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Let’s be clear: the UK’s disability benefits system is not “broken”.
It is being deliberately sabotaged – by successive governments – and now Liz Kendall is pressing ahead with a brutal overhaul that will harm the very people it claims to help.
A BBC article today has highlighted divisions between two Labour backbenchers, who lay out their views on the looming cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
One spoke from experience. Sadly the other could only quote from spreadsheets.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
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Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge, knows what it means to rely on sickness benefits; she has been through the system herself.
Her warning is unambiguous: these cuts will push people out of work, not into it.
“A number of constituents are in employment thanks to their PIP,” she says, citing vital support like carers and reduced hours that allow people to maintain employment.
Strip that away, and many disabled people will simply be forced out of jobs.
Eccles is not alone. Around 100 Labour MPs are considering rebellion – because this is not reform – it’s reduction. And it’s a moral failure.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The aim is not to help anybody – it cannot be, considering the nature of the plan.
Kendall’s big idea is to cut PIP entitlement for 1.3 million people – not because they don’t need it any more – they will – but to save money for the government to spend elsewhere.
Current claimants will be tipped into poverty. Many may lose their homes – prompting some to claim that this is a plan, with the dwellings being handed over to able-bodied people.
Suicide rates are expected to soar. Many people with mental illnesses are already reporting suicidal ideation, increasing the strain on the health service before the ‘reforms’ have even happened.
And this is the actual result – and the reason Kendall’s changes cannot achieve the aim she claims: the effect of her tinkering will simply be to pass the cost of disabled people onto other services. I’ve already mentioned the NHS. Social care services will also take the strain, as will other public services.
She won’t even get more people into work. Sure, she’s putting money aside for that purpose, but the UK’s businesses aren’t hiring at the moment, because of tax and wage rises imposed by Kendall’s colleague, Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Anybody they do hire will most likely be able-bodied, because those people are cheaper; they don’t require expensive adaptations in their workplace and they don’t ask for time off when their conditions demand it.
And of course, cutting PIP from people who have jobs will simply force them to give up the work. Is that a secret part of the plan?
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Let’s turn to David Pinto-Duschinsky, who won his Hendon seat by just 15 votes and appears eager to prove his loyalty to the Labour Party leadership.
He parrots the government narrative: the system is “too expensive”, claim rates are “rising” too fast, and reforms are “needed” to preserve the welfare state.
This argument falls apart under scrutiny.
Let’s start with the premise that “Britain’s welfare system is broken.”
This is not a fact – it’s a slogan, an emotional framing device used to justify ideological cuts.
What does “broken” even mean in this context? That too many people are claiming help? That disabled people are too expensive? That government obligations are inconvenient?
It’s pure rhetoric – an attempt to stir up a fake moral panic aimed at making the case for retrenchment sound reasonable. The shock doctine in action, as discussed in a previous Vox Political article.
Pinto-Duschinsky offers Treasury-sounding figures, but numbers without context are meaningless.
Yes, PIP claims have increased – because more people are aware of their entitlements, and because the population is ageing, with complex physical and mental health needs on the rise. That’s not a crisis – it’s policy working as intended: reaching those in need.
More importantly, PIP isn’t a work disincentive – quite the opposite.
As Cat Eccles rightly points out, many disabled people depend on PIP in order to stay in work.
The logic of the cuts turns on itself: reduce support, force people to quit jobs, and then pretend it’s a work activation policy. It’s absurd.
Even the so-called “transition period” Kendall is now offering – three months before support is removed – is cold comfort.
That’s an extended deadline, not a safety net. It’s a countdown to destitution.
Pinto-Duschinsky’s claim that this is about “morality” rather than savings is especially galling.
This is a man who reduces disabled people to statistics, speaking of a “moral duty” to cut their benefits in order to “safeguard the system.”
That’s not morality – it’s austerity dressed up in high-falutin language.
He cites disability employment gaps as justification, but fails to mention what really keeps disabled people out of work: discrimination, inaccessible workplaces, and lack of support – not a lack of financial pressure.
The government line – oft-regurgitated by Labour frontbenchers – is based on the oldest trick in the book: create a “problem” by vilifying a vulnerable group, then sell your cuts as the solution.
Well, it’s not going to wash. Not this time. Right?
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Liz Kendall’s package of cuts, dressed in talk of “activation” and “modernisation,” is simply the latest round of cruelty, delivered this time by people with red ties instead of blue ones.
We don’t need a more punitive welfare state. It’s harmful enough as it is!
We need one that understands that disability is not a moral failing or a budgetary inconvenience – but a reality that demands compassion, support, and, yes, investment.
Eccles is right.
Her critics – both in government and in her own party – are not just wrong.
They are dangerous.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
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1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
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Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
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7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
PIP cuts: government loyalist betrays the real agenda behind Labour’s ‘reform’
Share this post:
Let’s be clear: the UK’s disability benefits system is not “broken”.
It is being deliberately sabotaged – by successive governments – and now Liz Kendall is pressing ahead with a brutal overhaul that will harm the very people it claims to help.
A BBC article today has highlighted divisions between two Labour backbenchers, who lay out their views on the looming cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
One spoke from experience. Sadly the other could only quote from spreadsheets.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge, knows what it means to rely on sickness benefits; she has been through the system herself.
Her warning is unambiguous: these cuts will push people out of work, not into it.
“A number of constituents are in employment thanks to their PIP,” she says, citing vital support like carers and reduced hours that allow people to maintain employment.
Strip that away, and many disabled people will simply be forced out of jobs.
Eccles is not alone. Around 100 Labour MPs are considering rebellion – because this is not reform – it’s reduction. And it’s a moral failure.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The aim is not to help anybody – it cannot be, considering the nature of the plan.
Kendall’s big idea is to cut PIP entitlement for 1.3 million people – not because they don’t need it any more – they will – but to save money for the government to spend elsewhere.
Current claimants will be tipped into poverty. Many may lose their homes – prompting some to claim that this is a plan, with the dwellings being handed over to able-bodied people.
Suicide rates are expected to soar. Many people with mental illnesses are already reporting suicidal ideation, increasing the strain on the health service before the ‘reforms’ have even happened.
And this is the actual result – and the reason Kendall’s changes cannot achieve the aim she claims: the effect of her tinkering will simply be to pass the cost of disabled people onto other services. I’ve already mentioned the NHS. Social care services will also take the strain, as will other public services.
She won’t even get more people into work. Sure, she’s putting money aside for that purpose, but the UK’s businesses aren’t hiring at the moment, because of tax and wage rises imposed by Kendall’s colleague, Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Anybody they do hire will most likely be able-bodied, because those people are cheaper; they don’t require expensive adaptations in their workplace and they don’t ask for time off when their conditions demand it.
And of course, cutting PIP from people who have jobs will simply force them to give up the work. Is that a secret part of the plan?
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Let’s turn to David Pinto-Duschinsky, who won his Hendon seat by just 15 votes and appears eager to prove his loyalty to the Labour Party leadership.
He parrots the government narrative: the system is “too expensive”, claim rates are “rising” too fast, and reforms are “needed” to preserve the welfare state.
This argument falls apart under scrutiny.
Let’s start with the premise that “Britain’s welfare system is broken.”
This is not a fact – it’s a slogan, an emotional framing device used to justify ideological cuts.
What does “broken” even mean in this context? That too many people are claiming help? That disabled people are too expensive? That government obligations are inconvenient?
It’s pure rhetoric – an attempt to stir up a fake moral panic aimed at making the case for retrenchment sound reasonable. The shock doctine in action, as discussed in a previous Vox Political article.
Pinto-Duschinsky offers Treasury-sounding figures, but numbers without context are meaningless.
Yes, PIP claims have increased – because more people are aware of their entitlements, and because the population is ageing, with complex physical and mental health needs on the rise. That’s not a crisis – it’s policy working as intended: reaching those in need.
More importantly, PIP isn’t a work disincentive – quite the opposite.
As Cat Eccles rightly points out, many disabled people depend on PIP in order to stay in work.
The logic of the cuts turns on itself: reduce support, force people to quit jobs, and then pretend it’s a work activation policy. It’s absurd.
Even the so-called “transition period” Kendall is now offering – three months before support is removed – is cold comfort.
That’s an extended deadline, not a safety net. It’s a countdown to destitution.
Pinto-Duschinsky’s claim that this is about “morality” rather than savings is especially galling.
This is a man who reduces disabled people to statistics, speaking of a “moral duty” to cut their benefits in order to “safeguard the system.”
That’s not morality – it’s austerity dressed up in high-falutin language.
He cites disability employment gaps as justification, but fails to mention what really keeps disabled people out of work: discrimination, inaccessible workplaces, and lack of support – not a lack of financial pressure.
The government line – oft-regurgitated by Labour frontbenchers – is based on the oldest trick in the book: create a “problem” by vilifying a vulnerable group, then sell your cuts as the solution.
Well, it’s not going to wash. Not this time. Right?
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Liz Kendall’s package of cuts, dressed in talk of “activation” and “modernisation,” is simply the latest round of cruelty, delivered this time by people with red ties instead of blue ones.
We don’t need a more punitive welfare state. It’s harmful enough as it is!
We need one that understands that disability is not a moral failing or a budgetary inconvenience – but a reality that demands compassion, support, and, yes, investment.
Eccles is right.
Her critics – both in government and in her own party – are not just wrong.
They are dangerous.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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