United Kingdom lawmakers, charities, and human rights groups have slammed the government's plan to make massive cuts to the country's welfare system.
The cuts, which the government calls reforms, were outlined by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall on Tuesday and include measures to get more people off benefits and back into work, and rule changes that will make it harder for people to qualify for sickness benefits in the first place.
Kendall said the country of 67 million people cannot afford to have 9.3 million working-age residents out of work and claiming benefits.
She said 2.8 million of the 9.3 million on benefits are on long-term sick leave, a total that is set to grow to more than 4 million if things stay on the current trajectory.
"This Labour government believes that an active state can transform people's lives," she told lawmakers as she announced the planned reforms.
The government hopes the changes unveiled this week will save the country 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) a year by 2029/30.
The arms-length Office for Budget Responsibility has said the UK spent 64.7 billion pounds on benefits in 2023/24, a total that would rise to 100.7 billion pounds a year in 2029/30 if eligibility rules are not changed.
Pat McFadden, a member of the government's Cabinet, told the BBC it could not "sit back and relax and pretend it's a progressive thing to watch, 2 million, then 3 million, then 4 million people go onto these benefits, many of them never working".
But critics responded by saying the government was planning to make the country's poorest residents pay for its budgetary shortfalls, and that the government should be collecting more tax from wealthy people, not making life difficult for the most vulnerable.
Shami Chakrabarti, a Labour Party member of the UK's second chamber, the House of Lords, said it is "wrong in principle" to cut benefits received by people with disabilities and illnesses.
Labour Party lawmaker Rachael Maskell added: "We need to ensure that people are getting the support that they need in order to be safe and independent".
Fellow Labour Party lawmaker Diane Abbott said the welfare system should be left alone and funded through a 2-percent wealth tax on people with assets of more than 10 million pounds.
And the charity Citizen's Advice also criticized the plan, saying the government seemed to be "pulling the quick and easy lever" to take "money out of the system".
The Mirror newspaper quoted Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, as saying: "It is hard to conceive of a Labour government treating the most vulnerable members of society any worse … cruelty is becoming a hallmark of this government. It is simply indefensible."
Despite the opposition, the proposed changes are sure to become law because the government has a massive parliamentary majority.
