The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party.
The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday. The reforms are expected to save over £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030, she said.
The move to arrest a ballooning welfare budget has already stirred discontent within Starmer’s cabinet, and risks now sparking a wider revolt within the parliamentary Labour Party, with several backbenchers openly voicing concerns in recent days. But ministers argue they’re trying to prevent people from being caught in a welfare “trap” by coaxing them back into the workforce, while also reining in public spending.
More money is lost from wealthy tax dodgers than the disabled and unemployed. They are targeting the wrong people
They know exactly who they are targeting, this isn’t about saving money
what is it about then?
It’s about keeping them poor so they have less time to think about politics and are more inclined to accept job offerings that pay subpar wages, which fills the pockets of rich donors, because they get access to a new workforce that will accept predatory wages to avoid landing on the street
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