU president slams Labour’s renewed austerity

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    (left to right) Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner clap their hands during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, September 22, 2024

    NATIONAL Education Union (NEU) president Sarah Kilpatrick slammed Labour’s renewed austerity today, telling the NEU annual conference that Tory welfare cuts had killed her disabled father.

    She accused ministers of “perpetuating and repeating the shameful pattern of punching-down and finger-pointing” by “balancing the books on the backs of the poor.”

    On the first day of the conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, she described how her father had died at the age of 56 after being stripped of his disability benefits under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

    She said that she had experienced poverty as a working-class child in Newcastle upon Tyne and was his carer for a number of years.

    “As Iain Duncan Smith gleefully applauded the welfare cuts, I represented my father in a tribunal against the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] decision to remove his disability benefits,” she told delegates.

    “He’d had his gas cut off. Couldn’t afford groceries. His elderly mother was adding tins of food to her shopping to bulk up what I was buying for him, but he isolated himself further still.

    “He lost a lot of weight during that time and never really recovered.”

    In 2013, her father became one of an estimated 120,000 people who died as a result of the Tories’ austerity programme, she said.

    “When Wes Streeting brags to the Tories across the benches that Labour have done what they never could and slashed the welfare bill, this is what they mean,” said Ms Kilpatrick.

    “Let’s be clear. Nearly two decades of economic permacrisis has not been caused by disabled people.”

    Nor has it been caused by the elderly, refugees, the trans community or children in poverty, she said.

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/neu-president-slams-labours-renewed-austerity

    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.

  • Ill and disabled people will be made ‘invisible’ by UK benefit cuts, say experts

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    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/08/ill-disabled-people-uk-benefit-cuts-policy-in-practice

    Hundreds of thousands of seriously ill and disabled people will become “invisible” and cut adrift from local support services as a result of the government’s £5bn programme of disability benefit cuts, experts have warned.

    Claimants who do not qualify for personal independence payment (Pip) or incapacity benefits would lose a “marker of need” with local councils and NHS bodies, making it “nearly impossible” for them to access help, said the consultancy Policy in Practice.

    This would “effectively erase some of the most vulnerable people” from the system – including those with life-limiting illnesses including cancer, multiple sclerosis and lung conditions – while making it harder for care services to deliver preventive support

    More than 230,000 disabled people will lose access to Pip and the incapacity element of universal credit as a result of the changes, losing at least £8,100 a year, Policy in Practice estimates in a briefing. Nearly 600,000 more who do not claim universal credit will lose or not qualify in future for Pip.

    On top of the direct financial hit, disabled people will struggle for visibility in local care systems that use disability benefit awards to deploy support and protection, from housing and council tax relief to debt enforcement safeguards.

    …

    Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/08/ill-disabled-people-uk-benefit-cuts-policy-in-practice

  • Charities respond to Spring Statement

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    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.

    https://socialcare.today/2025/03/27/charities-respond-to-spring-statement

    …

    Lynn Perry, Chief Executive of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, says: ‘The Spring Statement today offered little hope to the 4.3m children and their families who are living in poverty. In fact, the welfare changes announced today will make things even worse, putting an extra 50,000 children into relative poverty. These children face devastating impacts on their health, well-being and life opportunities long into adulthood. 

    ‘While we welcome the investment to recruit 400 new foster carers, much more action is urgently needed to achieve the government’s ambition to create the healthiest generation of children. Planned freezes to universal credit will add to the worry facing families already struggling to make ends meet. Looking ahead to the Spending Review, we urge the government to prioritise investment in lifting children out of poverty – an investment in children is an investment in the country’s future.’ 

    …

    Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO of mental health charity Mind, adds: ‘The extra cuts to benefits announced today are devastating and will push more people into a mental health crisis. 

    ‘It’s a political choice to try fixing the public finances by cutting the incomes of disabled people, including people with mental health problems. Benefits are a lifeline for so many people. Cuts will push people into poverty. This is policy making by numbers with little recognition of the impact on real people’s lives. 

    …

    https://socialcare.today/2025/03/27/charities-respond-to-spring-statement

    Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
    Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.

  • Reeves accused of balancing books on back of UK’s poorest

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    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/26/reeves-accused–balancing-books-back-of-uk-poorest-spring-statement

    Rachel Reeves delivering her spring statement in the Commons. Photograph: House of Commons

    Labour is braced for a backlash from its MPs over welfare cuts called ‘appalling’ by a foodbank charity

    Rachel Reeves was accused of balancing the books at the expense of the poor in her spring statement, as official figures showed three million households could lose £1,720 a year in benefits.

    The chancellor confirmed welfare cuts of £4.8bn, but insisted the government’s priority was to restore stability to the public finances in the face of rising global borrowing costs.

    Economists warned Reeves could be forced to come back with more tax rises in the autumn, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) saying that any tariffs imposed by Donald Trump may upend their forecasts.

    …

    Ruth Curtice, the director of the Resolution Foundation thinktank, said while Reeves was right to balance the books, she was “wrong to do so on the backs of low- to middle-income families, on whom two-thirds of the welfare cuts will fall”.

    Helen Barnard, the director of policy at the food bank charity Trussell, said: “The insistence by the Treasury on driving through record cuts to disabled people’s social security to balance the books is both shocking and appalling. People at food banks are telling us they are terrified how they’ll survive.”

    …

    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.
    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
    Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/26/reeves-accused–balancing-books-back-of-uk-poorest-spring-statement