Labour claims its controversial Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare cuts could “save over £5 billion“. But as the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn pointed out, such plans didn’t appear in Labour’s 2024 election manifesto.
Speaking in parliament, Flynn asked Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Liz Kendall to explain:
where in her manifesto it stated that [Labour] were going to take £5bn away from disabled people
NEW: Watch Stephen Flynn challenge Labour on where their manifesto pledged to cut £5 billion from disability benefits ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/x5TeQBFbcv
— The National (@ScotNational) March 18, 2025
DWP cuts: pain that no one voted for
The answer to the question, of course, was ‘nowhere’. But Kendall treated Flynn’s important point with almost jovial disdain.
Labour’s austerity manifesto last year said it would “work with local areas to create plans to support more disabled people and those with health conditions into work”, “tackle the backlog of Access to Work claims and give disabled people the confidence to start working without the fear of an immediate DWP benefit reassessment if it does not work out”, and called for ‘reforming or replacing’ the Work Capability Assessment “alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work”.
Despite this clear agenda to push disabled people into work, the party claimed it was “committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do”.
The vague manifesto plans have now turned into a multi-billion-pound attack on disabled people, which has sparked deep concern and justifiable anger.
What happened to the promise to get £5bn from tax avoiders?
Interestingly, away from a DWP pledge, there was a pledge in Labour’s manifesto to get £5bn by “cracking down on tax avoidance and non-dom loopholes”. It was even in the party’s list of six “first steps for change”. It asserted:
We will modernise HMRC and change the law to tackle tax avoidance… This, combined with a renewed focus on tax avoidance by large businesses and the wealthy, will begin to close the tax gap and ensure everyone pays their fair share.
And it estimated it could get £5.2bn in “revenue from closing further non-dom tax loopholes and investment in reducing tax avoidance”.
Haven’t heard about that? Maybe it’s because Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is in the pockets of big business, so it would much prefer to prioritise starving kids, freezing pensioners, and killing disabled people. In fact, the Labour government has actually blocked UN efforts to crack down on global tax havens since coming to power – which sounds even worse when you realise “the UK and its overseas territories are responsible for approximately one-third of global tax avoidance through firms moving their profits offshore”.
Challenge Labour and DWP corporate cruelty
In short, while there’s an occasional nod from Labour towards corporate crimes, it’s not what the party stands for today. As journalist Taj Ali has insisted:
At some point you’ve got to ask, ‘what does the Labour Party stand for?’ … If you want to raise revenue, let’s talk about taxing the super-rich. Let’s look at wealth taxes. Why is it always the poorest and most disadvantaged in society that are having to pick up the costs?
Labour now has to consult disabled people over these DWP cuts and changes. And as the Canary has pointed out, it is “vital that as many disabled people as possible tell the government how these changes will affect them”. You can see the full consultation here and respond here.
Featured image via the House of Commons
