Politics

Starmer’s U-Turn on PIP Cuts Sparks Accusations of Double Standards

Published on June 24, 2025

Keir Starmer’s team seems to be pushing ahead with cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the health addition to Universal Credit (UC), despite the fact that back in 2016 he blasted the Tories’ planned PIP reductions as “indefensible while rewarding the well off”. It’s hard to avoid the sense of brazen dishonesty and opportunism here.

Now we’re hearing that Starmer’s government is refusing to introduce a wealth tax on the very richest 0.04% of people in the country — a move that could have raised about £24 billion a year and helped rebalance our economy. Yet, rather than taking that route, we’re seeing fresh austerity measures that cut more than £4.8 billion from disability support. That’s exactly the kind of move he decried when he was in opposition.

In fact, even the Cameron government — notorious though it was for its treatment of disabled people — dropped its £4.4 billion cuts back in 2016. That same administration became the first in the world to be investigated by the UN for “systematic and grave violations” of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). And now, under a Labour government, we seem to be heading back down the same path.

Pressure is mounting for Starmer to U‑turn. On 19 June, Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft resigned as a government whip in protest, citing the harm these cuts will do — including pushing hundreds of thousands of disabled individuals further into poverty. This isn’t mere political posturing — it’s a serious concern shared by many.

Over in Parliament, Jeremy Corbyn and the Independent Alliance of MPs have tabled an amendment aiming to halt the bill entirely. They point out that the government has failed to consult properly with disabled people or carers, ignored “robust evidence” and even its own impact assessment, which warned these cuts could push 250,000 more people into poverty — though some analysts put the figure even higher. Their case is clear: this bill shouldn’t even get a second reading.

Meanwhile, Liz Kendall, the Welfare Secretary, insists that without these cuts, the benefits system faces collapse. But the irony isn’t lost on anyone who remembers Labour’s backtrack over the winter fuel payment. Then, too, ministers claimed they were fixing a financial “black hole” and must act swiftly. They reversed that decision when push came to shove, protecting low-income older people. That pattern — manufacturing consent for austerity, then U‑turning when public pressure rises — is one we’ve sadly come to expect.

It’s a shocking shift to see Labour now targeting the very group it once pledged to defend. The campaign for these cuts effectively ignores the real “scroungers”: landlords inflating rents, those slicing off huge wages from the top, utility owners slugging households for every penny, and profiteers hiding money offshore. Yet somehow, it’s disabled people who are bearing the brunt of this fiscal tightening.

Ultimately, the problem isn’t just one set of benefit cuts — it’s a rigged system that looks to villages of people for savings while letting the biggest earners off the hook. Starmer’s failure to introduce a wealth tax, coupled with these new reductions to PIP and UC’s health element, spells increased hardship for the vulnerable. That’s not just unfair — it’s a betrayal of promises he made more than once.

It feels like a return to austerity’s darkest days, with the poorest bearing the burden. And for a government that once positioned itself as the champion of social fairness, it’s a bitter pill to swallow — especially when the very same leader called these moves “indefensible” not so long ago.

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