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Tensions within the Labor Party were increasing on Monday, while the secretary of labor and pensions Liz Kendall was prepared to discover plans to reduce about £ 5 billion a year from government spending for health -related benefits.
Kendall will define her plans on a green letter on the reform of welfare on Tuesday, with Downing Street insisting that there was a “moral and economic issue for regulating our broken system”.
Dozens of labor lawmakers have expressed concern about attracting or reducing support for those in need, and some ministers raised opposition with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at last week’s cabinet meeting.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of the Great Manchester, said he was concerned about changing support and acceptance for benefits, saying “would block many people in poverty”.
Veteran Labor MP Diane Abbott said on Monday that “reducing money for people with disabilities is not a job to do.”
But a Starmer spokesman said “the system is not working as it is thought” and highlighted the latest outbreak of mental health claims for diseases and benefits of disability.
“Many of the evaluation systems were created during a decade ago and have not been affected since then,” he said. Labor officials said reforms would save about £ 5 billion a year until the end of parliament.
The cuts will help Chancellor Rachel Reeves fix a hole in public finances caused by slow growth and increased borrowing costs.
9,9 billion pounds of head rooms within Reeves’ fiscal rules with the October budget have been largely or fully erased, according to government officials. The rules say that current expenses should be covered by tax revenues by 2029-30.
The government had navigated the idea of freezing the level of disability benefits, referred to as payments of personal independence. But the ministers withdrew from the movement after a fierce work reaction.
Louise Murphy, from the Resolution Foundation, said a perennial freezing at PIP rates would have saved £ 600m in 2026-7, increasing to 3.3bn £ by £ 2029-30 while increasing plaintiffs.
However, some work MPs believe that a freezing of benefits – which would hit people with disabilities in serious need – was never a serious idea. “It was a classic tactic of the” bloodshed trunk, “said a senior MP. “To make it look like they have made omissions and the actual cuts are not so bad.”
Government officials insist the idea was on the table, but was absorbed. “Things weren’t thought properly,” one said. “The original idea was to announce the plan last week, but we were not ready and the cabinet ministers felt – correctly – they were dancing.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Sunday the United Kingdom was “overestimating” mental health conditions as he prepared the ground for reforms that are expected to reduce support for people with psychiatric problems.
The road told the BBC: “Mental well -being, illness, is a spectrum and I think there is definitely an overload, but there are (also) many people who are written.”
Downing Street held a series of conferences with MPs last week to prove concern and disappointment for cuts, but many members are still deeply uncomfortable.
Kendall is also expected to reduce the highest level of disability support – which provides an additional 416 pound per month – while increasing the basic rate of support for people who are out of work, known as universal loans, according to people informed about this action.
Experts have long argued that the low level of unemployment benefits has led more people with basic health conditions to seek additional disability and disability benefits.
However, to reach the types of savings that the Treasury is aiming will also require large cuts to support for people with disabilities and sick in order to increase payments to the largest number in the basic rate.
Much larger savings can be achieved by limiting the acceptability to PIP, an action that is expected to appear in Kendall’s plan. People who claim disability support for mental health conditions are likely to be affected.
Payments are expected to be denied for about 1m people, including those with mental health conditions and those who fight with their washing, eating and clothing. People who need a hearing aid are also expected to fall below the new threshold and may lose payments.
