Why Labour cuts to disability benefits would be ‘completely unpalatable’

UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is due to make a statement tomorrow on changes to the welfare system, and it is widely speculated she will change the eligibility criteria for personal independence payments, also known as PIP.

However, Mr Leishman, MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, says this would consign the most vulnerable in society to “forever poverty”, adding his party should instead be looking at introducing a wealth tax to cover the costs of the UK benefits bill.

First Minister John Swinney has also urged the UK Government to “think again” on cutting benefits.

Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Mr Leishman said: “We need to find out exactly what these plans will entail, but the rumoured plans of cuts to PIP or any disability cut is completely unpalatable to me.

“An awful lot of disabled people incur increased costs with being disabled, such as electric equipment for mobility, breathing equipment and specialised diets, so this is not the way to go about it at all.

“We’ve seen the social consequences of 14 years of Conservative austerity and last summer I was proud to stand on a mandate and manifesto of change.

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“That change has to be positive, and reducing billions from welfare, consigning a section of society of the most vulnerable people into forever poverty.

“That’s not the positive change we should be delivering in government.”

The UK Labour government is expected to try and find savings in the welfare budget to pay for an increase in defence spending amid rising tensions over the war in Ukraine.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that defence spending would be increased from 2.3 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent, costing around £16 billion.

Initially it was understood the UK Government would be freezing PIP so that it would not rise in line with inflation.

However, after growing discontent amongst Labour ranks, it is now understood the party has backtracked on this and will instead be changing the eligibility criteria for PIP.

This comes after UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting said there is an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions with “too many people being written off”.

Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has also said the government needs to get more people off long-term sick benefits and back into work to help grow the economy.

More than 3.6 million people in the UK claim PIP, which is designed to cover the extra costs associated with long-term sickness or disability.

More than half of the rise in working-age disability claims since the coronavirus pandemic is related to mental health or behavioural conditions, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Five of the 37 Scottish Labour MPs have offered their full backing of the reforms, including Graeme Downie MP, Blair McDougall MP, Frank McNally MP, Gregor Poynton MP and Joani Reid MP.

However Mr Leishman says 43 per cent of disabled people are in debt because their welfare payments do not cover their utility and food bills.

The Alloa and Grangemouth MP said: “If PIP is frozen, recipients will become poorer and that sort of poverty will be forever poverty that is completely inescapable.

“This is something we cannot do as a government, because disabled people are some of the most vulnerable and this will hammer them.”

Mr Leishman says he wants to see his government introducing a wealth tax instead to help pay for the welfare system.

He said: “We need to get away from this endless race to the bottom and the relentless cuts we’ve seen.

“One thing we can do is the introduction of a wealth tax - there really is an alternative.

“An annual wealth tax of 2 per cent on multi-millionaires with assets of £10m will generate £24bn per annum.

“Then we could look at the equalisation of the capital gains tax which could generate £16bn - then we would have £40bn to distribute wealth and power across society to the benefit of everyone.”

Meanwhile Mr Swinney said: “We don’t yet know what will be the detail of the UK Government’s steps.

“I’ve seen a lot of speculation [and] I don’t like the look of the speculation that I’m seeing because I think that has the potential to have an effect on the resources that we have available to invest in social security.

“Now, we’ve taken decisions as a government to enhance that investment by some of the tough decisions that we have taken on taxation but we will have to wait to see the full decisions that the UK Government makes.

“What I would say in general is that, at this particular moment in time, I don’t think that the right thing to do is to punish those who face vulnerability in our society by the type of cuts that have been talked about by the UK Government.

“I would encourage the UK Government to think again.”