THE single most important task facing every socialist, trade unionist, anti-poverty campaigner, and all progressives up and down the country over the coming weeks is to defeat the cruel cuts proposed to disability support.

These proposals are a disgraceful attack on some of the most disadvantaged and poorest people in our society. They need to be stopped — and they can be.

We have just a few months to build the huge campaign needed so that the government gets the message that, if it doesn’t scrap these plans, it will face a rebellion far larger than it could have ever imagined when it won its majority last year. From demonstrations to lobbies, letter-writing to mass petitions, this campaign needs to involve people in every way they want to speak out against these cuts.

I am confident that together we can force the government to rethink and drop the proposals. There is widespread opposition from within the Parliamentary Labour Party, the wider labour movement and the general public. Millions think it is outrageous that the government has taken the easy option of going after disabled people rather than the real Labour choice of taxing those with the broadest shoulders. Our job is to organise that movement.

Targeting the most vulnerable

The fear caused by these proposed cuts is palpable. I have been inundated with messages from people absolutely petrified about what this will mean for them and their families.

It's no wonder, given the staggering scale of the cuts proposed. Around 800,000 people are set to lose their Personal Independence Payment (PIP), with an average loss of £4,500 per year. That’s nearly £100 per week from people already really struggling.

Let’s be totally clear about what that means. Someone could need help cutting their food, washing themselves, and going to the toilet — and still not qualify for PIP under the new tighter rules. That’s morally unjustifiable.

More widely, over three million families are set to lose an average of £1,720 annually due to the disability benefit cuts. That includes 150,000 carers who will lose out on the support they need to provide vital care for their loved ones.

The impact will be devastating. Altogether, one in five disabled households will be worse off. At least 250,000 more people, including 50,000 children, will be pushed into poverty due to these cuts. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggests the number could be as high as 400,000.

PIP helps get people into work

Ministers claim these cuts are about getting people into work, but that argument falls apart under any real scrutiny. PIP is not an out-of-work benefit, and many PIP recipients are already in work. In fact, it is their PIP payments that allow them to do so.

The reality is that these cuts are about saving money, not about any supposed moral mission to boost the employment opportunities for disabled people.

If the government were serious about supporting disabled people into work, then the emphasis would be on a huge programme to ensure investment in accessible workplaces and transport and work support schemes — not cutting the very payments that enable disabled people to participate in society.

The government is yet to produce any estimates or evidence of how many ill and disabled people will return to work as a result of their proposals. While the Office for Budget Responsibility has revised its unemployment forecast upwards by 200,000 for next year. How can the government claim its plans will help disabled people into work when the economy is expected to lose jobs?

A wealth tax: the real alternative

The government's decision to slash disability support is a political choice — and it is the wrong one.

It has done this in the face of so many alternatives. For example, the government claims these cuts to disability support will "save" around £5 billion per year. But a 2 per cent wealth tax on assets over £10 million would raise £24 billion — over four times as much.

The money is there; it’s just in the wrong hands. Soaring inequality in our economy means it has been boom-time for those at the very top while millions are struggling with spiralling living costs. So, it’s only right that those who have done so well out of our rigged economic system in recent years pay their fair share, rather than attempting to balance the books on the backs of the poor and disabled.

As part of the broader campaign that we need to get as many MPs as possible to oppose these measures, I have launched a new petition calling for a wealth tax instead of disability support cuts. I will present this petition in Parliament before any votes take place. In just a few days, over 30,000 signed the petition, showing the strength of feeling there is.

So, I urge everyone to join me in calling on the government to abandon these cuts and, instead of punishing the poorest, to implement a wealth tax on the very richest.

End the doom loop of cuts

The campaign against these cuts is not only about defending support for disabled people. It is about whether the country is going to stay stuck in a doom loop of cuts that lead to lower growth and stagnant living standards, which are then used to justify even more cuts.

Already, since announcing the cuts to disability benefits, there is speculation that this won’t be enough for the government to meet its self-imposed fiscal rules. More cuts or tax rises will be needed this autumn.

We need to break this cycle if we are to truly improve people's living standards.

If these cuts are forced through, they will not only cause immense suffering but also serve as a recruitment tool for the far right. Reform UK will exploit this anger, posing as an alternative while offering nothing more than the same failed policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us — just as Donald Trump has done in the US. We cannot allow this to happen.

People voted for change at the last election. Rejecting these cuts is a crucial step in securing the kind of change they are crying out for: better public services, an end to our crumbling infrastructure, good, secure jobs, better living standards, and much lower poverty and inequality in one of the world’s richest countries.

The record of previous Labour governments shows that this government could make a real difference in moving towards that society — but to get there we first need to ensure the cuts to disability benefits are thrown into the dustbin of history.

Richard Burgon is the Labour MP for Leeds East. Follow him on X @RichardBurgon.