MPs are still having to table amendments to the toxic DWP Welfare Bill

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has once again proven it is unfit for purpose. In its relentless crusade against the welfare state, it is now targeting some of the most vulnerable people in society—those living with progressive, life-limiting conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

The DWP cuts are still coming

The so-called Welfare Bill, which recently passed its second reading in Parliament, aims to restrict access to benefits through so-called “health assessments” that defy medical logic and human decency.

The fact that this legislation has advanced to the committee stage is a damning indictment of our political system. More alarmingly, MPs are still having to table amendments to correct glaring injustices even at this late stage of the legislative process.

One such amendment, backed by the Parkinson’s UK and MS Society charities, seeks to exempt people with degenerative conditions from the new rules:

After tonight’s Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill vote, I have tabled an amendment.

My amendment seeks to ensure that people who have health conditions which fluctuate, for example Parkinson’s and MS, are included in the severe conditions criteria for UC.

— Graeme Downie MP (@GraemeDownieMP) July 1, 2025

That it’s even necessary to propose this shows the moral bankruptcy of the DWP’s approach.

Let’s be absolutely clear: this is not about ensuring fairness or accountability in the benefits system.

It is about cuts—pure and simple.

Medically incoherent, morally reprehensible

The Welfare Bil about reducing public spending on those deemed “economically inactive” by a government that refuses to acknowledge the complexities of illness, disability, and the social conditions that exacerbate them. The DWP’s latest move is to tighten access to Universal Credit—a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of chronically ill and disabled people.

The idea that someone with Parkinson’s or MS should be repeatedly reassessed to determine if they are still ill is both medically incoherent and morally reprehensible. These are conditions with no cure, and their trajectories are well-documented. What these repeated assessments do achieve, however, is stress, humiliation, and a dehumanising cycle of bureaucracy that forces people to justify their own suffering to a hostile system.

What’s more, this Bill is advancing without clarity or transparency. Ministers are still unable—or unwilling—to specify exactly how many people will be affected or how ‘savings’ will be made. This wilful vagueness allows the DWP to dodge accountability while paving the way for mass exclusion from support under the guise of “reform”.

We must not ignore the fact that this comes on the heels of years of austerity-driven welfare “reform” that has already decimated support systems and delivered year after year of real-terms cuts to chronically ill and disabled people’s benefits.

The DWP: synonymous with failure

From the botched rollout of Universal Credit to the punitive sanctions regime and the cruel bedroom tax, the DWP has become synonymous with callousness and failure.

It is utterly damning that Parliament has allowed the Bill to pass a second reading in such a state that significant amendments are still required. If this is how we legislate on matters of life and death, then our democracy is in a dire state.

This is not reform—it is eugenics by stealth. It is a political project to shrink the DWP welfare state by targeting those least able to resist. And it must be stopped.

Featured image via the Canary