THE government would end austerity now if it cared about disabled people, Labour said yesterday.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams pointed out that the Budget had failed to do anything for disabled people, even though a recent Equality and Human Rights Commission report showed that the average disabled adult is over £2,000 a year worse off than in 2010.

Ms Abrahams said: “Even the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities condemned this government for causing a ‘human catastrophe’ in their failure to uphold the rights of disabled people.”

Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke pledged to help a million more disabled people into work over the next decade.

But Ms Abrahams branded the plans “nothing more than a guise for more cuts,” noting that the Tories had dropped a pledge given during the 2015 general election campaign to halve the disability employment gap.

She said: “The Tories have already hit disabled people who are not fit for work but who may be in the future in the work-related activity group. I hope they are not going to now target the most disabled people in the support group, as their Green Paper hinted at.”

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed as the non-disabled.

Shadow disabilities minister Marsha De Cordova also accused the government of breaking its promise to reduce the effect of cuts to disability benefits, highlighting that the government had cut £1,500 a year from the employment and support allowance.

Disability charity Sense called for barriers to work to be addressed, including  negative attitudes among employers and recruitment agencies, inaccessible workplaces and inflexible working practices. Deputy chief executive Richard Kramer said “real changes in policy, legislation and employer attitudes” were needed.

Figures obtained by the Multiple Sclerosis Society show that nearly a third of people living with the debilitating neurological condition, also known as MS, had their initial claim for disability benefits rejected between April 2013 and April 2017, following reforms.

Chief executive Michelle Mitchell said: “In too many cases, assessments fail to reflect the barriers people with MS face. [MS] shouldn't be made harder by a welfare system that doesn't make sense.”

The charity is calling for a review of personal independence payments, as at least £6 million a year was taken from people with MS after they had been reassessed.