Emma Roddick MSP has called for the UK Labour Government to roll back its proposals to devastate disabled people and pensioners with brutal cuts to disability benefits, all in the name of balancing their failed budget

This week, the Labour Government announced that it would be taking forward extensive reforms to disability benefits in its Spring Statement, including narrowing eligibility for disability support and restricting incapacity payments to those over the age of 22.

The SNP MSP said:

“Labour’s proposals to balance the government’s books by taking money from those who need it the most – including pensioners and disabled people – instead of the most wealthy, are unforgivable.

“It’s important to remember that most of the benefits that Labour is cutting are not out-of-work benefits – and that people generally want to feel fulfilled in their lives. Even the most well-off pensioners I know usually volunteer, take on part-time work, and generally find things that they can do to stay productive.

“Looking at how many disabled people are unemployed and concluding that you must take away the little money they have to force them into a workplace not set up for them and unlikely to hire them in the first place is ridiculous; it demonstrates either extreme ignorance or terrifying cruelty and inconsideration of the risk that Keir Starmer is putting those lives in.

”Labour’s broken promises are piling up at a truly remarkable speed.  I can only assume that Keir Starmer and his team believe that these punitive cuts to the most vulnerable will be forgotten by the next election.  They will not: WASPI women, Grangemouth workers, pensioners, and disabled people will remember these betrayals.

“Instead of standing with us against the surge of the far right by protecting human rights in the face of growing risk across the world, Labour is all but handing it the next election.”