LESLEY Riddoch has torn into Labour's "demeaning" plans to cut benefits on the BBC's Question Time programme.
Appearing on Thursday's programme in St Andrews, the journalist and National columnist said that society has become more "precarious" and "adversarial" as she hit back at Labour's "unnecessary" plans to make it harder for people with disabilities to access benefits.
Riddoch appeared on the programme alongside Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Scottish Conservative MP Andrew Bowie and Reform UK councillor Thomas Kerr.
Shortly after the programme was broadcast, the UK Government announced it had partially U-turned on its proposals in a bid to win over more than 100 Labour rebels who were set to block the bill from passing.
In a late-night letter to MPs, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed that people who currently receive the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) disability benefit would be exempt from planned cuts to eligibility, while all current recipients of the Universal Credit health element – and any new applicants meeting the "severe conditions criteria" – will have their incomes protected in real terms.
However, new claimants from November 2026 will still be subject to these changes in eligibility requirements, leading critics to condemn the decision as creating a "two-tier" welfare system.
During a segment of the programme debating why Labour is cutting welfare and increasing defence spending, Riddoch told the Question Time audience: "There's been a 25% increase in the number of people committing suicide, dying of alcohol, of, of drugs since before Covid.
"This is not like a snowflake generation. This is serious, serious mental health issues which I think are also related to a dog-eat-dog adversarial society where people are in precarious renting situations, precarious jobs. Everything's precarious that for my generation was not.
"So you put that all together and you get, if you're unfortunate enough to be on Universal Credit, £100 a week. I'd like to see people managing on this.
"For sure, this all needs to be looked at again, but in terms of the kind of benefits that Britain gives compared to other countries across Europe, we're still bumping along at the bottom."
Riddoch added: "This seems to me to be a completely unnecessary attack on people who have got no capacity to come back and argue about this.
"It's demeaning to end up being allocated points according to whether or not you can basically wash your undercarriage or not, because that's what it's coming down to.
"I cannot believe that anybody who stood in any way as a socialist could possibly be looking at this as a viable solution to anything."
Meanwhile, Somerville hit out at the Scottish Labour leader's continued support for the welfare cuts, even with one third of Scottish Labour MPs expressing their opposition.
Addressing Sarwar directly, she said: "You can try and make this up as you go along, but you have for months, for months talked about your support for Keir Starmer on this issue.
"Labour's own policies, which Anas in the past has defended, has meant that 250,000 people will get put into poverty, a Labour Government pushing 50,000 children into poverty.
"That's why we've taken the decision not to do this in Scotland, because let's be very clear – this has nothing to do with helping people into work.
"Adult Disability Payment, or PIP as it is in the rest of the UK, is a benefit that's there to ensure that the additional costs you have from being disabled or having a long term condition are assisted with. That's what it's about.
"And actually, what the disabled people's organisations say, is if you cut that you're going to hamper people from getting to work.
"The irony is we're going to have a Labour Government cutting money from disabled people, and what will happen? They'll struggle more to get into work, the pressure will build on our NHS, pressure will build on social care.
"This will not deliver £5 billion worth of savings, even if (Keir) Starmer, with Anas's support, goes ahead with it."
When asked by host Fiona Bruce if she was "happy" to see the welfare bill also increasing north of the Border, Somerville said: "Well what we've set up in Scotland all along is you have to have a robust social security system, but it is an important safety net for people."
Bruce interrupted: "Ok, but that's not answering the question. Would you like to see reforms and cuts to the size of the welfare bill here in Scotland?"
Somerville responded: "Well, with respect, it is answering that question, because we have to have a system that supports people who need it, so I will not support cuts if it takes away from the vulnerable.
"I am happy that we have a Government that has the backs of disabled people, unlike Labour."
