Another Blow For Starmer As Labour's Welfare Reforms Draw Bleak Poverty Warning From UN

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves.Labour’s welfare reforms have been torn apart by a United Nations committee on disability rights, who fear the changes will increase poverty rates.In a letter sent to the government, the committee warned that the cuts to Universal Credit and changes to Personal Independent Payments (PIP) could trigger “regression” amid disabled people.PM Keir Starmer already watered down his welfare reforms twice before MPs voted on it earlier this month, just to win over enough Labour rebels for the legislation to pass.The Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill was eventually voted through its second reading in the Commons, although 49 Labour backbenchers still voted against it.The concessions effectively wiped out the £5bn savings the government had been counting on from the welfare changes, too.These concerns from the UN committee – which reports to the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights – could be seized upon frustrated MPs during the bill’s third reading in the Commons on Wednesday.The UN committee asked ministers to respond to 10 key issues around the changes, including “public statements by politicians and authorities portraying persons with disabilities as making profit of social benefits, making false statements to get social and disability benefits or being a burden to society.”Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said earlier this year that some of those on benefits were “taking the mickey”.The committee also warned that it had “received credible information” that the bill “will deepen the signs of regression” for disabled people – something the same experts had warned the UK not to do last year.It wanted clarity on the impact the new measures will have on the disabled community and questioned if the government has addressed “the foreseeable risk of increasing poverty rates amongst persons with disabilities if cuts are approved”.The government’s latest assessment of the welfare changes suggests 50,000 people will be lifted out of poverty as a result of the new bill.The original proposals were expected to push an extra 150,000 people into relative poverty.Even so, according to Sky News, policy lead at Disability Rights UK Mike Erhardt said he hoped it would be a “wake up call” for MPs to still prevent the reforms becoming law.He said: “The fact that the UN has yet again felt it needs to write to the UK government about our cruel and punitive social security system should be a national shame.”Related...Keir Starmer's Government Sinks To Its Lowest Ever Approval Rating After A Year In PowerAnother Blow For Starmer As Two-Thirds Of Brits Say PM No Longer Respects Them, Poll FindsIs It Time For A Wealth Tax? Pressure Grows On Starmer To Ramp Up Charges On The Rich

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