AWARD-winning film-maker Ken Loach has warned Philip Hammond not to cut money from the “most vulnerable and poorest people” as the Tory Chancellor prepares to slash disability benefit by almost a third in next week’s Budget.

The director of the critically acclaimed I, Daniel Blake urged the government to rethink plans to cut disability allowance by 30 per cent in the Autumn Statement.

Mr Loach told BBC Radio Four: “It’s meagre anyway. People with disabilities need the barest minimum that they are given at the moment just to survive, just to get by, just to keep going and try and get back into work.”

The Tories want to strip £30 a week from the employment support allowance, which is awarded to people who cannot work due to illness or disability.

The Scottish National Party added its voice to calls to delay the “devastating cuts” until alternative support is in place.

SNP spokesman for fair work and employment Neil Gray wrote to Philip Hammond to request a meeting prior to the Autumn Statement and to ask that he delay the proposed cuts.

Mr Gray said that the proposed cuts were “punitive and regressive” and would affect almost half a million disabled people across Britain who rely on the support.

Mr Gray warned: “Instead of helping people who have a long-term illness or a disability to live independently, this cut will push people further from work and risks putting individuals in real danger of hardship, which completely flies in the face of the UK government’s manifesto commitment to halve the disability employment gap.”

Mr Gray urged the Chancellor to delay the cuts until appropriate support is delivered for sick and disabled people when they are unable to work.