Prime minister ‘should be ashamed’ after he fails to provide evidence for latest ‘fit for work’ attack

The prime minister has failed to produce any evidence to back up “baseless” and “poisonous” claims in a newspaper article that large numbers of young disabled people are pretending they are not fit enough to work.

Sir Keir Starmer made the comments in an article for The Times, and it follows multiple similar attacks on young disabled people by other politicians and media commentators from both the right and the left.

He suggested in his article that disability benefit fraud was widespread, and he attacked what he described as “worklessness as a lifestyle choice” and said Labour would “never tolerate voluntary worklessness”.

His focus was on so-called Gen Z – those currently aged between about 15 and 30 – who he said were facing a Britain where there was “less breathing space for the joy and self-discovery of youth”.

But he then wrote: “Of course, none of this means Gen Z can opt out of the rights and responsibilities we owe to each other, including the scandal of claiming benefits designed to support people with genuine illness or disability. 

“Make no mistake – worklessness as a lifestyle choice goes against the fundamental ethos of the Labour Party as a vehicle for the aspirations of working people. 

“Our reforms to employment rights are a landmark shift in restoring dignity and security at work. We will make work pay. But we will never tolerate voluntary worklessness.”

But after Disability News Service contacted 10 Downing Street to ask for the evidence behind his claims of a “scandal”, a government spokesperson was unable to provide any.

Mark Harrison, a member of the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance (ROFA) steering group, said the prime minister “should be ashamed of himself”.

He said: “Rather than pushing unevidenced accusations he should be working out how to properly fund benefits and public services for disabled people.”

He said that disability benefits have “the lowest rate of fraud”, with DWP’s own figures showing that fraud by claimants of personal independence payment fell from 0.2 per cent in 2022-23 to 0.0 per cent in 2023-24, while fraud by disability living allowance claimants was estimated to be just 0.1 per cent. 

Harrison said: “None of this war on disabled people is necessary if Labour went after the real cheats – the tax avoiders and evaders and the billionaires just getting richer by the day just for being rich while disabled people are labelled and scapegoated for a crisis not of our making.  

“They should be paying their fair share and Labour should end their phoney war on disabled people.”

Dr Jay Watts, a disabled activist and consultant clinical psychologist, who has played a key role in highlighting the impact of DWP’s actions over the last decade, said the prime minister’s claim that young disabled people were part of a “scandal” of benefit fraud “isn’t just baseless – it’s a calculated ploy to shift blame onto those already failed by austerity and crumbling public services”. 

She said: “The real scandal isn’t people needing support; it’s a political class refusing to admit that low pay, insecure work, soaring living costs, NHS collapse, and gutted social care have driven more young people into illness.”

She said this illness had happened “not by choice, but because chronic stress and strain wear down the body over time, making disadvantage physically embedded, and when they seek help, NHS waiting lists leave them stranded, turning preventable conditions into chronic ones”.

She added: “Disability benefit fraud is statistically negligible, yet rather than address the systemic failures locking young people out of work, Labour peddles the lie that they are choosing not to contribute. 

“This isn’t about ‘voluntary worklessness’, it’s about a government abandoning its duty to ensure young people can live with dignity. 

“Illness thrives in neglect, in shredded safety nets, in a society that punishes vulnerability instead of protecting it. 

“If Labour cared about fairness, it wouldn’t scapegoat a generation without evidence – it would ask why so many are struggling and act to change it.”

The government declined to provide any evidence for Sir Keir’s claims.

Instead, a government spokesperson said: “We have been clear that the current welfare system needs reform, so it is fairer on the taxpayer and people can get the support they need to move into work. 

“Building on our Get Britain Working white paper, we will bring forward proposals for reforming the health and disability benefits system within weeks, and are working closely with disabled people, disability organisations, and people with health conditions so their views and voices are at the heart of our plans.”

Meanwhile, RoFA and other disabled people’s groups and allies have called on disabled people to record video messages explaining how Labour’s “poisonous rhetoric” has impacted them.

They highlighted the efforts of the prime minister, chancellor Rachel Reeves and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall to use the media to “spin the lies about disabled people being benefit scroungers and frauds”.

They said: “This poisonous rhetoric is being used, like the Tories did over the last 14 years, to justify attacking our rights and cutting our benefits. 

“Tell us what the impact has been on you and your family and loved ones.”

As well as RoFA, the campaign is led by groups including Disabled People Against Cuts, the UK-wide coalition of disabled people’s organisations monitoring the implementation of the UN disability convention, and the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Harrison said: “This campaign has been initiated because of the trauma caused by the constant pernicious rhetoric from Labour framing disabled people as benefit scroungers and cheats.  

“This is creating mental distress on a massive scale.  

“Labour were elected because people had had enough of austerity and failing public services and demanded change.   

“After 14 years of a Tory war on us, Labour have come to power but have carried on where the Tories left off by adopting their policies and austerity budgets.  

“This would be bad enough, but they have also stepped up the attacks.  

“They refuse to invest in social care, and children’s and mental health services.  

“They have also adopted the Tory target of saving £3 billion from disabled people’s benefits – hence the blaming, scapegoating and gaslighting by Starmer, Reeves and Kendall, reminiscent of Cameron and Osborne 15 years ago.    

“It also coincides with millions of disabled people being forced on to universal credit where they will lose thousands of pounds a year in benefits and be subject to conditionality and sanctions, and is on top of the fear being caused by the assisted dying bill passing through parliament.

“Disabled people are angry and we are putting Labour on notice that we are going to fight them all the way.  

“We will challenge them on the streets, on social media, in the courts and at the United Nations.”

Credit for this article goes to the Disability News Service