Campaign for Disability Justice, launched by Inclusion Barnet, has been campaigning against benefit cuts ahead of tonight’s vote reports Sophie Mitchell

Campaign for Disability Justice deliver its letter to Downing Street – (Credit – Campaign for Disability Justice)

Barnet’s Labour MPs were all expected to back the government tonight in a vote on controversial benefit reforms after a charity took its message on the bill to Downing Street.

Campaign for Disability Justice, which was launched by Barnet charity Inclusion Barnet in September, delivered an open letter to the prime minister yesterday, which included thousands of signatures and their response to the government consultation on planned cuts to disability benefits.

Campaign for Disability Justice has been of the campaigns putting pressure on the government in opposition to the cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and other health and disability-related support, which chancellor Rachel Reeves’ had originally intended to deliver savings of £5bn a year by 2030. The campaign has played a significant role in organising disability rights groups across the UK in protest against the cuts.

Following opposition from many of its own MPs, the government has been attempting to revise proposals that would have made it much harder for people who have difficulty completing everyday tasks to claim PIP, while freezing or reducing other benefits.

Campaign for Disability Justice has criticised the fact that the original legislation was not developed in consultation with disabled people, and pointed out the harm it could cause to disabled people that rely on the payments.

Caroline Collier, CEO of Inclusion Barnet, said: “This campaign is led by and for disabled people, and we understand first hand how vital this issue is. The growing scrutiny from MPs proves that collectively, our voices are being heard.”

As part of the concessions, the government has put forward a plan to review the PIP assessment process with input from disability advocacy groups, many of which have criticised the process.

The Department for Work & Pensions’ impact assessment estimated that 250,000 people in the UK would be put into relative poverty as a consequence of the reforms in their original form. The 2021 census recorded 12.8% of Barnet as being disabled as defined by the Equality Act.

However, without reform, the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated that health-related benefits will cost an extra £30bn by 2029.

Despite the initial offer of changes to the bill, the government is continuing to negotiate with Labour MPs to avoid a defeat which has the potential to humiliate Keir Starmer’s government just one year into its existence.

Barnet Post approached the borough’s four MPs – Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet), Sarah Sackman (Finchley and Golders Green), David Pinto-Duschinsky (Hendon) and Catherine West (Hornsey and Friern Barnet) – for comment on their positions ahead of tonight’s vote – and they have not responded at time of publication.

None of them have publicly opposed the reforms and all are expected to vote with the government tonight.

Discussing the proposals in a recent interview, Sackman told Barnet Post: “I expect that what the package of reforms will bring forward is a balanced proposal to target the resource where it’s most needed.”

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