STEPHEN Flynn has called on Keir Starmer to ditch reported plans to cut disability benefits as well as the party’s “broken Tory spending rules”.
It comes as the Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to announce reforms on Tuesday aimed at cutting a welfare bill that ministers have described as “unsustainable”.
Ahead of the announcement, speculation has mounted that PIP – the main benefit for working-age adults – could be frozen rather than increased in line with inflation, delivering a real-terms cut for 3.6 million claimants.
But on Sunday, reports suggested the Government is considering reversing course on PIP in the face of opposition from Labour MPs and division in the Cabinet.
The SNP’s Westminster leader said that Labour’s fiscal rules – which place a cap on public sector borrowing of 3% – are the “central problem” and “will make everyone poorer”.
He highlighted that, during the General Election campaign, his party repeatedly warned that £18bn of cuts to public services or tax rises were on the cards if Labour stuck by the rules – pointing to analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The organisation’s director Paul Johnson also criticised them as “essentially the same” as the Tories’ and “pretty daft”.
Flynn said that the Prime Minister must “admit he got it wrong” and scrap both the welfare cuts and its spending rules to allow for more UK Government borrowing.
"The cuts to disabled people are shameful - and they are just the start. We will all be worse off if the Labour government takes the axe to public services and goes ahead with its reckless plan for a new era of austerity cuts,” he said.
"The Prime Minister has already slashed the Winter Fuel Payment, increased National Insurance taxes on small businesses, blocked compensation for WASPI women, and cut the welfare state.
"The truth is we are all paying the price for the Labour Party's failure on the economy and its damaging political choices. Voters were promised things would get better but the UK economy is tanking, businesses are cutting jobs, and families are paying more as the cost of energy, food and bills soar on Keir Starmer's watch.”
Flynn added: "The Labour Government has boxed itself in with its Tory austerity rules and its political choice to stay out of the EU single market, which is wiping billions of pounds from public finances that could otherwise boost household incomes and protect public services.
"Disabled people are next in line for the Labour Party's cuts, which will hit all of us if Keir Starmer doesn't change course."
