Labour's botched welfare cuts 'target the wrong people', with rising numbers still signed-off as too sick over the phone
Labour's welfare cuts were branded 'calamitous' yesterday for targeting the wrong people and failing to tackle root-and-branch reform.
Sir Keir Starmer 's credibility has been left in tatters over the reforms, over which he climbed down at the eleventh hour last week to avoid defeat in a crunch vote tomorrow.
He was forced to give £3billion worth of concessions by watering down cuts to disability benefits after 126 rebel MPs threatened to defeat the legislation.
But senior Tories said Labour was still targeting the wrong people, and that the overhaul will not deliver fundamental structural change.
This is, they say, because it does nothing to tackle rising numbers being signed off over the phone rather than in-person as too sick to work since the Covid-19 pandemic.
There are also concerns about the plummeting number of reassessments, and assessors getting £80 bonuses for whittling through applications as it is often deemed quicker to sign off people as unfit to work.
Yesterday Manchester mayor Andy Burnham called on Labour MPs to still vote against the Government's 'half a U-turn' welfare cuts tomorrow despite Sir Keir Starmer's climbdown.
Many of Labour's reforms, which include reducing future support for people who claim money to help wash and dress themselves, were rushed through at the eleventh hour ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Budget last Autumn when it emerged her sums didn't add up.
Yesterday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting admitted further concessions were on the cards. It came as analysis by the TaxPayers' Alliance campaign group found almost one in ten Britons now receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) disability benefits in England and Wales, with more than a fifth of people receiving them in some areas.
Esther McVey, a former Tory work and pensions secretary, said: 'The way they've gone about it is completely wrong. What they need to do is look at where there are weaknesses in the system which came about during lockdown...you'd start with youth unemployment.
'This was never about reform and support. This was to find £5billion for Rachel Reeves's catastrophic Budget. It is calamitous.'
Under Sir Keir's U-turn, existing PIP claimants will keep their current level of disability payments. But new claimants after November 2026 would be entitled to up to £4,000 a year on average less, even if they suffered from the same condition meaning they couldn't work. Fifty MPs are expected to rebel by tabling a new amendment. But 83 MPs would be needed to defeat the reforms.
Meanwhile, the Whitehall 'blob' at Angela Rayner's department will today start 'indefinite' industrial action in protest at being asked to not work from home so much. Housing Department staff and members of the Public and Commercial Services union will launch 'work to rule' disruption. Staff have previously complained about being asked to attend the office three days a week.
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