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So this was the plan?
Install a structurally-flawed welfare system that deliberately creates a two-tier benefit regime — not based on medical need, but on whether someone fell ill before or after a bureaucratic cut-off date?
Pretend this is “fair”?
Promise to “consult” disabled people only after the changes are locked into law?
Include in that promise a pledge to listen to disability stakeholders who have previously been – wholeheartedly – ignored?
And hope no one notices?
This isn’t sophisticated strategy.
It’s not a clever sleight of hand.
It’s a pathetic attempt at a political con job – a transparent failure at political deceit.
It was designed to mislead MPs, mollify a potential backbench rebellion, and push through cuts under the guise of reform.
And the most galling part? It might have worked.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
A two-tier system by design
The centrepiece of Liz Kendall’s statement in Parliament (for future reference: on Monday, June 30, 2025) was her claim that nobody currently on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) would lose their support.
But she was just as clear: if you apply after November 2026, the bar will be higher. You’ll need four points in a single activity — and this change will be locked into law before any meaningful review takes place.
So, two people with the same condition, same level of need — one gets help, the other doesn’t.
Why?
Because one got ill before 2026.
This isn’t fairness.
It’s policy by cutoff date, with no medical or moral justification.
And when MPs pointed out that this will create a system that discriminates by calendar rather than condition, Kendall responded with examples of other legacy benefit anomalies — as if previous injustices justify making new ones.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Consultation after legislation = Gaslighting
Kendall insisted that the forthcoming “Timms review” of the disability benefit assessment system will be co-produced with disabled people.
But that review will come after this law is passed.
Its conclusions will be shaped around a system that is already set in stone.
This is like promising to consult on building materials after the roof has been installed.
The claim that “listening is a strength” rings hollow when it’s used to distract from the fact that no minister was listening before the vote.
Organisations representing disabled people were ignored, dismissed, or told they would be heard later.
That’s not democracy.
That’s deflection.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Theatrics to placate weak MPs
This entire U-turn — from harsh cuts to slightly-less-harsh cuts — wasn’t a shift in values.
It was a stunt, staged to neutralise a backbench rebellion.
The threat of more than 100 Labour MPs voting down the Bill forced Kendall to offer concessions, but only enough to give the government political cover.
What kind of MP accepts a promise that existing constituents are safe while agreeing to abandon future claimants to poverty?
MPs were expected to swallow a bait-and-switch:
“It’s not as bad as it was last week. You can vote for it now.”
The fact that so many have proves how easily manipulated some are when a frontbencher waves the flag of “compassion” while quietly embedding a policy built on cruelty.
Kendall’s rhetoric: Orwell on stilts
Let’s not mince words.
Claiming that it is “fair” to treat people unequally based on an arbitrary date is Orwellian newspeak.
Conservative MP Sir Desmond Swayne called it out plainly. Kendall responded by blaming 14 years of Tory government.
That excuse wore out on day one.
Labour’s reforms are Labour’s responsibility.
And they are fundamentally dishonest.
Window dressing: “right to try” and illusions of support
There were some sweeteners: a so-called “right to try” work without losing benefits, more money for employment support, reassessment scrapping for lifelong conditions.
But they’re small Band-Aids on a gaping structural wound.
The Access to Work scheme remains broken.
Social care gaps are unaddressed.
Employers still discriminate.
And disabled people still face massive obstacles to meaningful employment — none of which are solved by fiddling with eligibility points.
This Bill should never have seen the light of day
To pass a law before the evidence is in…
To design a system that punishes people for being diagnosed at the wrong time…
To exclude the very people affected from the design of the process…
And to frame this as “compassionate reform”?
It’s not just offensive — it’s calculated manipulation.
And the spin hasn’t fooled everyone – least of all some of Labour’s backbenchers.
Labour MPs are calling it out too
Rachael Maskell’s reasoned amendment — now backed by more than 35 MPs — makes the case clearly: the Bill should not pass until disabled people are properly consulted, and until full economic and poverty impact assessments are done.
It cites the risk of pushing up to 250,000 people into poverty, the lack of modelling from the Office for Budget Responsibility, and the government’s delay in delivering any real support until the end of the decade.
This rebellion proves what should have been obvious: no one who’s paying attention believes this is a principled reform.
It’s just a straightforward cut dressed up as a “moral mission” — and many MPs know it.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
This isn’t policy.
It’s politics — cold, cynical, and entirely designed to pacify wavering MPs and manufacture consent.
Let’s call this what it is:
A con job dressed up as compassion — and a betrayal of every disabled person in the UK.
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.
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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:
Labour’s welfare reform is a transparent failure at political deceit
Share this post:
So this was the plan?
Install a structurally-flawed welfare system that deliberately creates a two-tier benefit regime — not based on medical need, but on whether someone fell ill before or after a bureaucratic cut-off date?
Pretend this is “fair”?
Promise to “consult” disabled people only after the changes are locked into law?
Include in that promise a pledge to listen to disability stakeholders who have previously been – wholeheartedly – ignored?
And hope no one notices?
This isn’t sophisticated strategy.
It’s not a clever sleight of hand.
It’s a pathetic attempt at a political con job – a transparent failure at political deceit.
It was designed to mislead MPs, mollify a potential backbench rebellion, and push through cuts under the guise of reform.
And the most galling part? It might have worked.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
A two-tier system by design
The centrepiece of Liz Kendall’s statement in Parliament (for future reference: on Monday, June 30, 2025) was her claim that nobody currently on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) would lose their support.
But she was just as clear: if you apply after November 2026, the bar will be higher. You’ll need four points in a single activity — and this change will be locked into law before any meaningful review takes place.
So, two people with the same condition, same level of need — one gets help, the other doesn’t.
Why?
Because one got ill before 2026.
This isn’t fairness.
It’s policy by cutoff date, with no medical or moral justification.
And when MPs pointed out that this will create a system that discriminates by calendar rather than condition, Kendall responded with examples of other legacy benefit anomalies — as if previous injustices justify making new ones.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Consultation after legislation = Gaslighting
Kendall insisted that the forthcoming “Timms review” of the disability benefit assessment system will be co-produced with disabled people.
But that review will come after this law is passed.
Its conclusions will be shaped around a system that is already set in stone.
This is like promising to consult on building materials after the roof has been installed.
The claim that “listening is a strength” rings hollow when it’s used to distract from the fact that no minister was listening before the vote.
Organisations representing disabled people were ignored, dismissed, or told they would be heard later.
That’s not democracy.
That’s deflection.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Theatrics to placate weak MPs
This entire U-turn — from harsh cuts to slightly-less-harsh cuts — wasn’t a shift in values.
It was a stunt, staged to neutralise a backbench rebellion.
The threat of more than 100 Labour MPs voting down the Bill forced Kendall to offer concessions, but only enough to give the government political cover.
What kind of MP accepts a promise that existing constituents are safe while agreeing to abandon future claimants to poverty?
MPs were expected to swallow a bait-and-switch:
The fact that so many have proves how easily manipulated some are when a frontbencher waves the flag of “compassion” while quietly embedding a policy built on cruelty.
Kendall’s rhetoric: Orwell on stilts
Let’s not mince words.
Claiming that it is “fair” to treat people unequally based on an arbitrary date is Orwellian newspeak.
Conservative MP Sir Desmond Swayne called it out plainly. Kendall responded by blaming 14 years of Tory government.
That excuse wore out on day one.
Labour’s reforms are Labour’s responsibility.
And they are fundamentally dishonest.
Window dressing: “right to try” and illusions of support
There were some sweeteners: a so-called “right to try” work without losing benefits, more money for employment support, reassessment scrapping for lifelong conditions.
But they’re small Band-Aids on a gaping structural wound.
The Access to Work scheme remains broken.
Social care gaps are unaddressed.
Employers still discriminate.
And disabled people still face massive obstacles to meaningful employment — none of which are solved by fiddling with eligibility points.
This Bill should never have seen the light of day
To pass a law before the evidence is in…
To design a system that punishes people for being diagnosed at the wrong time…
To exclude the very people affected from the design of the process…
And to frame this as “compassionate reform”?
It’s not just offensive — it’s calculated manipulation.
And the spin hasn’t fooled everyone – least of all some of Labour’s backbenchers.
Labour MPs are calling it out too
Rachael Maskell’s reasoned amendment — now backed by more than 35 MPs — makes the case clearly: the Bill should not pass until disabled people are properly consulted, and until full economic and poverty impact assessments are done.
It cites the risk of pushing up to 250,000 people into poverty, the lack of modelling from the Office for Budget Responsibility, and the government’s delay in delivering any real support until the end of the decade.
This rebellion proves what should have been obvious: no one who’s paying attention believes this is a principled reform.
It’s just a straightforward cut dressed up as a “moral mission” — and many MPs know it.
Six books are gone – 44 to go!
Just click on the image, make your donation
and provide your details!
This isn’t policy.
It’s politics — cold, cynical, and entirely designed to pacify wavering MPs and manufacture consent.
Let’s call this what it is:
A con job dressed up as compassion — and a betrayal of every disabled person in the UK.
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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