Disability Committee Criticise Tory Austerity Cuts

The UN committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities met with UK government officials over a two day period recently. The chair of the committee has slammed the welfare cuts to disabled people as a “human catastrophe”.

The austerity measures that have been implemented by the UK government since 2010 have had an impact on welfare benefits and since 2010 many people in receipt of disability benefits such as PIP, ESA and DLA have seen the standard of living they experience fall drastically. The committee have previously criticised the UK government for targeting disabled people with schemes such as the bedroom tax, the work programme and the benefit cap.

Local MP Mhairi Black has praised the comments of the committee and said “this is yet another example that the austerity agenda the tories are inflicting on disabled people does not work”

“They target society’s most vulnerable with cut after cut while spending ridiculous amounts of money on things such as trident and repairing palaces, common sense would tell you that reducing disabled people’s standard of living is the wrong way for the UK treasury to balance the books”

“disabled people need support and the UK conservative government have proved they are incapable of providing it”