Liz Kendall ‘backs’ petition to stop government ‘cutting disability benefits’ while bowing to the rich

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Liz Kendall has encouraged people to sign a petition to stop “unfair cuts to those most in need” while letting rich elites off the hook.

The only problem is, this was nine years ago – when it was the Blue Tories attacking disabled people. Now, as she heads up the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), she’s the one in charge of the Red Tories’ own attack.

Please sign the petition here https://t.co/RCgGSSWs3Q & RT https://t.co/HuDYR7nlJQ

— Liz Kendall (@leicesterliz) March 18, 2016

Kendall: ‘cutting thousands of pounds from disabled people every year’ – then and now

The 2016 petition Kendall shared, coming under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, urged people to:

Stop the Tories’ unfair cuts to those most in need

It added that the Conservative government of the time had:

chosen to cut £3,500 on average a year from people with disabilities while offering tax breaks for those at the very top.

Fast forward nine years, and it’s Keir Starmer’s Labour Party – and Kendall – that is embarking on welfare cuts of around £5bn, despite such a plan not appearing in its 2024 election manifesto. And again, disabled people are likely to lose thousands every year.

Specifically, Kendall is planning to:

• Increase the Universal Credit basic rate from £364 every four weeks to £392 (£91 a week, to £98) for a single person over the age of 25. It’s planning to bring this in from 2026/2027.
• Freeze the Universal Credit health-related part of Universal Credit at £97 a week until 2029/2030. In other words, it won’t rise with inflation. This also applies to everyone found LCWRA prior to April 2026 who gets a reassessment before then – and is still found LCWRA.
• New claimants will see a 50% cut of the health-related component – taking it down to £47 a week. It wants to bring this in for April 2026/2027.
• Scrap the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and tie health-related elements of Universal Credit to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment. This could see 600,000 people lose entitlements

All this looks even worse than it would have done under the Blue Tories. And like their ideological bedfellows, the Red Tories (including Kendall) are also attacking disabled people (along with children and pensioners) instead of making their rich donors/owners contribute their share to society.

Featured image via the Canary