‘I don’t know how we will survive’ – fears over benefit cuts and cost of living in chancellor’s Leeds constituency
As Rachel Reeves made her spring statement, opposition to the spending cuts was being spelt out on the ground in her constituency, literally.
The voters of Leeds West and Pudsey sent the chancellor to Westminster with a majority of 12,000 last summer, support she perhaps can no longer take for granted after rewriting spending plans to meet self-imposed rules she can never have intended to break.
In appropriately seasonal sunshine, disability campaigners gathered in the shadow of gold and silver cladding of the city’s John Lewis.
Politics latest: Reeves vows to ‘never’ again deliver budget like last one
On the pavement, one wrote in chalk, “Welfare not warfare”, expressing the disbelief some have at benefits being cut as defence spending goes up.
The chancellor’s cuts are a little more short term than that, a means of balancing the books that may have satisfied the OBR but left campaigners furious.
The cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) are particularly unpopular. The government’s narrative is that cutting these benefits will help push people back to work.
Campaigners like Flick Williams, a wheelchair user, point out PIP is unrelated to employment.
She thinks she will lose at least £100 a week under new assessment rules, with devastating implications.
“I don’t know how we will survive, I absolutely have no idea because I don’t have any luxuries as it is,” she says.
“The whole point of personal independence payment is to fund the additional costs you have for being a disabled person,” adds Ms Williams.
“So, for example, disability equipment like my power chair, it’s extremely expensive. I have a bigger electricity bill because I have to charge my wheelchairs. I have a bath lift which also needs charging, and this equipment wears out.
“The government’s got a funny idea about what incentivises people because, honestly, nobody was ever motivated to go to work or increase their productivity by being pushed into penury.”
‘Everyone hit by cost-of-living crisis’
Welfare recipients are at the sharp end of the spending cuts, but they are not the only ones squeezed by the cost of living.
At the Pudsey Community Project, they see the impact of in-work financial stress, too.
Based in a community hall serving 20,000 households across two wards, they have been operating for five years and have seldom been busier.
The project offers a food bank and food pantry, a contributory scheme where people pay for subsidised goods, along with youth activities, lunch clubs for the elderly and lonely, and a busy clothes exchange.
Children insist on growing, even if the economy does not.
Mr Dimery says the community project is supporting many people who are in work
Director Richard Dimery says demand is steadily growing and senses that need has become entrenched, with the impact of the pandemic compounded by the cost of living.
“I don’t know anybody who’s not been affected by the cost of living crisis,” he says.
“We’ve all become a lot more used to things not necessarily getting a lot better. There haven’t been any quantum leaps of significant improvement, just ongoing costs, a lot of them above inflation.
“One of the reasons our pantry, our food bank, our children’s clothes are all six days a week are because we know a lot of the people we’re supporting are in work, either part-time or full-time.”
Economic growth would solve a lot of the chancellor’s problems, never mind the country’s.
For that, companies like WDS Components need to thrive.
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What Reeves said in under two minutes
Employing 50 people with an annual turnover of around £10m a year, it manufactures myriad parts used in production lines and finished goods.
They stock more than 40,000 lines, from handles and hinges to hydraulics, casters and clamps, in what marketing director Mark Moody calls “an engineers’ candy store”.
Like every other employer, it faces rising costs from higher employment taxes that kick in next week.
It’s the latest in a long line of challenges that has made growth and expansion a tougher proposition.
“Considering we’ve had a pandemic, we’ve had Brexit, global supply chain issues, the Suez Canal and a few wars, we’re doing okay. We’re holding our own with good, modest organic growth, and we’re trying to stay positive,” he says.
“As we try to manage our business, if we’re constantly mitigating increases in costs and the pressures around us, then we’re not as focused on driving the business in really exciting, innovative ways.”
Amnesty International says it is “deeply concerning” that police made 474 arrests during a Palestine Action demonstration in London.
Metropolitan Police said 466 were detained under the Terrorism Act for showing support for a banned group.
Eight more people were arrested for other offences, including five for assaulting officers.
The Met said it was the most arrests it’s made related to a single operation in at least the past decade.
Pic: PA
Organiser of the event, Defend Our Juries, earlier said up to 700 people were at the event in Parliament Square and claimed police were preparing for the “largest mass arrest in their history”.
The group said those arrested included former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, NHS workers, quakers and a blind wheelchair user.
Amnesty International UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said in a statement: “The protesters in Parliament Square were not inciting violence and it is entirely disproportionate to the point of absurdity to be treating them as terrorists.
“Instead of criminalising peaceful demonstrators, the government should be focusing on taking immediate and unequivocal action to put a stop to Israel’s genocide and ending any risk of UK complicity in it.”
The Met said a “significant number of people” at the event were seen “displaying placards expressing support for Palestine Action”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The right to protest is one we protect fiercely but this is very different from displaying support for this one specific and narrow, proscribed organisation.
“Palestine Action was proscribed based on strong security advice following serious attacks the group has committed, involving violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage.”
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Palestine Action supporters arrested at protest
Police said those arrested had been taken to processing points in Westminster and any whose details could be confirmed were bailed on condition they didn’t attend further Palestine Action support events.
Others whose details could not be verified, possibly because they refused to give them, were taken to custody suites across London.
Pic: PA
The protests have put a strain on authorities’ capacity to cope.
Sky News understands senior leaders in the prison service, known as “Capacity Gold”, met today to discuss how to deal with the large number of arrests as the male prison estate is close to full.
It’s understood 800 inmates were moved out of the busiest jails in and around London beforehand.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Federation said: “Thinking of our colleagues and wishing all assaulted officers well. Remember there are no ‘extra’ police officers – just the same ones having their days off cancelled, having to work longer shifts and being moved from other areas. Officers are emotionally and physically exhausted.”
Read more: What does proscribing a group mean?
Legislation to ban Palestine Action came into force on 5 July, making it a criminal offence to show support for the organisation, carrying a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Defend Our Juries said earlier this week the protest would still go ahead, following several similar demonstrations since it was outlawed last month.
On Saturday, a spokesperson said: “Palestine Action and people holding cardboard signs present no danger to the public at large.”
Pic: PA
Human rights advocates Amnesty International described the arrests of so many people under UK terrorism law as “deeply concerning”.
Another march organised by the Palestine Coalition, which is a separate group, set off from Russell Square and assembled on Whitehall.
The Met Police said one person had been arrested there for showing a placard in support of Palestine Action.
Pic: Reuters
Earlier this week, three people charged as a result of illegal Palestine Action activity were named.
Jeremy Shippam, 71, of West Sussex, Judit Murray, also 71, of Surrey, and Fiona Maclean, 53, of Hackney in east London, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 16 September.
The ban on Palestine Action faces a legal challenge in November after the High Court granted a full judicial review to Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori.
Foreign criminals will be deported from the UK immediately after they are sentenced, the justice secretary has said.
The law change proposed by Shabana Mahmood could save taxpayers an average of £54,000 a year per prison place.
The changes would apply to prisoners serving fixed-term “determinate” sentences.
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May: Inside one of Britain’s most overcrowded prisons
Authorities would also retain their power not to deport a criminal but instead keep them in custody – with examples including if an offender is planning further crimes against the UK’s interests or national security.
The justice secretary’s announcement goes further than a change to the law in June – expected to come into force in September – meaning prisoners face deportation 30% into their sentence rather than the current 50%.
The government will need parliament to greenlight its proposal to bring this down to 0%.
Foreign national offenders make up around 12% of the prison population.
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May: Male prison capacity running at 99%
Ms Mahmood said: “Our message is clear – if you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing.”
She added: “Deportations are up under this government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before.”
Almost 5,200 foreign national offenders have been deported since July 2024, a 14% increase on the 12 months prior, according to the government.
Read more:
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Prisoners to be moved to lower security jail
According to a Labour source, the previous Conservative government relied on prison transfer agreements with other countries to deport foreign national offenders, in deals which allow inmates to serve their custodial sentence in their “home” country.
This saw 945 prisoners sent to jails abroad between 2010 and 2023, equal to fewer than two criminals per week.
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July: Jenrick slams justice system shake-up
Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: “In Starmer’s topsy-turvy world, investors are fleeing the country in their droves while record numbers of violent and sexual offenders from abroad are put up in our prisons. It’s a farce.
“Yet again Starmer has refused to confront our broken human rights laws.
“He needs to grow a backbone and change them so we can actually deport these individuals.
“The safety of the British public is infinitely more important than the ‘rights’ of sick foreign criminals.
“If countries won’t take back their nationals, Starmer should suspend visas and foreign aid. His soft-touch approach isn’t working.”
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