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Back in 2014, Vox Political warned of what it called “chequebook euthanasia” — a term used to describe how disabled people in the UK were being subjected to degrading Work Capability Assessments by Atos, Capita, and others, often with questions so vile they bordered on psychological abuse.
I’m referring to questions like:
“If you’re really that depressed, why haven’t you killed yourself?”
I wrote at the time that this wasn’t just a few rogue assessors — it was the shape of a state-backed strategy – one with a long and dark historical precedent.
Now we are seeing a return to that strategy – under a so-called Labour government.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Flashback: Binding & Hoche and the economic logic of death
As historian Earl Appleby noted, the phrase “chequebook euthanasia” echoes the Binding & Hoche doctrine that underpinned Nazi Germany’s Aktion T4 programme — the organised euthanasia of disabled people for being a “burden” on society.
In their 1920 book The Destruction of Life Devoid of Value, Binding and Hoche wrote:
“Their life is absolutely pointless… They are a terrible, heavy burden upon their relatives and society… Their death would not create even the smallest gap.”
They calculated the supposed cost of care — in food, clothing, heating — and concluded that eliminating the disabled would help balance the economic ship of state.
The Nazis later printed this logic onto propaganda posters:
“60,000 Reichsmarks — what this defective costs the people’s community.”
This is not hyperbole. It is history.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
🔁 Fast-forward to 2025
Now, under a Labour government, we find the same reasoning being revived in legislative form.
The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill doesn’t threaten the disabled with bullets — it cuts their support on paper, with the likely outcome known full-well.
It:
-
Requires PIP claimants to score 4 points in a single activity, meaning people with multiple moderate impairments will be excluded from receiving the benefit
-
Slashes the sickness-related UC element from around £97/week to £217/month
-
Freezes all uprating of disability-related benefits until 2030
-
Ignores all evidence that these policies led to suicides, starvation, and mass suffering under previous governments
Ministers justify it with lines straight from Binding & Hoche:
“The number of people on disability benefits is unsustainable.”
“We must protect the system for those who really need it.”
“We’re saving £5 billion a year.”
The economic burden argument is back — but dressed in modern language and spreadsheet logic.
This time, it’s Labour wearing the mask.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
⚠️ Then: psychological cruelty. Now: legislative elimination.
Back in 2014, I reported multiple cases of assessors — from Atos and Capita — telling depressed people that if they were serious, they would have already taken their own lives.
“They asked me, too,” wrote one reader.
“She told me I was just seeking attention,” said another.
Back then, the cruelty was personal and immediate.
Now, it’s strategic and national — and built into legislation.
📉 The consequences are foreseeable — and fatal
The government’s own impact assessments confirm:
-
370,000 existing PIP claimants will lose support
-
430,000 future claimants will be locked out
-
250,000 people could be pushed into poverty
And just like in 2014, ministers pretend they are innocent:
“We are protecting the most vulnerable.”
“We are fixing a broken system.”
No. They are just letting the system do the killing, one rejected claim at a time.
🗳️ This isn’t about the past. It’s a warning for now.
One member of the Labour government — Vicky Foxcroft — has already resigned over this. More than 120 Labour MPs may rebel.
Ministers are apparently threatening to deselect them.
But this rebellion could stop the Bill.
That’s why this moment matters more than at any time since 2014 – because the cruelty that was once whispered in an assessment room is now being written into law.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
🧭 Take action
Contact your MP today — of any party. Tell them:
-
This policy has historical precedent – and not the kind we want to repeat.
-
It targets the disabled, rather than protecting them.
-
It will cause preventable deaths, and the evidence is clear.
🖱️ Use www.theyworkforyou.com to contact your MP – it takes less than five minutes.
And if you’ve ever asked yourself, “How could people stand by and let it happen?” — this is how.
Don’t be one of the bystanders.
Share this post:
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:
Repeating Nazism: the politics of disability cuts has come full circle
Share this post:
Back in 2014, Vox Political warned of what it called “chequebook euthanasia” — a term used to describe how disabled people in the UK were being subjected to degrading Work Capability Assessments by Atos, Capita, and others, often with questions so vile they bordered on psychological abuse.
I’m referring to questions like:
I wrote at the time that this wasn’t just a few rogue assessors — it was the shape of a state-backed strategy – one with a long and dark historical precedent.
Now we are seeing a return to that strategy – under a so-called Labour government.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Flashback: Binding & Hoche and the economic logic of death
As historian Earl Appleby noted, the phrase “chequebook euthanasia” echoes the Binding & Hoche doctrine that underpinned Nazi Germany’s Aktion T4 programme — the organised euthanasia of disabled people for being a “burden” on society.
In their 1920 book The Destruction of Life Devoid of Value, Binding and Hoche wrote:
They calculated the supposed cost of care — in food, clothing, heating — and concluded that eliminating the disabled would help balance the economic ship of state.
The Nazis later printed this logic onto propaganda posters:
This is not hyperbole. It is history.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
🔁 Fast-forward to 2025
Now, under a Labour government, we find the same reasoning being revived in legislative form.
The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill doesn’t threaten the disabled with bullets — it cuts their support on paper, with the likely outcome known full-well.
It:
Requires PIP claimants to score 4 points in a single activity, meaning people with multiple moderate impairments will be excluded from receiving the benefit
Slashes the sickness-related UC element from around £97/week to £217/month
Freezes all uprating of disability-related benefits until 2030
Ignores all evidence that these policies led to suicides, starvation, and mass suffering under previous governments
Ministers justify it with lines straight from Binding & Hoche:
The economic burden argument is back — but dressed in modern language and spreadsheet logic.
This time, it’s Labour wearing the mask.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
⚠️ Then: psychological cruelty. Now: legislative elimination.
Back in 2014, I reported multiple cases of assessors — from Atos and Capita — telling depressed people that if they were serious, they would have already taken their own lives.
Back then, the cruelty was personal and immediate.
Now, it’s strategic and national — and built into legislation.
📉 The consequences are foreseeable — and fatal
The government’s own impact assessments confirm:
370,000 existing PIP claimants will lose support
430,000 future claimants will be locked out
250,000 people could be pushed into poverty
And just like in 2014, ministers pretend they are innocent:
No. They are just letting the system do the killing, one rejected claim at a time.
🗳️ This isn’t about the past. It’s a warning for now.
One member of the Labour government — Vicky Foxcroft — has already resigned over this. More than 120 Labour MPs may rebel.
Ministers are apparently threatening to deselect them.
But this rebellion could stop the Bill.
That’s why this moment matters more than at any time since 2014 – because the cruelty that was once whispered in an assessment room is now being written into law.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
🧭 Take action
Contact your MP today — of any party. Tell them:
This policy has historical precedent – and not the kind we want to repeat.
It targets the disabled, rather than protecting them.
It will cause preventable deaths, and the evidence is clear.
🖱️ Use www.theyworkforyou.com to contact your MP – it takes less than five minutes.
And if you’ve ever asked yourself, “How could people stand by and let it happen?” — this is how.
Don’t be one of the bystanders.
Share this post:
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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