Cutting disability benefits ‘immoral and unethical’ Derry MP warns Labour Party

Mr Eastwood said that the government’s aim of getting people into work will not be achieved by slashing payments that help people live independently and warned that vulnerable families stand to lose out on hundreds of pounds every year.

The SDLP representative said: “Cutting support payments for people with disabilities while the cost of living continues to climb is immoral and unethical. The reported plans to freeze personal independence payments and introduce harsher new criteria to force people off the support altogether in a misguided effort to get people into work will leave vulnerable families significantly worse off every year. Worse still - they have very little chance of achieving their goal.

“These support payments aren’t for people on long term sick who could return to work - they are designed to help people live independently regardless of their work status. Slashing this element of social security will only make it harder for people with disabilities to live their lives."

Mr Eastwood said the hard truth that the British government needs to face is that economic conditions are tough and the job market is likely to get tougher as a result of some of the measures Ministers have implemented - including increases in national insurance contributions which now threaten jobs in businesses, charities and the public sector.

" Cuts of the scale currently under consideration would always be unethical but at this moment they would be cruel and would cost many families hundreds of pounds every year that they simply cannot afford,” Mr Eastwood said.

“If, as some expect, these changes require new legislation to remove inflationary uplift protections for support for people with disabilities, then the government should expect strong resistance. I will oppose any such measure and will work with others to resist cuts on vulnerable families.”

Concerns are growing elsewhere too that the planned measures and other reforms the Labour Party has decided to pursue since taking office are hitting many of the most vulnerable in society.

The British Government said its Plan for Change will “boost living standards and grow the economy by unlocking work for the 2.8 million people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness” and “bring down spending on incapacity benefits”.

Under plans unveiled last week, the British Department of Work and Pensions hailed the reforms and announced that 1,000 existing ‘work coaches’ bneing deployed in 2025/26 to “deliver intensive voluntary support to around 65,000 sick and disabled people - helping them to break down barriers to opportunity, drive growth and unlock the benefits of work”.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP said: "We inherited a broken welfare system that is failing sick and disabled people, is bad for the taxpayer, and holding the economy back.

"For too long, sick and disabled people have been told they can’t work, denied support, and locked out of jobs, with all the benefits that good work brings.

"But many sick and disabled people want and can work, with the right support. And we know that good work is good for people – for their living standards, for their mental and physical health, and for their ability to live independently.

"We’re determined to fix the broken benefits system as part of our Plan for Change by reforming the welfare system and delivering proper support to help people get into work and get on at work, so we can get Britain working and deliver our ambition of an 80% employment rate.”