Keir Starmer has branded the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare system “unsustainable, indefensible, and unfair.” His words come as the Labour Party plans DWP cuts of around £6bn from chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits. Yet at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), one MP said many of colleagues were ‘trying to crawl up the PM’s arse’ – in other words, agree that the government needs to cut more from people’s benefits.
DWP cuts: the backlash continues
On Friday evening, the DWP leaked to ITV News that there could be cuts around £6bn from disability benefits. This includes Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for chronically ill and disabled people, along with the money they would get under Universal Credit (UC)
As the Canary previously reported, DWP boss Liz Kendall stated that she needs to repair the welfare system. She said that a shift towards getting more individuals into the workforce is essential. The reforms are characterised by Kendall’s false and dangerous belief that many current claimants are not genuinely unable to work, a sentiment she expressed in a recent interview where she stated that some people are ‘taking the mickey’.
There has been a widespread backlash from chronically ill and disabled people. However, the anger from supposedly left-wing Labour MPs has been more muted. As the Canary previously reported, less than 20% of them have said they’re against the cuts.
So, it will come as little surprise then that at the meeting of the PLP most MPs were excited about the prospect of killing off disabled people via DWP cuts.
Labour: a party of sycophants
These internal dynamics have been highlighted by the exclusion of veteran MP Diane Abbott from the meeting. Abbott expressed her anger on social media, stating she would have liked to query Keir Starmer but was told the meeting was full – as were several other supposedly critical MPs.
Yet as Politico reported:
Four MPs at the PLP raised concerns about the upcoming welfare cuts, Playbook hears from multiple people in the room. One MP said that a colleague who has a daughter with major disabilities asked Starmer for reassurance on potential changes to personal independence payments, to “audible support” in the room. “The PM did not respond to his question,” this person added.
This incident reflects concerns about stifled dialogue within the party on critical issues like DWP cuts. Reports from the meeting described an atmosphere more akin to sycophancy than critical engagement, with an anonymous Labour MP likening it to “people trying to crawl up the PM’s arse”.
This lack of genuine debate around DWP cuts which could result in disabled people’s deaths is shocking, but no longer surprising from a Labour Party looking more like Reform every day.
Featured image via the Canary
