‘What was the point?’ Starmer grilled on real-life impacts of disability benefits cutsProtesters have disrupted proceedings in the House of Lords demanding the abolition of the unelected chamber and carrying leaflets reading “Aristocrats and oligarchs: Out.”A group of around half a dozen people in the public gallery threw leaflets, shouted and sang during the demonstration at noon on Thursday.The protest came amid moves at Westminster to reform the Lords by ousting hereditary peers. Meanwhile, UK interest rates have been held at 4.5 per cent by the Bank of England (BoE) with another cut to borrowing costs unlikely, amid mounting global uncertainty. While the interest rate is still expected to fall further over the remainder of the year, only two further cuts are now expected across 2025 amid an ongoing battle with inflation, rising costs for businesses and an uncertain wider economic outlook, partly due to Trump’s threat of tariffs. It comes as reports suggest Rachel Reeves is set to announce the biggest spending cuts since austerity in her spring statement next week. Having reportedly ruled out tax rises, Ms Reeves is set to tell MPs her plans next Wednesday, with experts warning fresh cuts would hit vital public services, a week after her party slashed the welfare bill by around £5 billion.Labour’s welfare ‘reforms’ are nothing of the sort – and they don’t go anywhere near far enoughWhen I resigned from David Cameron’s government as the secretary of state for work and pensions in 2016, welfare stood at £61.6bn. By the end of this parliament, it is projected to be £108.7bn. Sickness benefit alone, which was £19bn back then, is set to rise to £32bn. So it is with disability benefit, which is set to rise from £11bn to some £31bn. To govern is to choose. Against the backdrop of an increasingly unsafe world, the need to invest significantly more in defence, and a flatlining economy, further reform of welfare is a necessity.The pandemic response has hit the welfare budget hard. The rise in sickness benefit claims poses a challenge to the government, particularly because some 60 per cent of claims since Covid are from mental health issues. The majority of these are for depression and anxiety. The health department has declared that the best treatment for depression and anxiety is going back to work. That is why, as sickness benefit moves into universal credit, the possibility of large-scale reform opens up for the government.Read the full opinion article here from Iain Duncan-Smith: Holly Evans20 March 2025 14:49Welfare system overhaul does not amount to cuts, insists Scottish Labour leaderAnas Sarwar has denied that Labour’s decision to slash £5 billion a year from the welfare budget amounts to cuts.The Scottish Labour leader rejected claims – including from within his own front bench – that the benefits system overhaul amounts to austerity because overall spending on welfare is still set to increase.He said it is right that the UK Government focuses on encouraging more people into work and he criticised the Scottish Government for an “inefficient” benefits system north of the border which he said had wasted tens of millions of pounds.UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Tuesday £5 billion worth of proposed welfare changes, largely stemming from a big reduction in support for those off work due to disability and ill health.Around a million people are expected to lose their disability benefits as part of the welfare overhaul, experts believe.Speaking to reporters at Holyrood, Mr Sarwar denied the move amounts to cuts, and he said it will not come into effect this year.Told the UK Government is cutting the welfare budget by £5 billion, he said: “No, you’re wrong actually because currently welfare spending across the UK is £50 billion, and the new proposals will mean it’s projected to be £64 billion.”Holly Evans20 March 2025 14:44Starmer says EU’s increase in defence spending gives opportunity for joint work Sir Keir Starmer has said there was scope for greater co-operation with the European Union after Brussels’ plans to increase defence spending would block the money being used to buy from UK arms firms.The Prime Minister told Sky News: “I’m very pleased that the EU is signalling their intent to spend so much on defence.“I’ve been making the argument, as others have, that all of us in Europe need to step up, not just in relation to Ukraine, but more generally, in our own collective self-defence.“That does mean more spend, more capability, more co-ordination, and I want to have those discussions with our European allies. We’re continuing those discussions with them, because I do think the scope for more joint work is here.”Sir Keir Starmer with defence secretary John Healey More
