THE planned cuts to welfare is a defining moment for this government.

Keir Starmer has a political choice to make — does he dish up more of the same austerity that the Conservatives inflicted on the most disadvantaged people in our society, or does he do the right thing and look after our most vulnerable citizens?

Last summer, people who voted for a Labour government believed they were voting for “change.” A change from the cruel policies of austerity that have created gross inequality. A change from austerity that more than 330,000 excess deaths have been attributed to by an academic study.

The Prime Minister likes to boast that “his” Labour Party has changed. Firstly, I take umbrage with the notion that the party is any one person’s possession, and I will be generous in saying that for anyone to refer it to as theirs is misguided.

However, the Prime Minister and I are in firm agreement when he says that the party has changed.

Indeed, the days of being fiercely anti-austerity and the message of ending the inequality that is destroying the fabric of our country have been replaced by the fascination with pursuing economic growth at all costs, along with the language of being the “party of work.”

Labour is not the “party of work” and I wince when I hear anyone say “the clue is in the name.” The Labour Party should be true to its founding principles and be the “party of the working class.”

And yet, the potential cuts and choices to come could affect the already most vulnerable, disadvantaged and poorest in society — the very people the Labour Party is meant to be standing up for.

The Trussell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are right in their calls for an essentials guarantee within universal credit. Many people are simply not able to cover the cost of some of the most basic needs in life.

That must change.

The welfare system does need reform — it needs to provide enough for the essentials in life. Billions of pounds of cuts to welfare is the wrong thing to do.

The government must look after vulnerable people and if welfare is cut, there is no doubt in my mind that people will be pushed into forever poverty and many will die.

Achieving short-term savings by slashing support for the disabled is not going to get more people into work.

The government should be focused on creating better opportunities and conditions for people to get into work, helping them to overcome barriers and making corporations pay a decent wage for an honest day’s work.

How we treat the most vulnerable members of our society is the measure of our humanity and this government will ultimately be judged on how it looks after people.

Hundreds of thousands of excess deaths were the result of 14 years of Conservative austerity and the Labour Party should always be opposed to politics that impoverishes people.

I did not become a Labour Party member, or a Labour councillor, or latterly a Labour MP to cut welfare for people who desperately need help.

There is another avenue open to us. One that does not mean savage cuts to benefits that people rely on. One that does not leave people in crippling fear and anxiety over what might come next.

Make the people who have the very most, the multimillionaires and billionaires, pay.

Let us tax the ultra-rich to invest in people and communities.

The government and party leadership need to appreciate that inequality in Britain is growing and, frankly, out of control.

We have seen the wealth of the few explode while ordinary people have been consigned to poverty through years of austerity, followed by a pandemic and then a cost-of-living crisis that has seen the corporations charge us eye-watering bills.

I do not think anyone can become obscenely rich without exploiting people along the way.

Let us reject cuts, let us be the anti-austerity party we were and should be. Let us have an annual wealth tax of 2 per cent on those with assets worth £10 million and more.

It will raise £24 billion which can then be used to get on with the work of improving living standards to make Britain a more equal society. Let us lead by example on the world stage and create a version of Britain we can truly be proud of.

I do not see this as radical politics, it is plainly human, caring and the right thing to do.

Brian Leishman is Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth.