Rachel Reeves has been warned that swingeing benefit cuts pose a severe threat to the lives and livelihoods of disabled people in the North East.
Dozens of protesters gathered around Grey’s Monument in Newcastle city centre on Wednesday lunchtime to call for a reversal from the Chancellor, as she confirmed a controversial squeeze on the welfare budget in her spring statement.
The changes are expected to save £4.8 billion in 2029/30, through measures like tightening the eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip) and halving the health-related element of universal credit for new claimants and freezing it at that level until 2030.
While Ms Reeves has insisted that Labour has inherited a “broken” welfare system and that more people need to be helped back into work, the Government’s own analysis has predicted that a further 250,000 more people will be pushed into poverty due to the reforms – including 50,000 children.
Hannah Frost, a member of Disabled People Against Cuts and Crips Against Cuts, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the cuts would mean many vulnerable people will lose money vital to their daily lives.
The 27-year-old, who uses a wheelchair and has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), also warned that the Chancellor’s decision risked putting more pressure on an overstretched social care system – including on unpaid carers.
Speaking at the city centre rally, Hannah said: “They are trying to frame this as getting people back into work. But cutting our benefits will not help that, it will make it harder for people to work.
“I pay for medicinal cannabis through my Pip and without that I am in so much pain that I can’t sleep. How would I be able to work if I don’t have that extra money to spend managing my life? It is expensive needing a wheelchair.”
Leanne Robson, from Cramlington, said that the announcements of the past week had had a severe negative impact on her own mental health.
The 38-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis, added: “It is all I have thought about. Without that money I will have nothing. I had a good job and just because I got sick that is not my fault. It is extremely worrying.
“It is not the benefits that are the problem, it is the healthcare system – you can’t get seen by anyone.
“Everything else will end up being even more overwhelmed as a result of this. I can’t imagine how overwhelmed places like Citizens Advice are going to be.”
Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who chairs the Work and Pensions Committee, told the Commons on Wednesday that “all the evidence is pointing to the fact that the cuts to health and disability benefits will lead to increased poverty, including severe poverty, and worsened health conditions”.
The Chancellor replied: “In the green paper we’re consulting on a premium payment for the most severely sick and disabled because as a Government we believe that those people need support should get it.
“But like (Ms Abrahams) I recognise that there are many people who are sick and disabled, there are many young people who could be working but were written off by the previous government and that’s why we’re putting record investment in helping getting those people back to work, with guaranteed, personalised and targeted support.
“You’re half as likely to be in poverty if you’re working, if you move from welfare into work and we’re determined to lift people out of poverty by ensuring there are good jobs paying decent wages with a security that’s guaranteed through the Employment Rights Bill.”
