RACHEL REEVES plans to cut about £3 billion from welfare spending over the next four years by restricting access to sickness benefits, reports suggested today.
The Chancellor is expected to follow the previous Tory government’s plans to save the sum by reforming work capability rules.
Under the Conservative proposals, about 400,000 people signed off long term would have been reassessed as needing to prepare for employment by 2028-29, cutting the benefits bill by an estimated £3bn.
Labour is expected to make similar savings, though Work and Pensions Minister Alison McGovern told Times Radio that Labour would formulate its own policies.
She said: “We will not go ahead with the Tory plan because that was theirs.
“We will need to make savings like all departments, but we will bring forward our own reforms.”
A government spokesperson said: “We have always said that the Work Capability Assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced, alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work.
“We will deliver savings through our own reforms, including genuine support to help disabled people into work.”
A Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) campaign spokeswoman told the Morning Star that if such a proposal was set out in the Budget, then it would need to be scrutinised as “the devil is in the detail.”
Ms Reeves aims to raise up to £40bn through tax hikes and spending cuts in the Budget, due to be announced on October 30.
These measures includes changes to inheritance tax, fuel duty and stamp duty, plus a levy on e-cigarettes.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from some ministers over plans to cut departmental spending by up to 20 per cent.
Downing Street acknowledged that “tough decisions” would be necessary, with not all departments able to meet their goals.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed that Sir Keir and Ms Reeves had agreed on the “major measures” of the Budget, including the “spending envelope” that limits Whitehall departments budgets.
While spending cuts are expected, tax increases are likely to play a significant role in Ms Reeves’s plan to address what Labour ministers call a “black hole” in public finances left by their Tory predecessors.
Anti-poverty charity Z2K said Labour needed a “proper plan to improve the nation’s health and rebuild our public services, not a return to the same old failed approach of cutting benefits.”
