Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Government set to smash through own welfare cap

THE welfare spending cap imposed by Tory Chancellor George Osborne was exposed as a propaganda gimmick yesterday after leaked documents revealed the government will smash through its “limit.” 

Internal government memos obtained by the BBC show that the Tories have failed to get enough people into jobs to maintain their self-imposed £119.5 billion limit for 2015/16.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman claimed the figures represent “spurious scenarios.”

But MP Ann Begg said it showed Tory ministers had “believed their own rhetoric” about large numbers of disabled claimants being fit for work.

Her broadside followed a damning report by MPs on the personal independence payment, which replaced the disability living allowance last year.

The “fiasco” saw people, including some with terminal illnesses, being left without vital payouts as officials took months to make decisions on their cases.

Following revelations of officials screwing up their benefits shake-up, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the reports “smack not only of incompetence but of a systematic attempt to remove the safety net people depend upon when they fall on hard times.

“Taking money away from the most vulnerable in our society is not the way to make work pay,” she said.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Britain / 24 March 2017
24 March 2017
Anti-racist and faith groups lead vigil for terrorist attack victims
Britain / 24 March 2017
24 March 2017
Britain / 11 March 2017
11 March 2017
Britain / 11 March 2017
11 March 2017
Similar stories
(From left) Sarah Morton, Fran Heathcote, Martin Cavanagh, Angela Grant, Andy Mitchell
PCS Conference 2025 / 20 May 2025
20 May 2025
Protesters on Whitehall in London, as Chancellor of the Exch
Features / 6 May 2025
6 May 2025

A new report by Amnesty International pulls no punches in highlighting the Labour government’s human rights violations of those on benefits, says Dr DYLAN MURPHY