Disabled people are terrified of Starmer's welfare reforms

“People are just frightened. There is no sense that the state in Britain is going to support us if we get into trouble. In fact, it’s the opposite.

- JAMES MOORE

This doesn’t look like it’s fundamentally changing under Labour.”

So said a disabled friend of mine as we were chewing the fat. With the government kicking a review into disability “benefits” – the quote marks are because I find it difficult, given my own experience, to see any benefits to being disabled – into next year, I could only nod along. As you can probably guess, it was not a happy conversation.

Why the delay? I think I can answer that. Consider, first, that this is a government that has slipped on just about every banana skin in its path, in stark contrast to, say, Tony Blair’s first Labour administration. There is, therefore, a rather pressing need for Keir Starmer and co to get back on the front foot. So, we have been treated to the PM getting out and about, declaring that “Britain is not working” while promising the “biggest employment reforms in a generation”.

The nation’s jobcentres, or Jobcentre Plus as they are now known, will in future become part of a “National Jobs and Careers Service”. The language is of “help” and “support”. The NHS will be involved in the effort to tackle “economic inactivity” as a result of long-term sickness. Young people are another focus.