THE peers of the House of Lords on Monday night capitulated to the Tory government over cuts to disabled people’s benefits to ‘encourage them to return to work’.
The government had been twice defeated in the Lords over reducing Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) for certain claimants from £103 a week to £73, to save the Treasury £1.4bn over four years.
Minister for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith had written a furious letter to MPs accusing peers of an ‘abuse of Parliamentary process’ and insisting ‘The Commons as the elected chamber must now have the final say.’
Now the peers have capitulated to the House of Commons, and allowed the measure to become law! The cuts in support contained in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill will apply to new ESA claimants in the Work-Related Activity Group and will affect people who are unable to work but are deemed capable of making some effort to find employment. They are now to be encouraged, via government imposed starvation and deprivation.
Paralympic gold medallist Tanni Grey-Thompson said she was disappointed such a ‘dreadful and punitive part of the bill – which has been opposed by more than 30 charities – is going ahead.’
Disability rights campaigners Scope denounced the changes saying that they would have a ‘harmful impact’ on half a million people. In fact, there are currently 492,180 disabled people within the ESA WRAG (Work Related Activity Group). The largest group are those with ‘Mental and Behavioural Disorders’ (248,040) which include those with mental health, learning disabilities and Autism.
A Charities and House of Lords review had found that: ‘There is no evidence to suggest that reducing ESA for new claimants would help them move closer to work. In fact the reduction is likely to make it much harder, as people would find it difficult to be able to afford to take part in things like training, work experience, volunteering and other work related activity. Reducing ESA would lead to stress and anxiety as people struggle to pay the bills. This would affect people’s health and mental health.’
The review called on the government ‘not to push ahead with the reduction and instead focus on better support for disabled people to help them build up their skills and support to look for and stay in work.’ The review and the House of Lords have now been brushed aside in what is being described as a ‘Black Day for disabled people.’
Steve Ford, Chief Executive at Parkinson’s UK, said: ‘This is a dark day for people with Parkinson’s who will be left reeling from today’s result. As the Lords have pointed out time and again there is absolutely no evidence to support these proposals or any analysis into the impact they will have on people with Parkinson’s and other long term conditions.
‘It’s now more important than ever that ESA assessments are vastly improved to take into account the progressive and fluctuating nature of Parkinson’s. Too many people with the condition are left on the breadline because of assessors who don’t understand Parkinson’s, and a crude tick-box assessment process.’
This victory for the Tories, to try to starve the disabled into work, is a severe warning to the working class and the TUC. The TUC has not called a single action against the Tories’ new anti-trade union legislation that bans the right to strike, amongst a raft of measures to smash unions. It is relying on the House of Lords to amend away a few of the bill’s worst features.
In fact, the TUC leaders are allowing the Tories to bring in the new anti-union laws without a fight. The lesson from the ESA cuts is that the six million workers in the TUC must demand that the TUC General Council resigns and that a new leadership calls a general strike to smash the anti-union legislation by bringing down the Tories and bringing in a workers government and socialism. Otherwise a ‘Black Day’ for the disabled will be followed by a ‘Blacker Day’ for the trade unions!
