LABOUR have been slammed for their plans to gut social security benefits to fund increased defence spending.
Senior minister Pat McFadden did not deny reports that the party would seek to slash £6 billion from the welfare budget during an interview with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, SNP MP Stephen Gethins said that Labour were “wrong” to target “those least able to support themselves”.
Asked whether Labour’s plan to cut the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) budget could mean that the Scottish Government, which has pledged big increases in welfare spending, might have to follow suit, Gethins said: No, it doesn’t have to be sacrificed.”
He added: “I’m sorry to say, I think Labour are wrong on this, I think that they’re punching down, when you’re taking money from international aid – which makes us more secure, incidentally – and from welfare, you’re punching down on those least able to support themselves.”
Gethins said that rejoining the European Union could be a way to boost the public finances, and argued that Brexit was costing the country £40bn.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, McFadden (above) did not deny reports that Labour planned to make it harder to claim Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and cutting the benefit by stopping it from rising in line with inflation.
Labour are also set to cut Universal Credit for people who are disabled or too unwell to work, ITV News reported.
Asked whether he thought it was “fair” that people who were off work sick got more money than people looking for work, McFadden replied: “What’s not fair is for millions of people to be left on long term sickness benefits with no prospect of work, which is not good for them, and it’s not good for the taxpayer in general.
“The benefits system recognises that for some conditions people would need extra income, but we are going to bring forward welfare reform.
“We are the Labour Party, we believe in work, we believe what a good job can do for people. We do not believe that if somebody could work with a bit of support that they are left to live a life on benefits.”
