The government's benefits cuts, two-child cap and freeze in Local Housing Allowance are all *false economies*. They don't save money. They merely push spending into different parts of the budget, while causing untold suffering. Cruel, perfomative and pointless. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ap...
TBH this kind of deckchair rearranging has been a core part of UK governance since Thatcher, they always manage to worsten outcomes & increase costs...
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@georgemonbiot.bsky.social Spreadsheet economics at its worst.
Yep, I see it everyday of my working life, a pound taken from the budget of a single mum with a couple of kids will likely cost the state thousands down the road, dealing with the myriad of long term issues that poverty invariably causes, the only sustainable way forward is a triple locked UBI.
Which again raises the question, why? Why are these politically damaging policies being implemented? Who is the Jake Sullivan, responsible for pouring this poison into Starmer’s ear?
And why is he so stupid that he believes it? 😒
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social Fool’s errands.
The 'taxpayer' is not the government's funding source.
Has anyone modelled the long term costs of the poverty Labour is creating? I’ll suggest £bns. In the face of cyclical social problems we have politicians with the event horizon of goldfish.
If Labour get their way with cuts to disability benefits, I'll have to stop heating my home. I wonder what the upshot of that might be?
Illness misery and at risk of utilitarianism a huge cost to the nhs. That’s why this entire series of cuts are both barbaric and counter productive.
You are probably right, but the markets can cause terrible problems in days. Remember the lettuce? And the effects on mortgages?
Which is not a justification for creating mass poverty.
This fraudulent, Neoliberal incarnation of Labour is all about class war and cruelty in attacking the most vulnerable. When Kendall, reputed to live in a £4 million house, tells people in poverty that their meagre benefits are going to be cut even further, we've plumbed new depths of moral depravity
Anyone who votes labour still is morally reprehensible. Green or Lib Dem is the only option now.
Except the first past the post system. So judge carefully, so you deliver the message without ushering in Reform or Tories.
"We're not as bad as Reform or The Tories" isn't a reason to vote for anybody. Labour are banking on this, they need to be taught a lesson.
Typical labour emotional blackmail. It’s not my fault labour have right wing, Tory policies that could kill the disabled and destroy the environment. Have you not seen the news today? Labour welfare policy will cost the country more than they say they are saving, it will cost billions. Murder.
We've ALREADY got something as bad as Reform or the Tories. Their policies are killing people. Old people. Young people. They're drowning more migrants. They are about to start killing tens of thousands of disabled people. It's time to say "never again" to the others & vote Green.
They are doing some stuff quietly. Employment rights and some benefit increases that would not have happened under Tories. Why they like to trumpet the 'tough stuff' is beyond me, but undoubtedly an effect of right wing media. But still choose wisely under FPTP.
What a disgusting joke, ‘benefit increases’ - they are going to socially murder thousands of disabled with their bloodthirsty welfare policy. It will mean disabled and incredibly sick people will have their lives destroyed. 250,000 - 400,000 pushed into poverty. Will cost the country billions.
Anita is ok, so Anita doesn't care.
It’s the Tory way. She’s no different to a Tory voter ‘holding their nose’. We need change, labour will not bring that change they will only offer more of the same Tory policy that’s infected our country since 1979.
It definitely is the Tory way, and I've campaigned against it since before then. And I want decent PR where changing your vote might exert more influence. But despite having more people on the left for much of the last 100 years, what have we got? So be careful how you vote. Protest yes,best you can
Labour aren't remotely on the left. Protest by voting for good people with progressive policies, eg the Greens. Even if you fail, you're no worse off than you are now.
I'm disabled. Their "quiet stuff" will mean nothing to me when they remove half my income. They will kill tens of thousands of us. And they know it. Their policies are drowning migrants, including children. And they know it. What you're doing here is the equivalent of "but Hitler was nice to dogs."
Exactly, their welfare policy is borderline eugenics, it’s not human. Labour are going to harm so many people and these labour voters do not care at all, how disgusting. These people have no morals.
That is dreadful for you and others, if it comes to pass. All I'm saying, is don't make it worse with your vote.
For the first time in my life, I'm fearful for my immediate future, and it's because of the policies of a Labour government. So are a lot of other people I know, for a variety of reasons. Why am I supposed to be worried about the Tories getting back in?
I won't be blackmailed into voting for Starmer's vileness because it might be a sliver less horrible than Farage's, only for Labour to claim vindication and offer even worse choices next time. The only electoral way out of this is to stop voting for things we don't want from fear of something worse.
Labour are the fucking Tories
Green for me. The lib Dems only exist to help prop up the Tories.
Here's the analysis behind those horrendous figures. www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
of improvement and will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected. • We will legislate to protect those on health benefits from reassessment or losing their benefits if they try to take steps to get into work. Disgusting what they be doing to the sick next year
at this lower rate until 2029/30. For those receiving the new reduced UC health element after April 2026, we are proposing that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who have no prospect
We will increase the UC standard allowance for new and existing claims and freeze the rate of the UC health element for those already in receipt at £97 pw until 2029/30. We will reduce the rate of the UC health element for new claims from April 2026 to £50 pw and then freeze
• We will also introduce a new additional eligibility requirement so that a minimum of four points must be scored on at least one PIP daily living activity to focus PIP on those with higher needs. We are consulting on how best to support those that would lose entitlement due to this change. •
Thanks for writing to them. The irony is that I will probably have to stop working when I lose my disability benefits. And like many others who will be impoverished, I'll end up being a greater burden on the NHS and other services. There's a reason they've not done impact assessments on these cuts.
Sorry to hear about losing your benefits, really are bastards this government and the DWP
The only consolation is that it's going to take a year or two to work through the system. But I'm dreading the first winter after the cuts come in.
I don't know what going to happen, going after the young first then the old, using A1 to snoop on bank accounts as well, that will penalize the poor the most, not the gangs who move their bank accounts to avoid prosecution, always the sick and disabled who get hit the hardest the most
Our Green Paper outlines why we think removing the WCA and moving to using the PIP assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, is the correct decision for the reformed system.
• Scrapping the controversial Work Capability Assessment to end the dysfunctional process which drives people into dependency – delivering on the Government’s commitment to reform or replace it. • We will not take forward the previous government’s WCA changes. •
These are the changes we are making to the system – to support sick and disabled people – many of whom want to work – into jobs, while protecting those with the most severe conditions who can never work:
As part of our Plan for Change we're introducing the most far-reaching reforms in a generation, with £1 billion a year being invested to give people the best possible chance with tailored support that can be adapted to meet their changing circumstances - including their changing health.
likely to be in poverty than those out of work. We need to act to end the inequality that sees disabled people and people with health conditions trapped out of jobs, despite many wanting to work, and ensure our welfare system is there for people who need it, now and long into the future.
costing almost a third as much as it does to run the NHS in England while leaving people for years on benefits with no offer of support, no hope of a future in work and no opportunity to improve their standard of living. Working-age adults who are in work are three times less
Also got his reply to my email inquiry, Government responded to “Protect Disabled people who cannot work from planned cuts to benefits” Our welfare system is broken,
I just replied to Labour headquarters asking for a donation in my email box, told them how disgusted i am picking on the vulnerable, i got an automatic reply saying don't answer emails directly, get in touch with Labour headquarters instead, sod them
Just after Labour announced they were taking away my disabilities benefits, I got an email from them asking for a donation because I'd supported them in the past. The air was blue when I read that email.
I just hope my email reply doesn't go back on me, might make it harder for me when i transfer over in a few weeks from ESA to UC, but i had enough of their cruelty and have to speak my mind
Thank you for trying! And good luck with your transfer.
I really wish you’d take the time to view these issues through the MMT lens, George. The ‘efficiency’ argument is bs from conception. Govts in fiat economies have to be effective - efficiency is a luxury that can wait until it’s effective. By cuts, the UK spends less - but saves, literally nothing.
Possibly also dumb economics. If recipients had funds they could spend them. Boosting local high streets. Increasing activity and thereby employment. But Keynesian but this rubbish approach isn’t working.
And loses you elections to an even more cruel party programme.
Labour - economically illiterate.
Growth is only for the already rich, while desperation awaits the poor.
This is what I always thought about the introduction of university fees, and the shift from grants to study loans, in the UK. It's a nonsense because giving X number of students a university education will cost roughly the same, whichever way you fund it. All you do is move from a system where 1/2
that cost is spread equitably according to economic ability (through taxation), reflecting the recognition that the whole of society benefits when the most gifted students are able to study, to one where the cost lands heavily on individuals. The second system is not 'more affordable'! 2/2
Atta boy Starver. Two child cap whilst there's an ever increasing older age group. Just a thought maybe we need a younger population coming through to pay tax, do the jobs once us oldies are flogged to exhaustion.
Check out section 6.2 of The Green Book, which explicitly excludes externalities from consideration. www.gov.uk/government/p...
The point is to be seen to be cruel and performative! Sends out the right messages to their neolib donors and lobbyists. And of course it helps to flatter the Trump regime by mimicking it.
There are no better economic multipliers available to a government obsessed with GDP than to ensure that the poorest citizens are able to spend money to support themselves.
It depends what the goals are. They're only *false economies* if the aim is to cut spending. If the aim is to create more profit for private entities then it's doing exactly what it was designed to.
I had my taste of this, thanks to Thatchers runaway interest rates when my Mum and Dad lost their house after redundancy in the 80s. In a shitty B&B for two years. It is so damaging to those involved and society as a whole. Children dont really get over it.
