Angry campaigners hit Louth streets to protest against disability benefit cuts

The event was organised on Saturday by the Lincolnshire branch of the nationwide group, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), which has called for national action against the cuts.

The branch said it had “a great reception” in Louth, and member Tamsin Hunkin summed up the mood when she said: “Cutting disability payments will push more people into poverty.

"We are calling for investment in public services to improve health and wellbeing. We need fair policies, based on people’s real lives and human rights.”

The Labour government’s plans, soon to be debated in Parliament, are aimed at saving money, encouraging more disabled people into work and cracking down on so-called benefit cheats.

They target in particular the personal independence payment (PIP), for which the eligibility criteria will be tightened, the health element of the Universal Credit benefit, which will be frozen or reduced, and the work capability assessment, which will be scrapped.

However, the plans have caused widespread outrage among the disabled, who claim they will be a catastrophe for their living standards.

Nick Parker, of Lincolnshire DPAC, said: “The super-rich should pay for the financial crisis, not some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”

Many MPs, including those on the Labour backbenches, say they oppose the cuts, and Saturday’s protesters urged Victoria Atkins, the Conservative MP for Louth and Horncastle, to vote against them in the House Of Commons.

Ms Atkins duly promised her support and issued this response: “The government’s rash plans on disability benefits are ill-thought-through and a reminder of their disastrous decision to slash winter fuel allowance for vulnerable pensioners.

"Labour should have focused on tackling the sickness benefits bill to help more people into work. Instead its reforms will make things worse while impacting some of the most vulnerable in society.

“The government's changes to the winter fuel allowance have seen 1.6 million disabled pensioners lose this financial support. Many more will be affected by the PIP changes.

“I have helped many constituents over the years with their PIP claims and will be demanding answers, and some humanity, from this government before they bring more misery to people’s lives.”

The Lincolnshire DPAC group’s slogan is ‘they say cut back, we say fight back’. It has delivered a statement to Hamish Falconer, the Labour MP for Lincoln, and launched a petition at Change.org as part of its campaign.

The statement says: “Cutting support will not result in more employment. It will result in more poverty, more isolation and a deeper divide between the disabled community and a society that claims to be inclusive.

"The idea that disabled people are simply not trying hard enough to find work is not only harmful, it is also false.

"Many of us work, or try to, against immense barriers. Many volunteer because employment systems cannot, or will not, accommodate us.

"Others are unable to work in traditional employment settings due to complex health needs, but still run businesses around those needs.”

Lincolnshire DPAC feels that if the cuts go ahead, they will “dismantle the very support that enables many of us to remain in work”.

The statement goes on: “Many of us rely on PIP not just to survive but also to work. If Labour intends to strip this support away, how does it propose to enable us to remain in employment?”

The Louth protesters pointed out that a recent rise in disability claims is “a direct consequence of public health decisions taken during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

As a result, many disabled people suffered from chronic illnesses, and to “punish” them now was “unethical and cruel”.

The Lincolnshire DPAC statement even branded the treatment of disabled people as “a form of modern genocide”.

It continued: “During the tears of Conservative rule, it is estimated that more than 330,000 disabled people died prematurely due to punitive government policy and welfare cuts.

"We wept tears of relief when the Tories were voted out. But we are now in shock and horror that Labour proposes reforms that threaten to kill even more of us.

"You must understand the terror felt by disabled people who have lived through the consequences of government indifference and cruelty.”