Melanie Dent, Reading Socialist Party

Cuts and brutal reforms of disability benefits are what working-class people expect from a Tory government. Thousands of people died due to benefit sanctions under the Tory-LibDem coalition and successive Tory governments. People were pronounced ‘fit to work’ and promptly died. Many people will have voted for Keir Starmer’s Labour hoping for a change, but as Labour plan to proceed with cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) it is clear they are continuing the Tories’ dirty work.

People are understandably afraid. Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendal, seems convinced that many claiming to have a disability are actually faking it. In actual fact the fraud connected to PIP is very small.

People do not choose disability. Living with any disability places emotional strain on people – just the activity of getting through a day when they already have to try ten times as hard to get half as far as people without disabilities. This is without the often insulting and degrading way in which claimants are treated at both initial application and at reviews.

PIP is far from easy to get and this is set to get even tougher. Some disabled people are able to work with reasonable adjustments, but others simply can’t. Health secretary Wes Streeting’s recent comments about mental health issues being overdiagnosed have provoked understandable anger among disabled people and campaigners.

People are angry and frightened. Labour has lit an explosive touch paper. From here it remains to be seen how things will escalate but the anger in society is there.

We need to fight to defend disabled people, with the organised working class taking the lead. If we do not, quite simply, people will die in poverty.

The Socialist Party fights for:

• No benefit cuts. Replace Universal Credit and the punitive benefit system with living benefits for all who need them
• A massive expansion of public services, including free, flexible childcare and social care. Reverse all cuts, kick out the privateers and bring services back into public ownership under democratic workers’ and community control
• A new mass workers’ party to provide an alternative to Labour austerity. Take the wealth off the super-rich and make the bosses pay. Fight for socialist change

Socialist Party members are encouraging trade union branches to pass a motion that includes the demand for the trade unions and 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.

See ‘Fight back against Labour’s attack on disabled people’ for the motion

Motability scheme – answering misinformation

John Gillman, Reading Socialist Party

Alongside the government’s drive to slash benefits for disabled people, there has been a media campaign of misinformation about fraud in the Motability scheme. This scheme allows individuals who receive the higher rate of the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to apply for a vehicle.

Similar to past attempts to restrict the issuance of blue badges – where the media ran numerous stories about supposed misuse – there is now a push to make it harder for even highly qualified disabled people to access the Motability scheme. The application process is already rigorous, requiring a form of approximately 40 pages and validation from health experts.

Misinformation about the scheme includes claims that people can obtain a car for a mild affliction, that luxury cars are available through the scheme, and that the cars are free. None of this is true. The eligibility criteria are strict, and payments – often around half of a recipient’s PIP – are deducted from their monthly benefit. Additionally, modifications such as ramps and aids come at an extra cost, and if a person wants a car beyond their allocated price range, they must pay a deposit from their existing benefits. The privately run scheme also prohibits ‘luxury’ cars due to their low resale value.

Despite media narratives about fraud, actual cases of fraudulent PIP claims were minimal last year, whereas £1.7 billion in benefits went unclaimed.