{"id":82958,"date":"2025-06-09T07:40:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T06:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=82958"},"modified":"2025-06-09T07:40:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T06:40:41","slug":"does-reeves-care-abiut-real-people-who-are-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/06\/09\/does-reeves-care-abiut-real-people-who-are-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Reeves care about real people who are suffering?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As The Guardian<\/a> notes this morning:<\/p>\n

\n

Disability benefit cuts planned by the UK government will disproportionately impact the lives of people in Wales, campaigners have said.<\/p>\n

Research released by the data analytics company Policy in Practice<\/a> last week estimated that 190,000 people \u2013 6% of the population \u2013 could have their incomes slashed by up to 60% by the end of this parliament if eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip) is tightened as proposed in a March green paper.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They\u00a0 add:<\/p>\n

\n

The proposals, which are still at the consultation stage, would further compound poverty and exclusion for disabled people in Wales<\/a>, according to the chief executive of Disability Wales, Rhian Davies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He then added:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just individuals who will be out of pocket, entire communities will be affected. Our survey of members showed that people are angry and terrified and some reported suicidal thoughts, which is very concerning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must address the systemic failures that keep disabled people out of work and public life before we start looking at reforming the benefits system.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This, I think, is correct.<\/p>\n

Rachel Reeves will, this week, focus on numbers and techniques.<\/p>\n

She will make grand claims about sums to be invested. We have no idea whether that will be true or not.<\/p>\n

She will talk about forcing pension funds into private equity investment, as if increasing speculative risk that has no relationship with actual wealth generation is of value.<\/p>\n

And she will claim that the country cannot afford more than a few more missiles and a little extra for the NHS, precisely because she has never bothered to find out how the economy actually works.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, to return to the Guardian article:<\/p>\n

\n

About 900,000 people, or 27% of Wales\u2019 population, live with a disability, according to Public Health Network Cymru \u2013 higher than the UK average of 22% \u2013 and 11% of working-age people, compared with 7% in England.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If they are not better off this week, and if children are not better off, and if those who care for children and those with disabilities are not better off, then Reform will exploit Labour's failure, even though we known full well that there is nothing that they would do about solving any known issue.<\/p>\n

This is the reality of what Labour will do this week and what it will face as a consequence. If it does not care, and all the signs are that it will not, then it faces electoral humiliation, and we have the prospect of neo-fascist government at least as bad as that which Trump is pursuing in the US, and maybe worse.<\/p>\n

Do I think Reeves cares?<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

I don't think she cares about Labour.<\/p>\n

Nor do I think she cares about people who are suffering in the UK, wherever they might be. There is not a hint that she does. She gets her kicks from managing funds. The reality of life is not for her. And that is why, as an extreme centrist, she is a profound threat to us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As The Guardian notes this morning: Disability benefit cuts planned by the UK government will disproportionately impact the lives of people in Wales, campaigners have
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,204,35,147,118,128,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corruption","category-economic-justice","category-economics","category-inequality","category-labour","category-nhs","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82958"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82961,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82958\/revisions\/82961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}