The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) under Keir Starmer’s Labour government is preparing to strip financial support from 670,000 households that are already in poverty – in what can only be described as another ruthless act of state-sanctioned cruelty.
DWP cuts: falling on disabled people again
They’re the latest figures to come out as anger grows over Labour’s proposed DWP Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit cuts.
These households—each with at least one member living with a disability—stand to lose up to £390 per month, according to internal DWP projections. So, these cuts will not fall on the wealthy or the comfortable.
No, they will fall squarely on people already living on the edge: carers, people with chronic illnesses, individuals managing severe mental health conditions, and those too unwell to work.
Stripping them of vital support will not encourage them into employment; it will simply impoverish them further, punish them for being ill, and heap pressure on an already threadbare social safety net.
The move, buried within the government’s so-called “modernisation” of DWP PIP and changes to Universal Credit, shows a disturbing contempt for disabled people. The changes appear to be designed not to support those in need, but to appease a hardline fiscal agenda—an agenda that views the sick and disabled as financial burdens to be slashed from the ledger.
The most damning revelation is that the government knows the damage it will cause. These aren’t speculative figures from campaigners or charities. They come directly from within the DWP. They know this policy will devastate lives—and they plan to press ahead regardless.
What has Labour become?
For the Labour Party, once seen as a defender of the DWP welfare state, this marks a shameful betrayal. Keir Starmer has not only failed to challenge the Tory-era narrative that people on benefits are to blame for their poverty—he has embraced it. He has chosen to champion “tough choices” over compassion, and now disabled people must pay the price.
Critics have rightly condemned the move as morally reprehensible. The Disability Benefits Consortium has warned that the changes risk stripping away the bare minimum support many rely on just to survive. Meanwhile, organisations like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation point to the obvious: taking money from people in poverty deepens poverty.
This is not reform. This is not progress. This is a government waging war on the poorest, hitting disabled people with a double injustice—first of circumstance, then of DWP policy. In a civilised society, we measure our success not by GDP or fiscal targets, but by how we treat those who need help the most.
Labour had a chance to chart a new path. Instead, it has chosen to continue the punitive legacy of austerity. Disabled people will pay the price—with their health, their dignity, and, in some cases, their lives.
Featured image via the Canary
