Former Labour parliamentary candidate Faiza Shaheen described her mum being hounded over benefit payments and said she was ‘upset and shocked’ over plans to slash billions from welfare
Question Time: Faiza Shaheen calls for more tax for the ‘ultra rich’
A former Labour candidate was cheered on BBC Question Time as she said she was “upset and shocked” over Keir Starmer’s welfare plans.
Faiza Shaheen, who was controversially dropped just before the general election, accused the party of treating benefit claimants like cheats. She fumed: “There’s always money for war, but not for the poor.”
The Prime Minister wants to slash upwards of £5billion from the welfare bill – a move that’s caused a huge backlash among Labour MPs. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is expected to give a major speech next week and publish the Government’s blueprint for change.
It is expected that Personal Independence Payments (PIP) will be frozen next year. Ms Shaheen said: “My own mum, I saw her go through this in the courts under the Tories. She had heart failure. Did she want heart failure? Absolutely not.
“She was in her mid 50s. They came. They harassed her. You know, it was it was absolutely heartbreaking to see. And anyone that knows someone that’s been through that, you know the lack of dignity and underlying this underlying this.
“And I’m so upset and shocked to see this come from a Labour government is an idea that somehow people that are struggling, people that aren’t benefits are all cheating. That’s just not the case.”
Labour Treasury minister Emma Reynolds cut in to say that is not what the Government is saying. Ms Shaheen continued: “That’s the implication for always going for this group of people.
“And honestly, there is so many better ideas on which to raise money. More money.”
The economist called for a wealth tax on people with assets worth over £10million, claiming a 2% levy would raise £24billion. She said: “So I worked with governments around the world actually, that were looking at this.
“And one thing they did was that they were very clear about what the money was going to be used for. They spoke about it in terms of solidarity. And so the public was really behind it. And so the rich knew that there wasn’t really much they could do to and argue against it.”
On Wednesday Labour backbencher Richard Burgon told the PM not to target the “poor and vulnerable” and to instead introduce a tax on the “very wealthiest” people in Britain.
Mr Burgon told Mr Starmer: “Disabled people in my constituency are frightened. And they are frightened because they are again hearing the language of: ‘Tough choices.’
“And they know from bitter experience that when politicians talk about tough choices, it means the easy option of making the poor and vulnerable pay. So instead of cutting benefits for disabled people, wouldn’t the moral thing to do, the courageous thing to do, be to make a real tough choice and introduce a wealth tax on the very wealthiest people in our society.”
In response, Mr Starmer said the Tories left behind a “broken welfare system” and said it was “indefensible” millions of people were locked out of work. “Of course we need to support people who need support and we need to help those who want to work to get back into work – and I think there’s a moral imperative in that.” On a wealth tax, he said the Government had raised money in that area, including with a levy on energy profits, taxing non-doms and air passenger duty on private jets. But he added it wasn’t a “bottomless pit and we must kickstart growth”.
Mr Starmer is facing a backlash from his own backbenchers as the government seeks to cut £5billion from Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – a benefit that helps people with extra living and mobility costs linked to their disability. A leak of the plans suggests ministers are planning to make it harder for people to qualify for the payments which charities have already warned would be “catastrophic”. There are also suggestions payments could be frozen next year so it does not increase in line with inflation.