UK government accused of 'contempt' after sole PIP cuts meeting in Wales cancelled
UK government accused of 'contempt' after sole PIP cuts meeting in Wales cancelled
No impact assessment has been made public about how many people in Wales would be impacted by the changes and the decision to cancel the only event scheduled in Wales has been labelled 'unforgivable'
The UK Government has shown "contempt" for Wales by cancelling the single public consultation event there about its planned changes to PIP and Universal Credit.
A single event for Wales was organised for the Mercure Hotel in Cardiff North, but it has now been cancelled and no replacement organised. In March, the UK Government announced proposals to change eligibility for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Universal Credit. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced major changes which will affect people claiming welfare payments saying there was both a "moral and economic" argument to reform the benefits system and that many people wanted to get back into work but needed help to do so.
They say the changes will save £5bn.
Despite repeated request from journalists and their political counterparts in Wales, no impact assessment has been made public by the UK Labour government about how many people in Wales would be impacted by the changes.
There has been huge opposition with concerns about how people would be pushed into poverty by the proposals.
Article continues below
The UK impact assessment shows:
3.2m families – some current recipients and some future recipients – will financially lose out as a result of this package with an average loss of £1,720 per year compared to inflation
370,000 current recipients to lose entitlement to PIP and 430,000 future PIP recipients who do not get the PIP they would otherwise have been entitled with an average loss of £4,500 per year
250,000 people could be pushed into relative poverty, including 50,000 children, after housing costs
You can read the data we have about that here.
Protesters, angry at the changes, and who say the out-of-town location meant it was inaccessible for many people, instead met in Cardiff Central to protest.
Plaid Cymru Senedd member Sioned Williams said the decision to cancel the sole consultation event showed contempt for Wales. She said: "It's unforgivable that the UK Government's one and only in-person consultation event in Wales on the proposed disability benefit cuts, which we know are going to push thousands more families and children into poverty has been cancelled.
"It's contemptuous and yet another sign that Wales' voice doesn't matter to those in power at the UK level.
"I would urge the First Minister, on behalf of the people of Wales, to use her good office, to ensure interested parties can take part in the consultation as is their democratic right and as is morally correct".
It is understood the Welsh Government has asked the UK Government to rearrange the consultation event.
A spokesman for Disability Rights UK said: "Welsh disabled people have a right to be completely outraged by the DWP's cancellation of the only consultative event in the country. 90% of people in Wales who claim the standard rate of Personal Independence Payment could lose money from these cuts, yet the DWP doesn't even want to speak to them.
Article continues below
"Last month, we had to write to the secretary of state because we believed that this consultation was sham-like. Today's events prove us right. How is it democratic for the DWP to be operating like this? These changes will affect millions, but the government is treating them like a foregone conclusion – undermining our basic democratic rights as disabled people. If I were a Welsh MP, I'd be very worried about disabled voters, friends and family and I wouldn't be putting my faith into supporting a department that is operating like the DWP is right now. We hope they all take this as yet another reason to vote against these dangerous cuts."
The Department for Work and Pensions was contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
26 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Polling opens in Holyrood by-election that Swinney says is ‘two horse race'
Polling stations are now open in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse seat following a high profile campaign dominated by the rise in support for Reform. The by-election is taking place following the death of the SNP MSP Christina McKelvie, who had been receiving treatment for breast cancer. Today is polling day in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. @KatyLoudonSNP has shown she would be an outstanding MSP. This is now a two-horse race between @theSNP and Farage.#VoteSNP to stop Farage and for a better Scotland. Vote Katy Loudon. — John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) June 5, 2025 She had held the seat since 2011, winning it comfortably in the 2021 Scottish election with a majority of 4,582 over Labour. But SNP leader and Scottish First Minister John Swinney has said it is now Reform UK that are the main threat to his party there – claiming the contest is a 'two horse race' between the two parties. Mr Swinney, who has made several campaign visits to the area, has spent much of his time attacking Nigel Farage and his party. Reform have also come under attack from Labour, with a furious row prompted by an online ad which alleged Scottish leader Anas Sarwar would 'prioritise' the Pakistani community. Labour have branded that 'racist', but as the war of words between the parties escalated, Mr Farage used a rare visit to Scotland earlier this week to accuse Mr Sarwar of 'sectarian politics'. It's polling day! Great opportunity to show the momentum we have, vote @CllrRossLambie and @reformparty_uk Vote Reform. Get Reform — Reform UK Scotland (@ReformUKScot) June 5, 2025 Mr Sarwar still insists his party's candidate Davy Russell can win the seat, despite him coming in for criticism over his failure to take part in a TV debate. Speaking on Wednesday, the Scottish Labour leader branded Mr Farage a 'pathetic, poisonous little man'. Hitting out at his rivals Mr Sarwar said: 'Reform have chosen a campaign of dirt and smear, the SNP have lacked all ambition, the best they can offer is 'vote SNP to stop Farage'.' Stop SNP waste. Stop SNP incompetence. Stop SNP failures. Elect the local champion that can beat them. Vote Scottish Labour. — Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) June 4, 2025 Mr Swinney however was adamant that people needed to vote for SNP candidate Katy Loudon if they wanted to 'stop Farage'. The First Minister insisted: 'People face a simple choice in this by-election. 'They can either vote for the SNP – elect an SNP MSP – or they will end up with a Reform MSP. That's the simple choice.' The election comes as polls show a surge in support for Mr Farage's party in Scotland. While Reform have not yet won an election north of the border, one poll last month suggested they could come in second to the SNP in the May 2026 Holyrood elections. Polls are open in the constituency till 10pm, with the result expected to be known in the early hours of Friday morning.
The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
Forcing rich pensioners to pay back winter fuel allowance would be tax ‘nightmare', Reeves warned
Questions have been raised over Rachel Reeves ' winter fuel U-turn after it emerged the government plans to reinstate the payments for all pensioners before attempting to claw it back from millions through higher taxes. The chancellor is expected to set out Labour 's plans to reverse the controversial policy change at Wednesday's spending review, but fresh questions have been raised over how the government will distribute the payments. Reports suggest Ms Reeves will from this autumn restore the grants, worth up to £300, to the 10 million pensioners who had lost out. But only those in the bottom half of average incomes will keep the payments, with the top half of earners forced to repay the grant through higher tax bills over the course of the year. One option for the threshold at which pensioners are eligible is average household disposable income, currently around £37,000, The Times reported. Such a plan would resemble George Osborne's high income child benefit charge, which sees 1 per cent of total child benefit received taxed for every £100 earned over £60,000. It means that, over whatever threshold Ms Reeves sets for the payments, an amount will be clawed back from those on higher incomes. The plans could cost around £700 million, with the chancellor vowing to set out her plans to pay for the change at her autumn Budget. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said the plans 'would be an administrative nightmare and would be likely to draw in many more pensioners into the tax system'. He told The Independent: 'The most cost effective solution is to restore the universal benefit and maybe fiddle around with the higher tax threshold in due course to target 'the millionaires'.' Mr Reed accused the government of 'casting around for ways to show it has not made a complete U-turn while gaining the political credit for doing so'. It comes after pensions minister Torsten Bell said there is no prospect of the winter fuel allowance being restored universally. He said: 'The principle I think most people, 95 per cent of people, agree, that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we're not going to be continuing with that.' Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested in one of its first acts after taking office. Speaking in Manchester on Wednesday, Ms Reeves said: 'I had to make decisions last year to restore sound public finances, and that involved a number of difficult decisions around welfare, taxation and also public spending, including the decision to means-test winter fuel payments so only the poorest pensioners, those on pension credit, got it. 'But we have now put our public finances on a firmer footing. The economy is in a better shape, but we have also listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means-test. 'So we will be making changes to that. They will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter, and we'll announce the details of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.'
Powys County Times
43 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Badenoch to launch review examining whether UK should pull out of ECHR
Kemi Badenoch is expected to set up a review that will look into whether the UK should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. The commission will examine whether Britain should pull out of a series of agreements, it is understood. It comes ahead of a speech Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch is expected to make on Friday. The ECHR was a dividing issue in last year's Conservative leadership election, with Mrs Badenoch's rival Robert Jenrick championing the idea that Britain should pull out. Mrs Badenoch has stopped short of calling for the UK to leave, but in February she suggested that the UK would 'probably' have to withdraw from the convention if it stops the country from doing 'what is right'. She told a London event: 'When it comes to the ECHR, I have always been very clear that the ECHR should not stop us from doing what is right for the people of this country and what is right in our national interest. 'And if it continues to do so, at some point we will probably have to leave. 'What I have not agreed with is deciding that we should leave without having a plan for what that looks like and how to do so in a way that makes sense.' The Convention's Article 8 – a right to a family life – has been notably used by foreign criminals to avoid deportation from the UK. The Government's immigration white paper released last month promised legislation to 'strengthen the public interest test to make it clear that Parliament needs to be able to control our country's borders and take back control over who comes to, and stays in the UK'. Sir Keir Starmer said at the time that the 'the right balance' needed to be made between individual rights and 'the national interest'.
