Many MPs think it immoral to slash disability benefits – and they're right

Ask me what a Labour prime minister should feel a moral obligation to deliver and I'd put reducing child poverty at the top of the list. Sorting out our broken social care system would be up there too. One thing that wouldn't feature: cutting disability benefits.

- Sonia Sodha

Yet last week Keir Starmer attempted to frame cutting the disability benefits bill as a moral, not just economic, imperative that Labour is "the party of work" and has a duty to reduce welfare costs. To be clear: there is a broad consensus that the welfare system is working badly for disabled people and many are not getting the support they need to move into work, but that's a world away from the £6bn of welfare cuts being considered by the government.

Since the pandemic, the number of working-age people out of work as a result of long-term illness has swelled by more than 750,000. There are also more people claiming health-related benefits - both means-tested out-of-work benefits, and the personal independence payment (Pip) that helps meet the additional costs of disability, which isn't means-tested and is paid regardless of someone's work status. One in 10 working-age adults now receive health-related benefits, up from one in 14 before the pandemic. While most new claims still come from those aged 40-64, the rate of growth has been fastest for the under-40s, and there has been an increase in mental health claims across all ages: 37% of new claims, compared with 28% in 2019.