Labour

‘We’ll hound you out of office’: Disabled people’s protest warns Labour

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https://socialistworker.co.uk/labour/well-hound-you-out-of-office-disabled-peoples-protest-warns-labour/?mc_cid=9aa1fd6598

At the Disabled People Against Cuts (Dpac) protest against benefit cuts (Picture: Guy Smallman)

MPs will vote on Tuesday on Labour’s vicious ‘welfare reform’ bill

Disabled people say they are in a fight for their lives. Hundreds of people gathered in the sweltering heat at Parliament Square on Monday for a protest organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (Dpac) and others.

It came amid a growing MPs’ rebellion against Labour’s plans to slash disabled people’s benefits. 

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Paula Peters from Dpac told the crowd, “There is only one thing to do with this bill—bin it.”

The Labour government claims it has to slash the welfare budget, but is boosting military spending. 

Angela Grant from the PCS union said, “They are spending money on selling arms to other countries to kill other people like us. It’s warfare abroad and warfare against disabled people.

“They do not care. They are not listening—until we make them listen. We have seen some U-turns already. That’s people power.”

Disabled journalist Frances Ryan has said, “This is Labour’s poll tax, its tuition fees, its Partygate. Just as the Iraq war was for Tony Blair, disability cuts are the moral stain that will mark Starmer’s government and the party for years to come.”

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Continue Reading‘We’ll hound you out of office’: Disabled people’s protest warns Labour

The Guardian view on Labour’s disability benefits rethink: concessions suggest strategy not a change of heart

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/27/the-guardian-view-on-labours-disability-benefits-rethink-concessions-suggest-strategy-not-a-change-of-heart

Many Labour MPs still believe these are the wrong reforms and will vote against the bill next week. Photograph: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images

Sir Keir Starmer’s plans risk creating lasting inequality – and alienating the very voters who once believed his party stood for their protection

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The upshot is that existing claimants would be protected, but future ones face tougher rules. Two people with identical conditions could receive support, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, that differs by up to £6,560 a year – purely due to timing. This, we’re told, is compassion. The savings – halved to £2.5bn a year – come by offloading the cost on to future claimants. MPs rightly fear this locks in a two-tier system that is deliberately harsher on disabled people.

Older Labour MPs will remember denouncing this very playbook. A decade ago, Iain Duncan Smith pioneered a slow, procedural tightening of welfare – hitting new claimants first, then reassessing the rest – precisely to defuse resistance. Labour opposed it then. Today, it is governing by the same method. It feels out of step with a post-pandemic Britain grappling with a cost of living crisis.

Many Labour MPs believe these are still the wrong reforms and will vote against the bill when it comes back to the House of Commons next week. Clearly, tightened eligibility and a two-tier system may exclude many who need support. If the government wants to raise money, it might ask a little more of those with the broadest shoulders – not those with mobility aids, care plans and the audacity to ask for a fair deal. If ministers truly believe they are acting decently, they should publish the impact assessment and be honest about the consequences.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/27/the-guardian-view-on-labours-disability-benefits-rethink-concessions-suggest-strategy-not-a-change-of-heart

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 ReadingThe Guardian view on Labour’s disability benefits rethink: concessions suggest strategy not a change of heart

Thousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Labour has pledged to double the number of scanners in English hospitals over the course of the parliament. Photograph: wilpunt/Getty Images

‘Shocking statistics’ prompt calls for government funding to replace broken and obsolete medical devices

Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.

A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.

They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.

Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “These are shocking statistics. Behind these numbers are real people who are needlessly harmed, the impact of which will be life-changing and traumatic.

“The scale of the harm and loss of life that has resulted from basic equipment failures and malfunctions shows in stark relief the scale of the tragedy that has resulted from years of underfunding in the NHS.”

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Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Modern, up-to-date equipment such as scanners, defibrillators and patient monitors are absolutely essential for hospitals to run safely and more productively. But due to more than a decade of being starved of capital investment, NHS staff have been left with no option but to extend the life of obsolete equipment, which, as this research shows, is putting patients at unnecessary risk and leading to tragic avoidable harm.

“While the additional investment the government has pledged has been a welcome start, without sufficient capital funding it will be hard for the NHS to maintain the standards patients rightly expect and to deliver the government’s ‘plan for change’ promise to cut waiting times.”

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Original article is at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Continue ReadingThousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

Labour’s disability benefit cuts will force nearly half a million people to turn to food banks

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https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefit-cuts-food-banks-trussell/

A volunteer at a food bank packaging supplies. Credit: IFAN Mary Turner The Welcome Centre

Food banks are already overwhelmed by demand for help. Disability benefit cuts will make it worse, the government has been warned

Hundreds of thousands of people living in disabled households will be at risk of needing to use a food bank if the government goes ahead with its plans for benefit cuts, new research has found.

Experts at Trussell and WPI economics have estimated that 440,000 people who are disabled or living with a disabled person would have to use a food bank by the end of the decade.
he decade.

As MPs prepare to vote on legislation to introduce the cuts, charities and disability campaigners are urging the government to rethink its plans.

Read more:

Labour’s proposals include tightening the eligibility criteria for the personal independence payment (PIP), with the government estimating that around 800,000 people would see their support reduced by 2028/2029.

It also plans to freeze the health element of universal credit for current claimants, slash it in half for new claimants and cut it entirely for people under the age of 22.

Helen Barnard, director of policy at Trussell, said: “This UK government was elected on a promise of change, and with a commitment to end the need for food banks. If the government goes ahead with these ill-considered and cruel cuts to social security, this promise will not be kept – and instead, they will risk leaving behind a legacy of rising poverty and hunger.

“Tackling fiscal challenges should not be done at the expense of people already facing hunger and hardship. These cuts will force 440,000 people in disabled households into severe hardship and leave them at risk of needing a food bank. We urge the government not to continue down this damaging path.”

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Article continues at https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefit-cuts-food-banks-trussell/

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 ReadingLabour’s disability benefit cuts will force nearly half a million people to turn to food banks

Most new build homes must have solar panels – Miliband

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Ed Miliband

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j728gvp94o

Builders will be required to fit solar panels to the “vast majority” of new build homes in England under changes to be published this year, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said.

The regulations will require developers to add panels unless the buildings fall under certain exemptions such as being covered by shade.

Speaking to the BBC, Miliband said the move was “just common sense” adding that solar panels would save the typical household £500 a year on their energy bills.

The Home Builders Federation said it backed fitting more panels but cautioned against introducing “burdensome” paperwork which it said could harm government efforts to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

The rules will be included in the Future Homes Standard, which will detail a wider plan for improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions.

The government says it will be published in autumn but there will be a transitional period for developers to adjust to the regulation changes.

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Article continues at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j728gvp94o

Labour warned to keep spending review in line with net zero or face legal action

Continue ReadingMost new build homes must have solar panels – Miliband