The Fire Brigades Union has urged the government to change course after chancellor Rachel Reeves committed to cutting billions of pounds from the welfare budget in her Spring Statement on 26 March.
The welfare cuts, which will amount to around £5 billion, are largely targeted at disability benefit. They will make it much more difficult to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and will roughly halve the additional payments made through universal credit to those unable to work.
STANDING IN SOLIDARITY
Steve Wright, FBU general secretary, said that the cuts were “shameful” and that “the Fire Brigades Union stands in solidarity with disability benefit claimants and other vulnerable people who will suffer from these cuts.”
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament as Reeves was delivering the Spring Statement.
The government estimates that 370,000 people will lose their PIP payments, costing them an average of £4,500 per year. 2.25m people will lose about £500 a year from the freezing of the incapacity top up to universal credit.
And it is expected that around 730,000 future claimants will lose an average of £3,000 a year each from cuts to universal credit.
A POLITICAL CHOICE
Speaking to reporters, chancellor Rachel Reeves said that she was “absolutely certain that our reforms, instead of pushing people into poverty, are going to get people into work.”
The Trussell Trust, which runs most of the UK’s food banks, warned that “people at food banks have told us they are terrified of how they might survive.”
In a statement, the FBU’s Disabled and Neurodivergent members’ forum said: “This is not an economic necessity – it is a
political choice.
“Billions of pounds have been found for defence spending in recent weeks, as well as pay rises for MPs, while billionaires,
the super-wealthy, and big corporations continue to get away without paying their fair share.”
FBU general secretary Steve Wright has called on the government to introduce a wealth tax to fund welfare spending, as
well as investing in public services and delivering fair pay for firefighters and other workers.
“Workers struggling to afford the basics will not accept falling living standards from Labour,” he said.
MPs are expected to vote on the changes before the summer.
