Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
‘Perverse beliefs’ behind Tory ESA cuts – rebel MP

REBEL Tory MP Stephen McPartland accused his own government yesterday of cutting financial support for the disabled because of a “perverse belief” that the £30 a week keeps people from wanting to work.

Ministers invoked financial privilege on Tuesday night to trip up peers’ bid to block the cut to employment and support allowance (ESA).

David Cameron dodged the issue at Prime Minsiter’s Questions yesterday, when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked why if the economy is recovering are the £30 cuts, hitting some of the poorest disabled people in the country, being pushed through.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
universal credit
Universal credit / 25 November 2025
25 November 2025

DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families

A Universal Credit sign on a door of a job centre plus in east London
Features / 5 July 2025
5 July 2025

The government’s retreat on PIP still leaves 150,000 new universal credit claimants facing halved benefits from April 2026, creating a discriminatory two-tier welfare system that campaigners must continue fighting, writes DR DYLAN MURPHY