A swathe of celebrities including Sir Stephen Fry and Succession star Brian Cox have urged the government to reverse its “shameful” cuts to welfare.
Sir Stephen said the cuts should not be targeted at “the most vulnerable and overlooked of all our population”, while Mr Cox recalled his own experience of child poverty and argued the plans would “have a lasting impact on the lives of so many people already finding it difficult to afford life’s essentials”.
They were joined in their criticism by actor Stanley Tucci, who branded the plans “wrong” and said they would force parents in disabled families to “skip meals so that they can feed their children”.
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The celebrities’ intervention comes after Sir Keir Starmer defended his government’s shakeup to the welfare system, designed to shave £5bn from the disability benefits bill for working-age people, which is set to balloon to £75bn by the end of the decade.
The prime minister has branded the current system “morally and economically indefensible” and said the government cannot simply “shrug its shoulders” and pretend the welfare system is “progressive”.
He told Sky News political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh that he understands why some of his backbenchers are uncomfortable, referencing his late mother, who was “very ill all her life” and brother who recently died of cancer.
But he said it was “morally indefensible that a million young people are going essentially from education on to benefits”.
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“All the evidence shows if young people are in that position and so early in their lives, they’re going to find it really difficult ever to get out of that,” he added.
“There aren’t many people who genuinely argue the status quo is working,” Sir Keir added.
However, the changes to the system – which will make it harder to qualify for the main disability benefit, the personal independence payment (Pip), have drawn strong criticism from charities and thinktanks.
The Resolution Foundation thinktank said the tightening of Pip eligibility would mean between 800,000 and 1.2 million people losing support of between £4,200 and £6,300 per year by the end of the decade.
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The Trussell Trust, which runs food banks across the country, said around three-quarters of the people referred to one of its services live in a household where someone is disabled.
It warned the measures will have a “significant impact on people who are already facing hunger and hardship”.
And Comedian Rosie Jones, who has cerebral palsy, said the cuts will “only deepen the hardship” disabled people are already facing.
“Disabled people are scared of what the future holds if there’s cuts to disability payments, as they are already not enough to cover life’s essentials,” she said.
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A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Our reforms will build a social security system that’s fairer, more sustainable and fit for the future – so it can always be there for those with the greatest needs to live with the dignity and support they deserve.
“Helping people into good work is at the heart of our approach to tackling poverty and inequality, but the broken social security system we inherited is failing people who can and have the potential to work, as well as the people it’s meant to be there for.
“That’s why we’re introducing a new premium and ending reassessments for those who will never be able to work to improve the safety net for them, while delivering a £1bn employment support package to break down barriers for disabled people into work.
“We’re also rebalancing Universal Credit payment levels so the benefit’s main rate rises above inflation for the first time in a boost for working families.”
