Mo Azeem, 40, who has been a Labour member for two decades, said he was planning to leave the party and urged Keir Starmer to U-turn on the cuts to sickness and disability benefits
Mo Azeem found it hard to sleep at night as he waited for news of the government’s reforms to sickness and disability benefits.
The 40-year-old, who is visually impaired, receives around £737-per-month in Personal Independent Payments and £161 a week in Employment Support Allowance.
The benefits help him meet basic living costs, including bills, food and shopping. Azeem also uses some of the support to pay for memberships to enable him to take part in sports such as football and cricket. “Getting out there costs a bit of money,” he said.
But like many disabled people across the country, he is not certain how the changes will impact him financially. And he said recent speculation over the reforms had caused “anxiety and a bit of panic”, adding: “What is going to happen – are we going to lose out on benefits? It’s been stressful. It’s been hard to basically sleep at night at times. When you have to keep listening out for the news and stuff, it’s a stressful wait.”
The Labour member of two decades who lives in Smethwick in the West Midlands is now also planning to leave the party. He said: “A lot of these decisions that they are making… they are not consulting with members of the public, or even us disabled people have not been asked our views and our opinions on the decisions that they are making.
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“To be honest [it is] a bit disgraceful and a bit diabolical really. People should be at least asked ‘how do you feel, what needs to be changed'”. He added: “Some of the decisions are a bit outrageous. I am planning on leaving.”
In a message to Keir Starmer, Azeem said he should now reconsider the cuts to sickness and disability benefits announced this week. “Do what a lot of the PMs or Presidents normally do – make a U-turn. Stop the cuts.”
He added: “They need to rethink. They need to sit back and reconsider the decisions they are making and the decisions that they have made. They need to listen. They need to go out and listen to what the public are saying. Listen to what disabled people are saying and then you can make your decision.”
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Azeem is being supported by disability charity Sense, which said it has seen an “unprecedented” response to the government’s benefit reforms.
Steven Morris, a campaigns officer at the organisation, said: “Thousands of people across the country – disabled and non-disabled – have been in contact with their MP this week to protest the government’s proposed cuts to essential benefits. They share our fear that cuts will push many disabled people further into poverty.”
He added: “There is also a lot of anger surrounding the government’s failure to make the proposal accessible for disabled people to review. People who are blind like me, and those who have other access needs, are left waiting in limbo. And while other non-disabled people can have their say already, those who will be most affected by these cuts have to wait in line.”
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