We need spending on welfare not warfare
Make the super-rich pay not disabled people
The following is the text of a Socialist Party leaflet on fighting back against Starmer’s cuts to disability benefits and a model motion for trade union branches:
Since taking office, Keir Starmer’s Labour government have kept the Tory two-child benefit cap and reduced eligibility for the winter fuel allowance. WASPI women were denied pension compensation. Starmer says he wants to “redesign the state”, this means massive cuts to public spending with the worst off in society facing the brunt. All while announcing his intention to increase spending on wars abroad, and the rich in Britain continue to rake in massive profits.
Now it is the turn of chronically ill and disabled people to be in the firing line. Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for work and pensions, has announced savage cuts to disability benefits. How different have Liz Kendall’s statements been compared to Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s 2023 Autumn Statement which included a “renewed focus on getting disabled people into work”?
The main proposals are:
- An overhaul of disability benefits to make only the most severely disabled eligible
- Cuts to the health element of Universal Credit, including making people under 22 ineligible
- And more face-to-face assessments
Over a million could lose eligibility for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and 900,000 for the disability element of Universal Credit. People may also lose eligibility for the disability premium of pension credit, council tax rebates and housing benefit disability premiums.
Socialist Party members are supporting protests organised by Disabled People Against Cuts, trades councils, Unite Community branches and other organisations. We want the maximum possible unity around a fighting programme. We are campaigning for the trade unions, which are the largest democratic organisations of disabled people, to use their authority and resources to campaign for rights and benefits for disabled people.
A weekend demonstration organised by the TUC against this new round of vicious austerity could act as a launchpad for sustained trade union action against all the attacks in the pipeline from this government – including the below inflation pay offers in the public sector, the ramping up of local council administered cuts, massive job cuts in the civil service, and tuition fee rises for students.
Disabled workers are paid less than non-disabled workers and are more likely to be on zero-hours contracts. We call for a ban on zero-hours and insecure contracts. Existing legal protections and workplace initiatives used to identify and remove the workplace barriers disabled workers face are not effectively addressing the scale and seriousness of the issues disabled workers encounter. We call for trade union workplace reps to be backed by their unions to support disabled workers.
Mental health charity Mind then called for the establishment of a commission led by disabled people to redesign the benefit system from one based on sanctions which “doesn’t get mental health”. The Labour government has commissioned Sir Charlie Mayfield to investigate how “governments and businesses can work together to identify the scale, trends, obstacles and opportunities for companies when recruiting and retaining ill and disabled people.” But their starting point is maximising profit and they cannot be trusted to deal with these questions as has been proven
Capitalism makes us unwell
The health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, has complained about the “overdiagnosis of mental health conditions”.
Life for millions now is dominated by capitalist crisis. Young people have only known crisis – the world economic crisis of 2007-08, the pandemic and now the re-election of Trump. Alongside this, they have seen the tripling of university tuition fees under the coalition government and the further increase in tuition fees announced in the autumn. Most students now leave university with a mountain of debt to move into insecure housing and employment. It is not surprising that mental health has deteriorated.
There is no prospect of the general improvements in living conditions which older generations benefited from.
The Labour government is continuing the Tories’ dirty work. They represent the interests of the same group in society – the bosses. And as Labour is backing the bosses, we need a party of our own to fight back – a new mass workers’ party with a fighting socialist programme.
The Socialist Party fights for the trade union movement to take the steps now to convene such a political voice for workers and young people – including disabled people – that can fight against these attacks. This includes backing every step towards the building of such a party. Socialist Party members stand alongside trade unionists and campaigners in elections as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.
The Socialist Party fights for the socialist transformation of society. That means taking the wealth which exists out of private hands and placing it under the democratic control and management of the working-class majority, to put an end to this brutal assault of the rich on the lives of working class and young people once and for all.
To find out more about the Socialist Party come to one of our meetings or contact us.
This is a model motion for discussion in trade union branches. Please let us know how it is received.
Oppose disability benefit cuts
This conference opposes all the cuts to the welfare system and recognises:
- The failings and unpopularity of Work Capability and Personal Independence Payment assessments
- The cuts to the Disability Employment Adviser role
- The failings of the private sector involvement in welfare delivery
- Backlogs and inadequate resources to deliver Access to Work
- The need to improve support for disabled claimants
- The biggest category for DWP losing tribunals is Disability discrimination
This conference notes the new Labour government’s intent to continue the Tory attacks on the social security system and their threats of attacks on the disability benefits in 2025. The Tory plans predicted nearly half million disabled claimants would face lower benefits or increased conditionality to save £3b by 2028-29.
This conference recognises that trade unions are the largest democratic organisations of disabled people and instructs the National Executive Committee to-
- Work with democratic disabled people’s organisations and other trade unions to promote demands for a social security system that meets the needs of disabled people
- Campaign for assessments to be taken out of the hands of fat cat providers and returned to public sector delivery in the DWP with a complete overhaul of the system to support claimants
- Oppose the Government plans to merge the PIP and working age assessments which are based on cost cutting, reducing benefits to individuals and a harsher benefit regime for disabled people
- Campaign for an end to the target driven regime within the DWP which damages the quality of services to the public
- Put the emphasis on getting a quality decision right at the outset to reduce the need for the public to go through the hardship and length of time to dispute and appeal decisions
Conference further instructs the National Executive Committee to call for the TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee to organise a demonstration and lobby of Parliament in support of these demands, and for the TUC to organise a weekend demonstration against Labour austerity as a launchpad for sustained trade union action in defence of workers and young people.
