Ben Golightly, Swansea & West Wales Socialist Party & Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru co-coordinator
Facing major defeat in parliament over disability cuts, disability minister Stephen Timms promised to engage widely with disabled people over the summer, and to genuinely co-produce a review into the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit.
Timms’s promises have not been met in the slightest. Timms has shown himself neither qualified, nor willing, to genuinely consult with disabled people.
What kind of review?
The PIP review must be independently led by disabled people and our organisations, inviting the views of carers, volunteers, and workers in health, social care, housing, transport, and welfare.
Any review of welfare reform must also involve trade unions – democratic organisations representing 1.4 million disabled workers as well as representing the workers responsible for the day-to-day delivery of services that disabled people rely on.
It needs to be independent of Timms. The Labour government was forced back by mass pressure but is still aiming to cut £5 billion. Timms has not dropped that objective.
I urge readers of the Socialist to sign and support an open letter from Disabled People Against Cuts Cymru (DPAC Cymru) raising these demands.
Socialist Party members have also been championing the call for the TUC (Trades Union Congress) and its Disabled Workers Committee to organise a weekend demonstration as a launchpad for sustained trade union action.
The TUC will soon debate an important motion against disability cuts from Cardiff Trades Council, which won the backing of the Trades Union Councils Conference earlier this year.
The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) has organised a lobby of the TUC on 7 September, in support of that motion.
- Sign the DPAC Cymru open letter at bit.ly/independent-pip-review
- Join the NSSN lobby of the TUC, 1pm on Sunday 7 September, at the Old Ship Hotel, Brighton, BN1 1NR.
