The News
The UK government announced a major overhaul of the welfare system Tuesday, with sweeping measures aimed at cutting £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030 as it looks to rein in ballooning costs.
The changes, which experts estimate will see more than a million people with disabilities lose thousands of pounds in assistance payments, have been controversial with the Labour Party’s left flank and disability charities.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the welfare overhaul as the biggest shakeup in a generation, saying his party had inherited a system that was “fundamentally broken.”
Critics say the government is pushing through even more severe cuts than those attempted by former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne during years of austerity policies.
Analysts on the political right are also sceptical, albeit for different reasons: An expert from the free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs told the Daily Telegraph that the cuts were ”a flea bite in the context of total welfare spending.”
The UK has seen a rise in health-related benefit claims since the pandemic, though total spending is still similar to its peers.