BOMBSHELL Drops On Starmer Over Planned Disability Cuts!

Right, so the fallout for Keir Starmer’s benefits bashing, disability dismissing Labour government, is ramping up even further, not just because of the sheer brutality of the cuts and not just because they are dismissing the findings of their own impact assessments, because as it has now turned out their public consultation on these matters has now been exposed as a sham, exposed as not being about work at all as it happens, but instead all being part of a ruthless austerity driven agenda that disproportionately targets the most vulnerable in society. At the heart of this betrayal is a sweeping assault on disability benefits, particularly Personal Independence Payment, or PIP, which provides essential financial support to disabled people facing higher living costs as a consequence of their disability. The government’s justification—that these cuts will incentivise work therefore, rings hollow when PIP is not even an in-work benefit but a lifeline enabling disabled people to live in dignity and participate in society.
The backlash has been swift and fierce and has now grown more than ever. Labour MPs, disability rights groups, and activists are now in open revolt, with one rebel MP, Richard Burgon, having now launched a high-profile campaign—"Tax Wealth – Don’t Cut Disability Support"—demanding the government reverse course and instead fund social security through wealth taxes, a call being made all the more loudly and a policy position long been held by the Greens. Meanwhile, another petition in DWP boss Liz Kendall’s own constituency underscores the growing public fury, hitting Labour MPs on their own doorsteps now. The fallout has exposed deep fractures within Labour, with over 80 MPs now at risk of losing their seats due to the sheer number of PIP recipients in their constituencies versus their own parliamentary majorities.
This scandal, this political choice straight out of the Tories playbook, is hitting so much harder than even they ever did, this could well become Keir Starmer’s Poll Tax moment now and there will be consequences for him and his government electorally if they don’t shift on this.
Right, so Keir Starmer’s poll tax moment, coming for the disabled under the guise of trying to get more people into work is coming undone the longer this farce and this cruelty that passes for government policy knocks on for. This is more than a policy dispute—it is a moral crisis for a party formed to represent ordinary working class people, when now it claims only to represent work, not the workers therefore, but the bosses. Starmer’s government, rather than taxing ever growing and extreme wealth, has chosen to balance the books on the backs of disabled people, low-income families, and struggling households, but by coming after the disabled specifically, they can’t even claim it is all about work when many can’t and of those who can, their PIP payments enable that.
Labour’s proposed cuts to PIP are part of a broader assault on social security, framed as necessary to reduce welfare spending and "get people back into work." Yet, PIP is explicitly designed to cover the additional costs of living with a disability—costs that do not disappear if someone finds employment and may in fact contribute to their ability to find employment. The government’s own impact assessment, quietly published after Rachel Reeves joke of a Spring Statement last month admits these cuts will plunge thousands into deeper poverty, with disabled people disproportionately affected. That was bad enough, but this government haven’t stopped there and certainly are not paying the blindest bit of attention.
You see aside from the impact assessment, there is the public consultation. Well, you can imagine that disability rights activists and organisations, disabled people themselves will have been absolutely breaking the doors down to make this point clear, that PIP has nothing in and of itself to do with work at all, its about daily living it is possibly about accessing work too, but Labour’s public consultation on these cuts deliberately excluded any discussion of PIP reductions, suggesting the government knew the move would provoke outrage and therefore made sure the remit of the consultation wouldn’t include any comeback on the part of disabled people, their rights, their concerns.
Certainly in part this lack of transparency has led disability rights organisations, to withdraw from engagement with the government, something which even the craven BBC has drawn attention to, an excerpt of their piece on this stating that:
‘Fazilet Hadi, head of policy at Disability Rights UK, a DDPO, [Deaf & Disabled People’s Organisation] said there was an "anger and sense of betrayal" felt by millions of disabled people over the cuts which she described as "the Government's massive attack on the incomes of disabled people".
Ms Hadi said: "Currently, Disability Rights UK, continues to have dialogue with ministers, as we believe it is important to express the depth of opposition to government plans.
"Having said this, we will reconsider our position, should the wider disabled people's movement decide to take a different stance."
Svetlana Kotova, director of campaigns and justice at Inclusion London, another DDPO, said it was also "considering its position on engagement".
She said: "Massive cuts to financial support will push disabled people, including children, into poverty, the government is not even consulting on the most significant cuts"’
At least they as organisations can still access government, ordinary people as pointed out there cannot, because the government is not consulting on the most significant cuts.
Things have escalated to a point that now even a Lefty Labour backbench MP has found sufficient spine to do more than go down the strongly worded letter route and we can all get behind it too.
Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, having only recently regained the Labour whip after defying the party over the two-child benefit cap, Burgon is once again challenging his own government and his own party—this time with a petition demanding wealth taxes instead of disability cuts. He might have been listening to the Greens, he’d certainly get a lot further if he defected to them right now, at least he’d be allowed an opinion without risking punishment again, but his campaign, "Tax Wealth – Don’t Cut Disability Support", has already garnered over 40,000 signatures, reflecting widespread public opposition to austerity targeting the vulnerable.
Burgon’s intervention is significant because it exposes the ideological divide within Labour still, something Starmer hates, has tried to stamp out through rigged candidate selections, yet this rump of rotten lefties persists. While Starmer and Rachel From Accounts insist there is "no money" for social security, always is for war, always is for Ukraine, Burgon’s petition highlights that a 1-2% wealth tax on the richest 1% could raise billions—more than enough to protect disability benefits, raising far more for the economy. The refusal to consider such measures reveals a government more committed to the super rich as potential donors, thereby continuing down the failed road of fiscal conservatism than to social justice, that Labour is supposed to be all about.
Burgon’s change.org petition states that:
‘This petition, demanding a Wealth Tax instead of devastating cuts to disability support, will be presented in the House of Commons before any votes on welfare cuts.
We oppose the Government’s plan to balance the books by targeting disabled people and the most disadvantaged in our society.
Slashing disability benefits instead of taxing extreme wealth is a political choice—and it is the wrong choice.
Instead, we believe that the very wealthiest should be made to pay their fair share.
A 2% Wealth Tax on assets over £10 million could raise up to £24 billion per year. That’s far more than the £5 billion the Government claims it will “save” by cutting key financial support for disabled people.
We call on the Government to abandon these cruel cuts and, instead of punishing the poorest, to implement a Wealth tax on the very wealthiest.’
Please get over and sign it – tax wealth, don’t cut disability support, it takes 10 seconds of your day but we need an awful lot more signatures on it to make a difference.
Adding to that pressure though, a disability rights activist, Abi Broomfield, who is unfortunate enough to have DWP boss Liz Kendall as her MP, has launched a separate petition on the parliamentary website condemning the cuts, called “Protect Disabled people who cannot work from planned cuts to benefits.” It has thusfar garnered just over 10,000 signatures and again it needs your support, so sign that one too please.
Kendall, as Work and Pensions Secretary, is the architect of these reforms of course, that aren’t reforms they are devastating cuts, deserves to have the nexus of a fightback on behalf of disabled people happening on her own patch,11% of whom are in receipt of PIP—are now mobilising against her and this is a figure that is becoming more important to more Labour MPs nationwide.
You see this local backlash is a microcosm of the broader electoral threat to Labour particularly. As it turns out, there are some 80 Labour MPs who have majorities that are smaller than the number of PIP claimants in their constituencies, meaning these cuts could cost them their seats. That in itself is likely to be a underestimate too, given families of said people, not to mention people disgusted by the attacks on the disabled, would also be more likely to turn away from Labour, therefore making this one of the most politically suicidal policies in recent memory. So could this be Starmer’s Poll Tax moment?
Like the Poll Tax, Starmer’s benefit cuts are regressive, deeply unpopular, and ultimately self-defeating. According to the OBR, some 52% of current PIP claimants would lose their support under the new measures Starmer and Kendall and Reeves are bringing in. That’s money they spend in their local areas, boosting the economy. That’s a lot of people who will be challenging their reassessments with all the associated costs involved. The Poll Tax led to mass protests, Tory infighting, and ultimately Thatcher’s downfall. Now, Labour faces a similar reckoning, with so many Labour MPs in the firing line, including several ministers and the upcoming local election results widely expected to bad for Labour not just on this but for a whole host of reasons, could be seen as a shot across the bows for them to change tack or else.
Disability rights groups, trade unions, and even Labour’s own backbenchers are sounding the alarm now. Even the BBC notes that internal dissent is growing, with MPs fearing a voter backlash in the next election as well as those upcoming locals. Richard Burgon and Abi Broomfield’s petitions need to keep gaining traction as a show of how disgusted we all are on these attacks on the most vulnerable as the rich just keep getting richer.
Keir Starmer’s Labour government came to power promising stability and compassion. Instead, it has chosen to wage war on the poor and disabled while protecting the wealthiest. The damage to Labour’s credibility may already be irreversible and frankly I couldn’t care less given what this government is doing, as long as a truly progressive alternative makes the gains to fill the void and the nation doesn’t keep falling for populism and repeating the mistake of electing absolute wrong’uns.
Sign Richard Burgon’s petition, sign Abi Broomfield’s petition, support local campaigns against benefit cuts in your area and pressure your MP to oppose these cruel and counterproductive policies and call them out publicly if they won’t.
This is the sort of fight about what kind of country we want to live in. Will we stand with the vulnerable, or will we allow a government to dismantle the welfare state which we all might need at some point in our lives, in the name of austerity and kissing billionaire backside? Who’s side are you on? Sign the damn petitions.
Meanwhile, in more bad news for Starmer an arrest warrant has just turned up for one of his own MPs, amazing that the MP in question in light of this still has the Labour whip, considering they are accused of corruption! Get all the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t already done so, so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new content published daily as well as supporting the channel at the same time, which is very much appreciated, holding power to account for ordinary working class people and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.