Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, recently compared Labour’s cuts to disability benefits to reducing his children’s pocket money. As you can imagine, this didn’t go down well.
On BBC’s Politics Live, Jones was defending Rachel Reeves’ significant cuts to the welfare budget when he made the eyebrow-raising comment. His attempt to explain the cuts left many scratching their heads.
💸 The Cuts: What’s Really Happening?
The government is slashing the number of people entitled to Personal Independent Payments (PIP) in a bid to save around £5 billion of public spending. But this move comes at a cost.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), these changes will result in an average loss of £4,500 a year for those on PIP. That’s a lot of money to lose for people already struggling.
🤷♂️ Jones’ Take on the Impact
Jones tried to downplay the potential impact of these cuts. He claimed that the government’s assessment didn’t factor in the extra financial benefits someone might get from additional government funding for training, skills, and work.
To make his point, he compared it to a situation involving his own children. “If I said to my kids, ‘I’m going to cut your pocket money by £10 a week but you have to get a Saturday job,’ the impact assessment would only show them losing £10,” he said.
He then pointed out that the £4,500 loss was an average figure, and he didn’t want people who receive PIP to be “unduly worried” by that.
⚡ Backlash from All Corners
Unsurprisingly, his comments didn’t go unnoticed. Critics quickly fired back, with two MPs, who were previously part of the Labour Party, leading the charge. They weren’t impressed by the minister’s attempt to minimise the cuts’ effects by comparing them to pocket money reductions.
With thousands of people relying on PIP to cover their basic needs, Jones’ comments raised eyebrows and left many feeling frustrated.
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