Disability charities call foul as welfare secretary buries austerity-like news under earnest talk of reform

• Liz Kendall unveils UK benefits cuts set to leave many sick and disabled worse off

The disability benefit reforms statement issued by the welfare secretary, Liz Kendall alongside £5bn of cuts felt like Labour’s latest attempt to answer the question that seems to come up every time it tackles a thorny social policy issue and deliver bad news. Namely: how is this different from life under the Tories?

Kendall tried to accentuate the positive. Labour would fix the mess of a social security system it had inherited from the Conservatives, getting rid of perverse benefit incentives and toxic fit-for-work tests, and bring in more safeguards for vulnerable claimants. There would be increases to the basic rate of universal credit.