Keir Starmer has denied unleashing a fresh wave of austerity – despite setting out plans that will cut thousands of jobs and slash the benefit bill.
The PM was quizzed after announcing NHS England will be scrapped with the agency now brought back into the Department for Health and Social Care to “cut bureaucracy”.
Next week the Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is also expected to set out billions of pounds in cuts to disability benefits as the government seeks to cut the welfare bill.
It has been reported the government is seeking to cut £5billion from PIP – a benefit that helps people with extra living and mobility costs linked to their disability. The government may also freeze the support next year so it does rise in line with inflation.
Pressed on the moves during a speech on Thursday, the PM replied: “There’s no return to austerity.
“I said that during the election and we’re not going to austerity. I run a public service [as Director of Public Prosecutions] during the years of austerity and I saw what was done in the particular case. Part of the problem we’ve got with our public services is what was done with them a decade or so ago, so we’re not going down that route.”
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