Ministers run away from a wealth tax and then concoct a punitive benefits system in the name of growth. They have made that choice and it’s immoral

Whether it’s the front pages or your Uncle Frank’s Facebook posts, you’ll have done well lately to avoid news about upcoming disability benefits cuts. After months of speculation, the government is reportedly set to pull £6bn from the “welfare budget” ahead of its spring statement, with some Labour MPs already threatening revolt.

Read much of the commentary and you’d believe this was all about the public purse – see talk about “savings” and changing “global factors” such as trade tariffs and the war in Ukraine. And yet, dig a little deeper and Labour’s proposed reforms appear to be based not just on budgeting, but a belief: paid work is a virtue (and people who don’t perform it deserve a worse life than everyone else). As Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, said last week: “There is a moral case here for making sure that people who can work are able to work.”

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist. Her latest book, Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life, is available to pre-order at the Guardian Bookshop