{"id":11672,"date":"2017-03-03T17:02:03","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T17:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11672"},"modified":"2017-03-03T17:02:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T17:02:03","slug":"denying-peoples-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11672","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Denying people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disabilities\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The government is standing by proposals to cut \u00c2\u01413.7bn in disability benefits, even as it plans to implement a \u00c2\u01411bn tax break that will predominately benefit the very wealthy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Downing Street defended the plans to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP) earlier this week, saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnobody is losing out\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The government put forward the changes after a court ruled that more disabled people<\/a> were entitled to PIPs, including those suffering from mental health issues, dementia, epilepsy and diabetes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The court\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rulings were dismissed by the head of Theresa May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s policy unit, MP George Freeman, who said on Sunday (February 26) that PIPs are meant for \u00e2\u20ac\u015breally disabled people\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and not those \u00e2\u20ac\u015btaking pills at home\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Freeman later apologised for his comments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speaking about the planned PIP cuts the Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spokesman said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we are doing now is restoring the original intention of the PIPs which was to make sure there was a sustainable benefit to provide continued support to those who face the greatest barrier to living independent lives.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNobody is losing out.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite ratcheting up its austerity<\/a> drive, the government will next month raise the Inheritance Tax threshold from \u00c2\u0141325,000 per person to \u00c2\u0141500,000, at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of \u00c2\u01411bn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Benefit rich <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The tax break will overwhelmingly benefit rich families in Tory held constituencies in the London and the south east, according to research<\/a> commissioned by Labour MP Rachel Reeves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese new figures reveal the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inheritance tax giveaway will only benefit a wealthy elite in London and the south-east at the expense of the rest of the country,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Reeves, who sits on the Treasury select committee.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chair of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national disabilities committee, Sean McGovern, acknowledged the inheritance tax break will benefit some ordinary people in London who have seen the value of their properties rocket because of the housing crisis<\/a>, but said it is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bvery depressing\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to see tax breaks aimed primarily at the rich running alongside funding cuts for the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Tories are denying people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disabilities. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outrageous. By cutting PIP they are encouraging social exclusion and isolation and widening the poverty gap for disabled people,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McGovern said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt the same time they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking after their own group of people at the expense of everyone else. The Tories are, and always have been, a party for the wealthy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government is standing by proposals to cut \u00c2\u01413.7bn in disability benefits, even as it plans to implement a \u00c2\u01411bn tax break that will predominately benefit the very wealthy.   Downing Street defended the plans to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP) earlier this week, saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnobody is losing out\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.   The government put forward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[587,172],"wps_subtitle":"Unite outrage at disability cut plans","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11673,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11672\/revisions\/11673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}