a new survey has found the vast majority of Brits are not in favour of cuts to disability benefits, even among right-wing voters.
A report from British Social Attitudes found that just 7% of 4,656 respondents were in favour of cuts to disability benefits, with almost half (49%) calling for them to be increased.
This is despite support for welfare spending as a whole having gone down in recent years.
The government is thought to be weighing up a move to restrict spending on disability benefits ahead of two government-commissioned reviews expected to be published soon.
Meanwhile, Reform UK has pledged to cut £20bn from the disability benefits bill.
But there appears to be little public support for such measures, on both sides of the political spectrum.
Just five per cent of Labour voters were in favour of reduced spending on disability benefits, with 57% wanting to see more spending, the Guardian reports.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Reform and Conservative voters were also largely against cuts to disability benefits. Just one in ten of voters for these parties supported less spending, whilst 40% wanted to see more spending on claimants who could not work.
The report’s co-author Robert de Vries, a senior lecturer at the University of Kent, said: “Despite growing political divisions on welfare, support for disability benefits remains remarkably strong.
“Very few people favour cuts, disabled people are seen as among the most deserving recipients of support, and proposals to reduce disability benefits appear politically risky across the political spectrum.”
However, the report acknowledged there was nuance in the support for disability benefits, as the answer from respondents relied on their subjective idea of whether claimants were “deserving” or “genuinely” unable to work.
“We … cannot say in advance whether a particular cut to disability benefits will be supported or opposed by the public, but it is clear that this is very challenging terrain for a government to be confident of taking the public with them,” the report said.
Last year, Keir Starmer had to U-turn on £5bn in disability benefit cuts following a revolt from Labour backbenchers.