A LABOUR minister’s attempt to defend the UK Government’s swingeing cuts to disability benefits has been branded “abhorrent” by one of his own MPs.
Torsten Bell, a Pensions Minister whose brother Olaf leads No 10’s policy unit, appeared on Newsnight on Tuesday to speak for Labour on its cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Earlier in the day, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall had outlined plans to cut the disability payments by £5 billion per year by 2030 – drawing outrage from poverty and disability charities as well as opposition politicians and trade unions.
Elsewhere, Labour said that there would be an above-inflation rise in the standard allowance for Universal Credit by 2029/30 – but that new claims from April 2026 will see the rate of the health element almost cut in half, from £97 a week to £50, and those already claiming having their amount frozen.
On Newsnight, host Victoria Derbyshire told Bell that the Labour plans would leave some young people living on just £70 per week.
“Could you live on £70 a week?” “Absolutely not” “So why do you expect young people to?” “We won't”@vicderbyshire challenges DWP minister Torsten Bell on benefit reform.#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/mEbBnT92Aq
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 18, 2025
He said: “No, people with significant disabilities will be protected.
“Not only will they be protected within the Universal Credit system, which is the one you're mentioning, but they'll also be able to apply for personal independence payments.
“People with significant disabilities, if they are young, if they're currently receiving UC Health, they will continue to receive it, and if they have significant disabilities, they will still be allowed to apply for personal independence payment. But we are not going to write off 21-year-olds.”
Derbyshire responded: “Those who can't, they'll be living on about 70 pounds a week. Could you live on 70 pounds a week?”
“Absolutely not,” Bell said, arguing that people would also have support for rent and disability.
Derbyshire said: “To buy food, to pay bills, 70 quid a week. You've just told me you couldn't live on that.”
Bell responded: “Well, no, I have a mortgage to pay … but what I'm saying to you, and the benefit system exists to provide housing benefit support for young people as well.
“But what I'm saying to you is the current system is a disaster for those young people and, you know, it's all well and good to say you don't like every aspect of these changes, but what you are defending is a Tory system …
“I sat in the chamber today. And heard people say ‘I'm worried about this aspect of the change’, but there's not enough focus on the disaster that is happening in our country today.
“We are seeing much faster growth in claims for disability benefits that we are seeing actual levels of disability, particularly for young people.”
Responding to the clip, Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman called it “abhorrent”.
Matt Kerr, a Scottish Labour councillor in Glasgow, added: “This is appalling.”
Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville-Roberts quoted Bell’s mortgage comment, adding: “Torsten Bell fails to show an ounce of compassion for young disabled people living in poverty, despite having been the chief executive of a leading anti-poverty think tank until last year.”
Bell had run the Resolution Foundation from 2015 until his election as a Labour MP – and just last year wrote an article in the Guardian calling the two-child benefit cap his Government imposes “immoral”.
Elsewhere, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn compared Bell to a Tory minister.
A compassionate Tory Minister speaks. pic.twitter.com/776ady394e
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) March 18, 2025
The SNP MP shared a separate clip on the Labour minister on Newsnight where Derbyshire asked: “Are you OK with making people worse off?”
Bell said: “Well, I'm OK with saying this system has to change.”
Pushed on the question again and again, he said: “Well, I'm OK with building a sustainable system because if it's not there … in the long run I think this will make people better off. More people will be working and we'll be able to sustain …
“I'm really confident the evidence shows that we've published assessments in the recent past showing a 10% point rise in the employment rate for people that are provided with active support.
“And at the moment we are writing off millions of people and saying no support, no conversation, no help to work, and that is not a way to run a country.”
“A compassionate Tory Minister speaks,” Flynn said in response.
The comment echoes criticism from STUC general secretary Roz Foyer, who on Tuesday said the Labour cuts could easily have been delivered by an MP wearing a “blue rosette”.
