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THE Tories’ plans to slash unemployment benefit for disabled people making new claims could leave some unable to afford the essentials of life, MPs warned yesterday.
Under government plans, from April new ESA claimants assessed as fit for work will see their benefits cut by £29.05 to £73.10 per week, the same rate as jobseeker’s allowance (JSA).
The government claims the changes will help halve the “disability employment gap” — the difference between the employment rates of the disabled and non-disabled — and save the Treasury an estimated £1 billion by 2020-21.
‘Ultimately, all of Reform's policies benefit big business and attack workers and the poor,’ Diane Abbott MP tells the Star
As a proportion of GDP the total welfare bill is lower than it was 15 years ago. The claim that it is spiralling out of control is mythmaking, argues DIANE ABBOTT
The government’s Pip review looks like a carefully managed exercise in legitimising future cuts to disability support, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY