ON TUESDAY February 4 the House of Commons debated the annual increase in social security benefits. Minister for Social Security and Disability Stephen Timms bragged about the 4.1 per cent increase in the state pension coming into effect in April and noted the miserly increase in most other benefits which will be increased by 1.7 per cent from April.

During the debate Timms had the nerve to state: “We have committed in our manifesto to reviewing universal credit, so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty … On disability and carers’ benefits, we will continue to ensure that carers and people who face additional costs because of disability or health impairment, get the support that they need.’’

He failed to acknowledge that the 1.7 per cent increase in most benefits, including universal credit, was yet another cut in the standard of living of some of the poorest people in our country. In January of this year inflation was 2.5 per cent and is forecast to rise to over 3 per cent later this year. So this cut in living standards for millions is even before Labour starts cutting over £1 billion a year from universal credit (UC), employment support allowance (ESA) and personal independence payments (PIP) over the lifetime of this parliament.

During the debate, Debbie Abrahams MP pointed out that from 2010-24 people on benefits, excluding pensioners, received an annual increase of less than 1 per cent while inflation averaged 3 per cent during this period. The Resolution Foundation has estimated that this amounted to a £40 billion cut in living standards for those in receipt of UC, ESA and PIP. During this same period the transfer of wealth upwards continued on  massive scale. According to the Economics.Help blog, “Between 2010 and 2021, the wealth of the richest 1 per cent increased 31 times more than the bottom 99 per cent. Of the £4trn increase in wealth in this period, nearly a quarter went to the top 1 per cent.”

According to a recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation more than one in five people in the UK (22 per cent) were in poverty in 2021 — 14.4 million people. This included:

• 8.1 million (or around two in 10) working-age adults
• 4.2 million (or nearly three in 10) children
• 2.1 million (or around one in six) pensioners. 

It further noted the shocking levels of deep poverty in our country: “We saw from our latest Destitution in the UK report that around 3.8 million people experienced destitution (where they could not afford to meet their most basic physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed) in 2022. This included around one million children. These figures have more than doubled since 2017 … basic rates of benefits are below destitution levels and millions are going without essentials.’’

According to its report in October 2023, 2.8 million people were in arrears with their bills, 4.2 million were going without essentials while 3.4 million households reported that they didn’t have enough money for food.

Meanwhile, foodbank use in Britain is off the scale with the Tressell Trust noting that during 2023-24 it distributed 3.1 million emergency food parcels, the highest number it has ever distributed in a year. More than 1.1 million emergency food parcels were for children. This level of need doesn’t include the 1,172 independent foodbanks around the UK and those provided by the Salvation Army which provide essential food aid to hundreds of thousands of Britons.

The chief executive of the Tressell Trust, Emma Revie, stated in March 2024: “We’re facing historically high levels of foodbank need. As a society, we cannot allow this to continue. We must not let foodbanks become the new norm.

“A supportive social security system is the bedrock on which we end hunger for good. Building on this, we need much more effective employment and financial support for parents, carers and disabled people, and action to ensure everyone can have the security we all need to access opportunities and have hope for the future, through more secure and flexible jobs and investment in social housing. Foodbanks are not the answer.”

Yet we have a Labour government — yes, a Labour government — committed to driving millions of low-paid workers, sick and disabled people further into deep poverty.

The reactionary attitude of this government towards those on benefits was summed up perfectly by Liz Kendall in a recent interview when she said that the government would no longer tolerate those on benefits who were “taking the mickey.”

Apparently, if you have the temerity to live a life of luxury on benefits then you are a potential criminal who will be sorted out by this claimant-bashing government. 

It is Kendall herself who is taking the mickey by allowing the DWP to waste £500,000 on a recent court case to defend its dangerous plans to deny vital health related benefits to disabled people.

Thankfully, the High Court found that the proposed changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) of the last Tory government were illegal. Yet having suffered this defeat the red Tories in power are not put off.

Instead Labour has announced that it will proceed with a new consultation regarding the WCA all in the pursuit of cutting billions off the benefits bill and driving large numbers of people ever deeper into poverty.

Hannah Sharland for The Canary has observed that Labour’s plan to further cut benefits: “…perfectly encapsulates how the new Labour government is completely wedded to this neoliberal economic ideology. It is austerity-driven welfare cuts through and through – without any regard to the true costs. And of course, the true costs will be disabled people’s lives.”

So there you have it. Labour is happy to drive millions on the breadline further into poverty all in the pursuit of an ideology which is committed to exacerbating the massive social and economic inequalities in our country.

This heartless and dogmatic course of action will not only cause unnecessary suffering and death but also further weaken our fragile economy which is overwhelmingly reliant on consumer spending. 

Dr Dylan Murphy is a member of Huddersfield Unite Community branch and this article is written in a personal capacity.