DPAC says ‘this is just the start’, after protest over ‘vile and cruel’ benefit cuts outside Downing Street

Disabled people have spoken of their anger, frustration and fear – and sense of betrayal by the Labour government – over plans to cut billions of pounds from disability benefits, as they protested outside Downing Street yesterday (Wednesday).

Estimates suggest more than 1,000 disabled people and allies chanted outside the Downing Street gates or listened to speeches across the road, on the other side of Whitehall.

They later marched down Whitehall and past the Houses of Parliament, just as chancellor Rachel Reeves was delivering a spring statement that confirmed more than £4.5 billion in cuts to personal independence payment (PIP) and £3 billion in cuts to the health element of universal credit (see separate story).

The protest was organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Inclusion London and Stop the War Coalition, and supported by many other grassroots groups and unions, while other protests took place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with reports of 100 protesters in Newcastle, a similar number in Cardiff,  and more than 100 in Norfolk. 

DPAC said it may have been its largest and most successful protest ever.

But it was, DPAC said last night, “just the start of our fightback” against the “deadly and disgusting cuts”.

Among those protesting, Clare Williams, a lecturer at Kent Law School, told Disability News Service (DNS) that she felt “anger and frustration that we are seeing this under a Labour government”, and she called on ministers to work with disabled people’s organisations, “think again”, and halt the cuts.

She said: “Tens of thousands of people are scared about how they are going to survive.”

Abi Palmer, from south London, said she was “terrified” about the cuts.

She said: “I rely on PIP to survive. PIP is the only thing that allows me to stay in work.

“When Labour came in, it was not a Labour government I would have voted for, but I thought, ‘Thank god I will not be a target anymore, there will not be this vitriol and hatred against people like me,’ but lo and behold it is worse than ever.”    

She said PIP was “the bare fucking minimum” disabled people need to cope with the barriers they face.

She said she was surprised at how many disabled people had attended the protest. 

“I know how much it is costing people’s bodies to be here. I have talked to people who will be knocked out for a week or a month, but this is important.”

Alimamy Bangura, a disabled refugee and a member of the Manchester-based human rights organisation RAPAR, said he was “so worried” about the planned cuts.

He told DNS: “I want to work, but I am not able to work because of my health restrictions.

“We should not be treated like this.”

He was one of the disabled activists who travelled to Geneva last March to hold the last Conservative government to account over its failure to make progress after being found guilty of “grave and systematic violations” of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2016, mostly around its own cuts and reforms to disability benefits.

Bangura said: “There was nothing about benefits in the Labour manifesto.

“I campaigned for Labour, but I will never vote for them again.” 

Joel, another PIP recipient, said the government would create more barriers to work – not less – by cutting disability benefits.

He said: “I am worried about how it might affect my ability to get into work.

“They are treating disabled people as if they are lazy. It’s a bizarre accusation but that is what is implied by the words of the government.”

Susie Bannister, a wheelchair-user from Surrey, said her concern about the cuts to disability benefits “keeps me up at night”.

She said: “It’s not just the person being impacted, wider society will be impacted.

“Some of us can’t physically work but are able to volunteer. There are a lot of disabled people who volunteer.”

Chris, a wheelchair-user, said he had looked at the government’s planned reforms and believed he would lose the daily living part of his PIP when the cuts come in and his PIP is reviewed, although he said “it will hurt a lot of people worse than it will me”.

Zeek, who receives PIP, and is a member of London Renters Union, told DNS: “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have PIP.”

He added: “The cuts will make things worse for disabled households. It will push people into homelessness.

“It’s going to kill people.”

Zeek is on an NHS waiting-list, and he said he cannot even consider working until he receives the treatment he needs.

John McDonnell, the former Labour shadow chancellor, who has supported DPAC for nearly 15 years and is currently sitting as a suspended Labour MP, told protesters: “It’s not austerity for the rich, it’s austerity for people living in poverty, for disabled people.”

He said the battle over PIP would “be won on the streets, like this”.

Disabled actor Cherylee Houston told DNS she was “angry and really upset and hurt” by the government’s cuts, which she said would lead to disabled people being left “prisoners in their own homes”.

She had said earlier: “PIP is used by many of us to stay in work and cover the extra costs that disability causes. 

“My community is terrified that the government is taking away the most basic support that those most in need rely on.

“It makes no sense to take away the basic supports that enable disabled people to contribute to society. 

“These cuts will trap more people in poverty.

“I am already hearing from friends that they fear they will no longer be able to work if these cuts go ahead.”

Natasha Hirst, president of the National Union of Journalists, and herself a disabled activist, told the protest: “These cuts will kill.”

She said: “These proposals will take away vital financial support from disabled people, without addressing the discrimination, abuse and exclusion that we experience in our daily lives.

“These cuts are a political choice, not a necessity. We expected this treatment under a Conservative government, but not from Labour.

“This is a vile and cruel attack on disabled people that will ultimately bring harm to everyone.”

Linda Burnip, co-founder of DPAC, said before the protest: “Labour should be ashamed of their proposed cuts which will push disabled people into even greater poverty and destitution and cause many more to kill themselves. 

“Disabled people will not allow themselves to be made scapegoats for Robber Reeves’ cuts while millionaires remain untouched by cuts.”

Credit for this article goes to John Pring with the Disability News Service