RNIB urges MPs to vote against welfare cuts bill

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is urging MPs to vote against the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment bill when it comes to vote on tomorrow (1 July).

If passed, the bill risks creating “an unjust two-tiered health and disability benefit system,” the charity’s chief strategy and public affairs officer, Vivienne Francis, said.

The RNIB made the call after the Government confirmed on Thursday 26 June that it would make concessions to Labour rebels over its planned benefits reforms.

Full details of the changes are expected to be published today (Monday 30 June).

More than 120 back bench Labour MPs had planned to defeat the bill by supporting an amendment made by Meg Hillier MP.

Francis said the concessions “are testament to the huge strength of feeling and the widespread campaigning by disabled people to protect the essential support needed to live with dignity and independence.”

However, “while the concessions will come as a relief to existing claimants, the reality is that this will create an unjust two-tiered health and disability benefit system,” she said.

“It is unacceptable that someone newly diagnosed with sight loss in 2027, during what is already an extremely difficult time, could be penalised by the tightened Personal Independent Payment (PIP) criteria, whereas current PIP claimants can maintain this essential financial support,” Francis emphasised.

She added: “People with sight loss face additional, unavoidable costs, regardless of when someone’s sight loss began.

“We urge MPs to stand strong and vote against the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment bill on Tuesday. No one with sight loss, now or in the future, should be pushed into poverty by the cuts or lose out on essential support to live independently.”