HUNDREDS of thousands of Scots face losing £500 every year as a result of Labour’s cuts to disability and sickness benefits, according to analysis from a leading charity.
Trussell, the anti-poverty charity which runs some 1400 food banks across the UK, also told MPs that new claimants for the health element of Universal Credit would be £3000 per year worse off if Labour’s proposed changes go through.
The UK Government is aiming to cut disability and sickness benefits by £5 billion annually by cutting back who is eligible for Personal Independence Payments (Pip), as well as freezing the health element of Universal Credit at the current rate and halving it for new claimants.
The UK Government's own analysis has found that the cuts would push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children.
Labour are facing a major rebellion from more than 120 MPs over the controversial plans, which could be stopped dead if opposition parties unite behind a “reasoned amendment” against the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, which is due to be voted on on July 1.
In a briefing to MPs reported by the Daily Record, Trussell estimated that there are around 300,000 Scots in receipt of the health element of Universal Credit and associated benefits facing cuts.
"All would stand to be affected by the freeze which by 2029/30 amounts to [a] real terms cut of £500 per year,” the charity said.
It further added: “Nine in 10 new recipients to UC health in Scotland from April 2026 will experience a cut of £3000 per year by 2029/30.”
“With over 100 Labour MPs now confirming that they will join the SNP in voting against the cuts if Labour press ahead with them next week, it is imperative that Keir Starmer does yet another U-turn and scraps his plans immediately.
“To press ahead with the cuts would have a devastating impact on families across Scotland, pushing thousands of more people into poverty, and people would never forgive Keir Starmer.”
Speaking from The Hague at a Nato summit on Wednesday, Starmer said he would not back down.
“We have got to make the reforms to our system. It isn’t working as it is,” he said.
“It doesn’t work as it stands for people who desperately need help to get into work or for people who need protection. It is broken.
“We were elected in to change that which is broken, and that’s what we will do, and that’s why we will press ahead with reforms.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has added his voice to the senior figures calling on the Government to reconsider.
He told BBC Newsnight: “When the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] delivers its collective wisdom in such numbers, it is invariably right. And it is right on this.”
His London counterpart, Sadiq Khan, has said ministers “must urgently think again” about the plans, while Labour’s First Minister of Wales Baroness Eluned Morgan has also called for a rethink.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has previously spoken in support of the reforms, but is facing unrest within his group. So far, 10 Scottish Labour MPs have put their names to the reasoned amendment which would block the welfare cuts.
