Meeting of the Parliament 23 April 2025
I open this important debate with a message of solidarity: I want all disabled people to know that this Government stands with you in opposing the planned UK Government benefit changes. I hope that everyone here in the Scottish Parliament can come together today to condemn the really callous reforms that aim to save money on the backs of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
It is important that we begin by reflecting on the purpose of social security and on what the duty of the Government is to its citizens. Social security is an essential safety net made available to everyone. The word “everyone” is key, because any of us might find ourselves, at any point in our lives, needing help from that collective safety net if we are unable to get paid work due to sickness, or if we have a disability, with all the extra financial costs that disability brings, or, indeed, because we are caring for a loved one—such care reduces demand on wider health and social care resources.
The Scottish Government’s position stands in sharp contrast to the damaging cuts that are being proposed, and which have begun to be implemented, by the UK Government. It would seem that the UK Government is utterly intent on really unforgivable and stigmatising rhetoric, which is already causing great concern and distress, in particular towards people with mental health conditions and other people who are entitled to help from the benefits system. As we devolved our benefits system, we put so much effort, collectively as a Parliament, into reducing stigma and encouraging people to apply for what they are entitled to. It is deeply disappointing to see the UK Government on a different track.
I have been in politics for a long time now, but I never thought that I would hear Labour ministers referring to people in need of support as “taking the mickey”, and, in the case of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, going on national television and equating disability benefit payments to the “pocket money” that he pays his children. Such reckless language makes life all the harder for disabled people. It increases the barriers to—