PLANS to crackdown on disability benefits are doomed to fail and could spark a backlash similar to Labour's decision to cut winter fuel payments, a senior Blair-era party figure has warned.
John McTernan told the i paper that the UK Government was “foolishly and dangerously confusing the categories of long term sickness and disability”.
The UK Government is reportedly set to introduce a sweeping range of social security reforms in a bid to slash £6 billion off the benefits bill.
The Department for Work and Pensions has drawn up a raft of measures to force people into work – even if they have extreme disabilities.
Labour MPs have said a rumoured revolt is not limited to the left-wing of the party, but party whips are sceptical of suggestions that as many 80 MPs may turn on the Keir Starmer.
During a Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meeting on Monday night Starmer warned his MPs that the Government could not “shrug our shoulders and look away” from problems in the welfare system and elsewhere amid backbench concerns over expected reforms.
The Prime Minister said he was “not afraid to take the big decisions” to “fix what is broken”.
Loud cheers and table-banging were heard from outside at the closed-doors gathering in Westminster, though some MPs have expressed fears of cuts to the benefits bill in the spring statement.
Speaking at the meeting, Starmer said: “We’ve found ourselves in a worst of all worlds situation – with the wrong incentives – discouraging people from working, the taxpayer funding a spiralling bill, £70 billion a year by 2030.
“A wasted generation, one in eight young people not in education, employment or training, and the people who really need that safety net still not always getting the dignity they deserve.”
Rachel Reeves will deliver her spring statement on March 26 in response to the latest forecasts from the Budget watchdog, with increased borrowing costs and weak economic growth likely to require spending cuts in order to meet her commitments on managing the public finances.
Curbing the cost of welfare is expected to be among moves to contribute to savings.
However, McTernan —who was a UK special adviser when Tony Blair was forced to U-turn on plans to check up on disabled welfare claimants in 2001 — said the Government risked repeating the failure.
He said: “The one lobby that defeated Tony Blair’s welfare reforms wasn’t lone parents – their cut went through despite a massive rebellion.
“It was disability cuts which were ditched once they were floated. The disability lobby is massive and influential because disability itself is distributed widely across the country.”
McTernan added: “Labour tested the public’s patience when it took winter fuel payments from 10 million pensioners with no warning. It risks losing support for the benefit cuts it is trailing.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has previously said there are 2.8 million people not in work due to ill-health and one in eight young people not in education, training or employment.
The sickness and disability bill for working-age people has risen by £20 billion since the pandemic and is forecast to hit £70bn over the next five years.
She has said an upcoming Health and Disability Green Paper will set out plans to support those who can work back into jobs, rather than write them off.
Sixteen major charities have written a letter to Reeves, urging her to safeguard the rights of disabled people and argued cutting disability benefits would have a “catastrophic impact”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We want to restore trust and fairness in the system to ensure disabled people are better supported by the state to live more independent lives, and there will and should always be a safety net for those who need it most.
“And we will work closely with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations as we bring forward these reforms to ensure their voices shape our proposals.”
