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Category - coalition government

  • 17 Jan 2012
    Live blog on disability benefit debate

    Patrick Butler, Society Editor at the Guardian, has done a splendid job in providing rolling coverage of the report stage debates in the House of Lords on the Welfare Reform Bill. He is again coordinating a live blog today (17 January 2012).

  • 17 Jan 2012
    The real scandal of welfare

    In their campaign to build support for welfare reforms, ministers have frequently said that the main cause of child poverty is worklessness.

  • 17 Jan 2012
    Welfare reform: what needs to happen next

    Writing in The Guardian, Declan Gaffney, former policy advisor to the previous Mayor of London and to the previous government, has written in a personal capacity about what is at stake in the continuing struggle over disabled rights and the Welfare Reform Bill.

  • 17 Jan 2012
    Charities ask government to pause and rethink on welfare reform

    A coalition of charities is calling on the Government to pause the Welfare Reform bill and carefully consider its reform of Disability Living Allowance.

  • 17 Jan 2012
    Asking the Lords to make welfare reform fair and safe

    Yesterday I went to meet the "Amendment Lords" ahead of today's crucial votes in the second chamber, where the Welfare Reform Bill (WRB) debate moves from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), the income replacement benefit for people with work-limiting conditions, to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which is intended to help with the extra costs people incur as a result of severe disability.

  • 12 Jan 2012
    Praise for groundbreaking #spartacusreport campaign

    "One of the most fascinating things about the government's wobble on welfare this week has been the critical role of a new breed of disability campaigner in successfully marshalling public and political opposition to the reforms." writes Patrick Butler, Head of Society, Health and Education at the Guardian, today.

  • 12 Jan 2012
    Mr Grayling, is the Welfare Reform Bill really affordable?

    The UK government will press ahead with controversial welfare reforms, according to employment minister Chris Grayling. As a result of powerful evidence from disabled people and their supporters, including the ‘Responsible Reform’ report, several aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill were defeated in the House of Lords on 11 January 2012.

  • 12 Jan 2012
    Welfare Reform Bill: Key issues for disabled and sick people

    The extraordinary triple victory on specific benefit issues in the House of Lords on 11 January 2012 has raised questions for a number of people about the larger situation regarding the Welfare Reform Bill. Some of the bill might be helpful, but I want to be very clear today about which parts sick and disabled campaigners know to be unacceptable - and why.

  • 12 Jan 2012
    Campaign against disability and welfare cuts steps up

    Buoyed by a stunning victory in the House of Lords, disabled rights activists and their supporters are pledging to step up the campaign for welfare justice.

  • 11 Jan 2012
    Disability campaigners rejoice at huge defeat for government on welfare cuts

    The government has suffered an extraordinary threefold defeat on its Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Lords, as campaigners and peers combined to oppose cuts.