Dear PM, thanks for the welfare concessions, but I still won’t vote for your bill. Scrap the whole thing | Richard Burgon

IIn the face of the increasing opposition, the government has recently stopped ignoring warnings from its backgrounds and making changes to the bill of disabilities. No one doubts These privileges Welcome. But the real question is whether they go enough. For me and many of my colleagues at work, the answer is clear – they do not.

At best, these concessions make a terrible bill slightly lower. But the bill still represents a devastating attack on disabled persons. It is still advancing billions of dollars from those who need it more, and still forces large numbers of poverty, and still undermines the dignity and independence of the disabled. An example of the extent of the vouchers of these cuts, deputies will be asked to vote on Tuesday to obtain a draft law that will take away basic support from disabled people who will need help in basic daily tasks such as cutting food, washing themselves or using the toilet.

If these cuts continue, you approach half a million people with disabilities They will lose their personal independence payments Between the end of next year and 2030. On average, they are It will lose 4,500 pounds per year About 100 pounds per week. This is a reduction that changes life for people who rely on PIP to help additional disability costs, including those in six beneficiaries of PIP who work, according to the budget responsibility office.

Moreover, there are profound discounts for the global credit component for people with low and disabled people. Three quarters of a million new claim will be forced to the current half level and leave 3000 pounds per year is worse. For people who are already struggling to meet their needs, this is not just a cut – it is a disaster.

How can it be right for a qualified person to be denied for support today just because he becomes disabled after next November? Do we really want a two -level system where future generations receive less support than those with disabilities today? Especially when three out of four people use food banks Disrupt Or live with someone.

All of this fly in the face of what should be a major purpose for every party government: removing people from poverty, not pushing them further. No wonder that the organizations of persons with disabilities, including affiliated with the Labor Party Disability The Labor Party remains a strong opposition to this bill.

Of course, the ministers were sent to the claim that these changes revolve around helping people. But if you reduce billions in the basic support of people with disabilities, then you cannot be sincerely demanding that they help them. The truth is that these changes are driven by the desire to achieve savings. Even after concessions, the majority of the original discounts planned in the bill – with a total of 3.5 billion pounds.

Unfortunately, the government has made a deliberate option to balance books on the appearance of the disabled instead of following the most tax option to impose taxes on those who suffer from shoulders. There are many more just alternatives. An example of one of them, I will present A petition in Parliament On the eve of the vote, with already support from more than 75,000 people, he called for wealth tax. Such a tax of only 2 % on assets exceeding 10 million pounds may collect 24 billion pounds annually-more than six times the so-called government savings from these cuts.

It would be common as well, as one conversation showed that two -thirds of tax support supports increases in the wealthy. It is a policy that you will set exhaustion Pack on the right side of public opinion – something the government struggled in its first year.

With the countdown until Tuesday, there will be increasing pressure on deputies to reach the line, accept concessions as sufficient and support the bill. But the question that the deputies should ask is to ask themselves whether this bill is better than it was before the concessions. Whether this bill will leave the handicapped worse than they are now. The answer is clear.

That is why I will vote against it. For this reason, I call on the government to completely withdraw the draft law.

The government has dealt with this as a political problem to be solved before Tuesday’s vote. But it is an artificial deadline. Why not postpone voting and then use the next few months to get this correctly? By working with people with disabilities, we can design a just and emotional luxury system, learn about the barriers faced by disabled people and provides support they need to live a full and independent life.

With a sign of one year of work in the government, this relates to our values ​​- the type of country that we want to build.

• Richard Burgon is the representative of Leeds East and the Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group for Labor Representatives

• One year of work, with Pippa Cierrar, Rafael Behr and more On July 9, he joined Pippa Cierrar, Rafael Behr, Frances O’grady and Salma Shah while they looked back in one year of the work government and plans for the next three years