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Labour leader Keir Starmer is refusing to back down on plans to slash disability benefits – despite overwhelming evidence that the cuts will push millions into poverty, hundreds of thousands into premature death, and cost the country more in the long term than they save.
And he knows it.
So the question is: why is he doing it?
Five books are gone – 45 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Starving disabled people on purpose
Despite protests from within his own party, widespread public outcry, and dire warnings from disability campaigners, medical professionals and economists, Starmer insists: “We have got to get the reforms through.”
He’s talking about a package of changes that will strip Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from up to 1.3 million disabled people – most of whom already live in poverty, and already struggle to meet the extra costs of their conditions.
This benefit is not means-tested, not tied to work status, and was designed precisely to help disabled people live independently and participate in society.
Now, Starmer wants to take it away from people who, he admits, are already unsupported.
He justifies the changes by saying the system “isn’t working”.
But it is working – for those who survive the brutal assessments and prove their need for support.
His real problem seems to be that it works at all – that too many people have been able to cling to life despite everything this country has already done to them.
What kind of leader hears that a million disabled people may suffer — and says ‘good’?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The complicity of the media
As a reporter, one aspect of this that I can’t understand is the complicity of the media.
Any journalist working on this story – who is worth the job title – will know the consequences of Starmer’s cruel ‘reforms’; they will know the history and they will have seen the research by experts who say the planned changes will be fatal for large numbers of people.
Why are they failing to call him out on them – along with Rachel Reeves, Liz Kendall, and any of his other government cronies who echo the lie that they are necessary?
Why don’t they say to him: “What you are telling us, Prime Minister, is that you want hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of disabled people to die. Isn’t that right?”
The lie of ‘work’
Starmer’s excuse is that he says those who can work, should.
But here’s the truth: These benefits aren’t even work-related.
PIP is for the extra costs of being disabled — not for being unemployed.
Starmer is also fully aware that the cuts won’t drive disabled people into employment – because the jobs aren’t there.
His own government’s economic policies are shrinking the job market.
Employers are facing rising costs from new taxes and wage policies.
With a larger pool of able-bodied people also desperate for work, bosses will always choose those who don’t require “reasonable adjustments” or time off for chronic health conditions.
Starmer knows this. So what he’s really saying is: “We’re taking your support — and leaving you with nothing.”
He’s not offering jobs. He’s giving disabled people a death sentence.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
False economy, real death
What will happen to the disabled people who lose their benefits?
They will fall into extreme poverty.
Many will be forced to rely on overstretched NHS services, social care, and emergency support – all of which cost the taxpayer far more than the benefits they were receiving.
The £4.8 billion saving Starmer claims these cuts will deliver will likely be cancelled out, or even exceeded, by the surge in demand across other services.
So it’s not just immoral. It’s economically stupid.
A pointless cruelty that could drive millions into hardship — for nothing.”
It is a policy that kills people – and still costs more.
And yet he still insists on pressing ahead. Why?
Is it the old Blairite obsession with appearing “tough”? Is it about appeasing right-wing media headlines? Is it a calculated cruelty to deter future claimants?
Whatever the reason, people will die. And he knows it.
This has happened before
Let’s remember: the UN condemned the former Conservative government’s disability benefit cuts as causing a “human catastrophe”.
Between 2011 and 2019, an estimated 100,000 sick and disabled people died shortly after being declared “fit for work” or having their support withdrawn.
The Department for Work and Pensions refused to investigate many of those deaths.
No one was held accountable.
The UN called it a ‘human catastrophe.’
But now Labour is doing the same — maybe worse.
And let’s put this in context:
That’s twice as many people as have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
Those deaths in Gaza are rightly being described as genocide.
Five books are gone – 45 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Extermination by neglect
But what do we call it when a UK government knowingly pushes hundreds of thousands of disabled people into a situation where their deaths are inevitable?
What do we call it when a Prime Minister – elected on promises to protect the vulnerable – breaks that promise, looks the British public in the eye, and says: “We’re getting on with the reforms”?
Not reform.
Not savings.
Not leadership.
We call it what it is: state-sanctioned extermination by neglect.
If the Labour Party supports this, then Labour is no longer the party of the vulnerable.
It’s the party of their executioners.
Share this post:
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Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
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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:
Starmer doubles down on deadly disability benefit cuts – expect thousands or millions of deaths
Share this post:
Labour leader Keir Starmer is refusing to back down on plans to slash disability benefits – despite overwhelming evidence that the cuts will push millions into poverty, hundreds of thousands into premature death, and cost the country more in the long term than they save.
And he knows it.
So the question is: why is he doing it?
Five books are gone – 45 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Starving disabled people on purpose
Despite protests from within his own party, widespread public outcry, and dire warnings from disability campaigners, medical professionals and economists, Starmer insists: “We have got to get the reforms through.”
He’s talking about a package of changes that will strip Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from up to 1.3 million disabled people – most of whom already live in poverty, and already struggle to meet the extra costs of their conditions.
This benefit is not means-tested, not tied to work status, and was designed precisely to help disabled people live independently and participate in society.
Now, Starmer wants to take it away from people who, he admits, are already unsupported.
He justifies the changes by saying the system “isn’t working”.
But it is working – for those who survive the brutal assessments and prove their need for support.
His real problem seems to be that it works at all – that too many people have been able to cling to life despite everything this country has already done to them.
What kind of leader hears that a million disabled people may suffer — and says ‘good’?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The complicity of the media
As a reporter, one aspect of this that I can’t understand is the complicity of the media.
Any journalist working on this story – who is worth the job title – will know the consequences of Starmer’s cruel ‘reforms’; they will know the history and they will have seen the research by experts who say the planned changes will be fatal for large numbers of people.
Why are they failing to call him out on them – along with Rachel Reeves, Liz Kendall, and any of his other government cronies who echo the lie that they are necessary?
Why don’t they say to him: “What you are telling us, Prime Minister, is that you want hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of disabled people to die. Isn’t that right?”
The lie of ‘work’
Starmer’s excuse is that he says those who can work, should.
But here’s the truth: These benefits aren’t even work-related.
PIP is for the extra costs of being disabled — not for being unemployed.
Starmer is also fully aware that the cuts won’t drive disabled people into employment – because the jobs aren’t there.
His own government’s economic policies are shrinking the job market.
Employers are facing rising costs from new taxes and wage policies.
With a larger pool of able-bodied people also desperate for work, bosses will always choose those who don’t require “reasonable adjustments” or time off for chronic health conditions.
Starmer knows this. So what he’s really saying is: “We’re taking your support — and leaving you with nothing.”
He’s not offering jobs. He’s giving disabled people a death sentence.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
False economy, real death
What will happen to the disabled people who lose their benefits?
They will fall into extreme poverty.
Many will be forced to rely on overstretched NHS services, social care, and emergency support – all of which cost the taxpayer far more than the benefits they were receiving.
The £4.8 billion saving Starmer claims these cuts will deliver will likely be cancelled out, or even exceeded, by the surge in demand across other services.
So it’s not just immoral. It’s economically stupid.
A pointless cruelty that could drive millions into hardship — for nothing.”
It is a policy that kills people – and still costs more.
And yet he still insists on pressing ahead. Why?
Is it the old Blairite obsession with appearing “tough”? Is it about appeasing right-wing media headlines? Is it a calculated cruelty to deter future claimants?
Whatever the reason, people will die. And he knows it.
This has happened before
Let’s remember: the UN condemned the former Conservative government’s disability benefit cuts as causing a “human catastrophe”.
Between 2011 and 2019, an estimated 100,000 sick and disabled people died shortly after being declared “fit for work” or having their support withdrawn.
The Department for Work and Pensions refused to investigate many of those deaths.
No one was held accountable.
The UN called it a ‘human catastrophe.’
But now Labour is doing the same — maybe worse.
And let’s put this in context:
That’s twice as many people as have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
Those deaths in Gaza are rightly being described as genocide.
Five books are gone – 45 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
Extermination by neglect
But what do we call it when a UK government knowingly pushes hundreds of thousands of disabled people into a situation where their deaths are inevitable?
What do we call it when a Prime Minister – elected on promises to protect the vulnerable – breaks that promise, looks the British public in the eye, and says: “We’re getting on with the reforms”?
Not reform.
Not savings.
Not leadership.
We call it what it is: state-sanctioned extermination by neglect.
If the Labour Party supports this, then Labour is no longer the party of the vulnerable.
It’s the party of their executioners.
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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