People Before Profit say Prime Minister Keir Starmer is cutting disability payments to fund military spending.
It adds that he is literally taking money out of the pockets of vulnerable people in Derry to bankroll the opening of a third Thales weapons factory in Belfast.
People Before Profit council motion calls for resistance to proposed cuts.
People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin said: “Starmer’s proposed disability benefit cuts will disproportionately impact people in the Derry and Strabane Council area.
“The cuts target people with ill mental health.
“To justify this, Labour Party representatives are making dangerous claims that mental health problems are ‘overdiagnosed’.
“This is utter nonsense and a cynical attempt to demonise many people who will struggle even more with less support.
“Starmer is cutting disability payments to fund military spending.
“He is literally taking money out of the pockets of vulnerable people in Derry to bankroll the opening of a third Thales weapons factory in Belfast.
“Thales are profiteering from war, the Gaza genocide and this criminal attack on the sick and disabled.
“Funding war at the expense of welfare amid an escalating mental health crisis with the compounding pressures of housing scarcity, health service waiting lists and widening deprivation is not acceptable.
“There is an alternative. Additional billions in avaliable government funding can come through wealth taxes, the closure of tax loopholes, and by extracting excess corporate profits.
“Our motion is calling for resistance to Starmer’s proposed cuts.
“Stormont should not greenlight further destructive Westminster policies that will harm people here.
“The Secretary of State should not think this will be business as usual.
“People People Before will use our platform in Stormont and on Council to oppose these cruel proposals, but we will also organise a people power response.”
Full motion to the March full Council meeting:
“Council will write to the British government expressing our concern and opposition to proposed cuts to disability payments.
“Council views this as an attack on the vulnerable and a continuation of austerity policies by a Labour government elected to end years of Tory austerity.
“Council agrees this is not an attempt to help people back into work but is a cost saving measure following Starmer’s announcement of a gross £13.4 billion increase in military spending.
“Council agrees the government should increase taxes on billionaires, corporate profiteers and the super-rich instead of once again launching punitive measures that will push many vulnerable people, including many in our District, into deeper poverty, hardship and isolation.
“Council will write to all locally based MPs, the Stormont Executive and Secretary of State calling on them to resist cuts to disability payments and attacks on an already punitive welfare system.”
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