This week Labour announced ‘reforms’ to the benefits system as part of Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement. Reform only ever means one thing in politics: cuts. The narrative from Labour is that they are having to make ‘hard choices’ because the Tories left everything in a mess. ‘Hard choices’ is another euphemism, parroted by the cabinet to justify economic violence towards ill and disabled people. Attempting to frame this is a moral crusade to get people back to work must surely leave a bitter taste in the mouths of any Labour ministers who still have a conscience. As NEF has shown, the widely reported numbers of £4.8bn of cuts leading to 250,000 more people being pushed into poverty, including 50,000 children, were actually an underestimate. The government have attempted to hide the truth using accounting tricks, factoring in a never implemented policy called the Work Capability Assessment which would have made it harder for people to qualify for a higher rate of universal credit on the basis of illness or disability. It was never implemented, so whilst it may make sense on spreadsheets, it is irrelevant to actual people, living on very little in a cost of living crisis. NEF analysis shows that the cuts will hit ill and disabled people by almost £2bn more than reported and could see around 100,000 additional people pushed into poverty.
drlj 