Painting a veneer of morality over welfare cuts risks people fighting a tougher battle for support they need

“The assessment process itself is awful”. Carol Vickers receives the personal independence payment (Pip), the disability support benefit whose spiralling cost the government is determined to cut back.

She has a debilitating condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that affects her connective tissues, and means she needs an assistance dog. I spoke to her this week, to get a sense of how those at the sharp end of the looming reforms may be feeling.

Yet when the public hear ministers suggest there is a moral case for cuts, it conjures up all the guilt and shame-laden Tory language of scroungers and shirkers.