Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls says plans to cut disability benefits ‘won’t work’
===================================================================================

Influential Labour figure says cuts ‘not a Labour thing to do’, while George Osborne says when chancellor he resisted move as ‘step too far’



George Osborne, the architect of welfare cuts during the coalition years, also told the same podcast that he had resisted freezing personal independence payments (Pip) – a move currently under consideration – because he felt it was going too far.

Balls, an influential Labour figure who is married to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, hinted that welfare reforms would be hard for the party to stomach in the context of other cuts.

“In it’s one thing to say the economy is not doing well and we’ve got a fiscal challenge, but the context we’re now in is that we are having to increase defence spending and, two weeks ago, it was announced we’re going to cut international aid,” he told the Political Currency podcast.

“But cutting the benefits of the most vulnerable in our society who can’t work, to pay for that, is not going to work. And it’s not a Labour thing to do … It’s not what they’re for.”

Labour MPs have already expressed private concerns that some of the proposed changes go further than Osborne’s cuts under austerity. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Keir Starmer insisted again that his plans did not mean a “return to austerity”.

Osborne, who oversaw billions in welfare cuts during his time as chancellor, said he faced strong opposition to freezing Pip. “I didn’t freeze Pip. I thought \ would not be regarded as very fair. What I did try to do was reform Pip,” he told the podcast.

He said his final budget attempt to reform the generosity of Pip payments, including to those who could do some work, was the final straw that led to the resignation of the then work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith.

“I had to back down on it. And so it’s all very well saying ‘don’t go for the general freeze, it’s not fair’. However, in politics and often for the Treasury, general freezes have been easier to sell than specific reforms that actually cut in cash terms the payments that certain sections of the disability-claiming community received,” he said.

The Guardian understands that under current plans, the bulk of almost £6bn of cuts will come from the Pip, which is not linked to work, and eligibility criteria for the key disability benefit will be tightened, while some payments are expected to be frozen.

Speaking on a visit to Hull on Thursday, Starmer said the current system “can’t be defended on economic terms or moral terms”. He said: “We’ve set up a system that basically says: ‘If you try the journey from where you are into work and anything goes wrong, you’ll probably end up in a worse position than when you started.’”



**Sign up to First Edition**

Free daily newsletter

Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters

Enter your email address

**Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google  and  apply.



**Email Signup Form:**

Enter your email address



The Guardian view on disability benefit reform: the latest proposals are dangerously out of touch
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



**Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google  and  apply.



**Email Signup Form:**

Enter your email address



**Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google  and  apply.

Explore more on these topics

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

**Privacy Notice:** Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google  and  apply.

**Email Signup Form:**

Enter your email address

Email Signup
```