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Though it might be a little optimistic, Tory plans after the next General Election are already being laid down. However, following a line of inquiry from The Observer, details of callous cuts to a crucial allowance for disabled people have been made public.
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The ‘cold winter payments’ services just under one million claimants across the country. However, in the internal memo, new applicants for disability benefits from 2026 would have to pass a much more stringent test to qualify for the grants.
The move could affect hundreds of thousands of disabled people, who’d no longer be entitled to the money. Weekly payments of £25 are handed out to qualifying claimants between November to March, whenever freezing temperatures are recorded.
A proposed change to the rules would be implemented within the first year or two of the national vote, immediately applying to new applicants. However, existing claimants would be able to carry on as normal – but only up until 2029.
The move is likely to sway certain voters ahead of the General Election, slated to happen by January 2025. David Osland, who works for the Labour Research Department, is shocked by the planned policy – and called out the Tories for their ‘hipocrisy’:
“Just when you thought the Conservative Party couldn’t go any lower. This is a government that once gave us a chancellor who claimed the central heating bill for his horses’ stables on expenses.”
“Priti Patel also claimed £25,000 in heating expenses while living rent free with mum and dad, and the Tories are now axing cold weather payments for hundreds of thousands of disabled people.” | David Osland
