Northern actress and disability advocate Kim Tserkezie, who is best known for her role as Penny Pocket in the beloved CBeebies show Balamory, has added her voice to a powerful open letter calling on Keir Starmer to oppose sweeping disability benefits cuts.
Taking to Instagram, Tserkezie shared a simple but emphatic message: “Signed!”
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The letter, which has been signed by more than 30 disabled public figures including Cherylee Houston, Rosie Jones and Liz Carr, slams proposed cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the health-related component of Universal Credit, warning the government’s plans are “cruelty by policy”.
Tserkezie, who grew up in Newcastle and has spinal muscular atrophy, has been a wheelchair user for most of her life and is a leading voice in disability representation. In 2020, she was named one of the UK’s 100 most influential disabled people, and her website was once voted “best representation of a wheelchair user” by Whizz Kidz.
The open letter urges the Labour leader to reject the proposals ahead of a Commons vote this autumn, warning they will hit the most vulnerable hardest.
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“If these plans go ahead, 700,000 families already living in poverty will face further devastation,” it reads. “This is not just about benefits – for us, PIP is access to life.”
The proposed cuts could affect over 3.2 million people, with an average loss of £1,720 a year. Campaigners also warn that removing eligibility for PIP could cost thousands of unpaid carers their carer’s allowance, strain already stretched local councils, and lead to increased disability-related deaths.
“We have already endured a decade of austerity, disproportionate pandemic losses, and life-costing cuts,” the signatories write. “We will not stand by while our community is sacrificed for the illusion of savings.”
