The UK Labour government announced it would save billions of pounds a year by slashing welfare spending, unveiling controversial reforms which have provoked criticism from disability campaigners and divided Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing party.
The government will toughen the criteria that sick and disabled people must meet to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), a key benefit aimed at helping people with disabilities go about their daily lives, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons on Tuesday. The reforms are expected to save over £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030, she said.
The move to arrest a ballooning welfare budget has already stirred discontent within Starmer’s cabinet, and risks now sparking a wider revolt within the parliamentary Labour Party, with several backbenchers openly voicing concerns in recent days. But ministers argue they’re trying to prevent people from being caught in a welfare “trap” by coaxing them back into the workforce, while also reining in public spending.
Cuts and caps to benefits have always harmed people, not helped them into work