LABOUR WELFARE REBELLION LOOMS

HUNDREDS of thousands of disabled and ill Scots face losing £500 a year under the Labour Government's welfare cuts, it's been claimed.

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

Anti-poverty charity Trussell also says new claimants are in line for a £3000-a-year hit if the controversial changes are pushed through by MPs.

More than 120 Labour MPs are threatening to scupper the Government's welfare Bill and plans to slash £5billion from disability and sickness benefits.

The rebels are alarmed at forecasts showing 50,000 children could be plunged into poverty if the bill becomes law.

A key element of the package is freezing the rate of the health element of Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance payments until 2030.

In a briefing to MPs, Trussell estimated there are nearly 300,000 people receiving these payments in Scotland: "All would stand to be affected by the freeze which by 2029-30 amounts to [a] real terms cut of £500 per year."

Labour Ministers also want to cut the health part of UC for people claiming it for the first time.