As a Labour voter I kind of get the angst but a cold hard look at the finances suggests to anyone with a decent grasp of reality that the current situation isn’t tenable. And there really can’t be so many millions who can’t work : it defies logic . Kudos to Starmer for tackling difficult issues
And although, I ‘could’ just manage without PIP, it’s not just the money.
So many disability access support programs rely on PIP as the gateway. I need PIP to get the blue badge. I need PIP as evidence for an access card to help businesses understand my access needs.
Maybe long delays for NHS treatment increase the numbers who can't work. Does long Covid play a role? Young people can't afford a home and won't have a liveable planet - does that damage their mental health? Sorry, but cold hard looks at finances is what leads to Reeves making awful decisions.
And that is apart from the facts a) that running public services from crisis to crisis is way more expensive than funding them properly, and b) the claim that the position is untenable depends on failed neoliberal economics when we all know only Keynsianism meets this moment.
‘A cold hard look at the finances suggests to anyone with a decent grasp of reality’ that Labour’s fiscal rules are self imposed and follow the neoliberal Tory/Osbourne economics. Borrowing has been far higher as a % of GDP in the past. Osborne used fiscal rules’ to reduce the size of government.
You just read the headlines and the beggar belief. They won’t tax the rich in a fair way, yet they say the welfare system is unfair in tax payers. It’s shocking and disgusting that they even consider cutting welfare for the disabled. It’s embarrassing that this country would do such a thing. 🤬
Maybe this is a bit of magic..to move our attention with emotion… and get us focused on a few million ..not on the many millions that are being strategically moved quite outrageously?
Correction: Downing Streeet *never said* they were going to cut benefits to the disabled. It was just an unsourced rumour, siezed upon by bad actors & the gullible who chose to ignore what Labour *actually said consistently all along*. As usual, a rumour starts, the Press amplify it, it's fake news.
Time to tax wealth for Brits and to fund the defense of Ukraine and Europe. There is no other way. Besides, a lot of the assets in the UK are owned by oligarchs. Who care where they live, tax their assets.
Watch Gary’s Economics. Intelligent, logical, fact-based, grounded in history, and simple common sense. Ok maybe not simple but anyone can follow his rationale. Maybe it’s just sort of the Buddhist middle way, wealth inequality is so unbalanced it’s unstable and unsustainable.
Comments
I have a ‘benign’ spinal cord tumour-100% progressive towards quadriplegia & can’t be removed without damage.
I have PIP to help with disability costs but run my own business & employ staff to do the heavy lifting - PIP creates jobs here.
So many disability access support programs rely on PIP as the gateway. I need PIP to get the blue badge. I need PIP as evidence for an access card to help businesses understand my access needs.
I would be lost without it.
Labour should be tackling poverty, not cutting benefits.
https://www.madintheuk.com/2025/02/what-if-being-miserable-isnt-an-illness/
I say what's the point of John McDonnell
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/deaths-lies-and-cover-ups-the-case-for-a-public-inquiry-into-the-unthinkable-cost-of-dwps-systemic-violence/