Letter from Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has written to UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, calling for an urgent change to the UK Government’s “immoral and reckless” social security reforms.
Ms Somerville welcomed the suggestion by Prime Minister Keir Starmer that cuts to winter fuel payment could be eased, but said this was not enough.
In the letter the Social Justice Secretary said, as below.
I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister announce plans to ease the Winter Fuel Payment cuts in Parliament last week. I am also aware of various media reports suggesting that a change in the UK Government’s two-child limit may be announced shortly. I welcome these developments and recognise that it is a step in the right direction to delivering a more robust Social Security system.
SOCIAL JUSTICE SECRETARY, SHIRLEY-ANNE SOMERVILLE
However, deep concerns remain around the UK government’s damaging social security reforms, including those announced in the ‘Pathways to Work’ Green Paper.
Given the speculation on the reversal or partial reversal of policies on Winter Fuel Payment and Two Child Cap, I call on you to urgently scrap these immoral proposals on disabled benefits.
These plans will only push more into poverty. It is therefore reckless and totally unacceptable for the UK Government to press ahead, not least due to the expected severity of the impact they will have on all our efforts to end child poverty – completely undermining the work of the UK Child Poverty Taskforce.
