Stourbridge Labour MP speaks out against Government's welfare plans

Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge, said her own experience of suffering ill health at work told her that the Government was pursuing the wrong course of action.

In March this year, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall presented a consultation paper to parliament, with a view to cutting the welfare bill by encouraging people on sickness and disability benefits back into work.

Miss Eccles said she acknowledged that the benefits system in the UK was broken and campaigned on a manifesto promising to reform welfare and make the system fairer and easier to navigate.

But she said the plan announced by the Government failed to do that, and she would be unable to vote for it in its present form.

"I did not get into politics to make people worse off," she said.

"I came here to improve lives and ensure people do not have the same experience as me. I accept that the cost of welfare is unsustainable and there are too many people not currently in employment, but we cannot fix these things by taking money out the pockets of disabled people. That’s why I cannot vote for these proposals in this form.

"I withheld full judgment following Liz Kendall’s statement to wait for the impact assessment, but inside I knew it did not sit right with me."

Miss Eccles said her views on the reforms were influenced by her own personal experience of suffering ill health at work, which eventually led to me falling into the welfare system in 2017.

"I wanted to remain in employment, and I jumped through all the hoops my employer held up," she said.

"I had recommendations from occupational health for reasonable adjustments in my role, but employers do not have to accept these suggestions if they feel they “do not meet the needs of the business”. 

Miss Eccles said the paper did set out some good plans to get people into work and streamline welfare, but said the measures to make this a reality were not in place.

She said the more stringent criteria to receive Personal Independence Payments (Pip) and changes to Universal Credit which would see ill-health payments restricted only to those aged 22 or over would leave many vulnerable people struggling.

"At the Spring Statement, Rachel Reeves presented an academic budget, packed with figures and percentages that would bamboozle the average citizen, never mind parliamentarians," Miss Eccles said.

"Once I had unpicked it, I realised that not only were the Government ploughing ahead with the ill-thought-out welfare reforms but making further cuts by halting the Universal Credit health element with immediate effect.

"I’ve heard from hundreds of constituents worried sick about what the reforms could mean for them.

"People who are currently in employment thanks to Pip support but would not qualify under the new criteria and therefore fall out of work.

"People who will never be able to work due to disability, are concerned about losing vital benefits. These proposals have bred fear among people who already fight tooth and nail for every bit of support they get."

Writing for the Politics Home website, Miss Eccles said there were other ways that the Government could raise funds without taking support away from vulnerable people.

"Cutting welfare payments before having the support systems in place for everyone concerned is not the way forward," she added

". As the Chancellor said, “the world is changing” – so let’s change the approach and not target those most in need.