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Thousands of disabled people waiting to find out how cuts to personal independence payments will affect them.

Blind Henry Sherlock says he is ready for the worst.

Cutting Personal Independence Payments is expected to save £1.2billion but it will affect more than 640,000 people across the UK.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn blasted Chancellor George Osborne for offering tax cuts to the wealthy while disabled people will be up to £3,000 a year worse off.

Corbyn said: “He could not have made his priorities clearer – while half a million people with disabilities are losing over £1billion in personal independence payments, corporation tax is being cut and billions handed out in tax cuts to the very wealthy.”

(Image: PA)

Like many disabled people in Scotland, 54-year-old Henry, from Falkirk, is still living on disability living allowance while the delayed new scheme continues to roll out.

He lost his sight after suffering meningitis and also has chronic heart disease and diabetes, reports the Daily Record.

Henry says cuts to his benefits in recent years have already forced him to seek help from charities to care for his guide dog, Shadow –and he is dreading what his PIP assessment in the coming months will spell for his future.

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He said: “It’s like living with a black cloud above you.

"You know it’s coming but you don’t know when. When the phone rings or a letter drops on the mat, you fear it’s going to be more cuts.

“Many of us still don’t know the impact this change will have.”

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Henry worked for the Department of Work and Pensions for 18 years before he was forced to retire on health grounds.

He said: “This doesn’t just affect people on benefits and out of work – it will affect people with jobs trying their hardest to stay in employment.

“We are having the money taken away which means we can’t afford to live independently and have to depend even more on handouts from other organisations and charities.

"I was once able to pay for food for my guide dog myself. – now I can’t afford the toothpaste I need to brush his teeth and have to ask a charity for help.

“I’m appalled that any Government should treat people with disabilities in such a way.

"The future is very bleak. These cuts will only make us more isolated. I already feel like a burden on society.”

(Image: Reuters)

Citizens Advice Scotland Policy Manager Keith Dryburgh said: “The confirmation of changes to the Personal Independence Payment will mean that disabled people are set to lose entitlements of up to £3,000 per year to support them to live an independent life.

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“PIP is one of the most common, and fastest-growing issues that people come to a CAB for advice about, and we’re concerned about the impact on vulnerable Scots, some of whom may also be losing almost £30 per week as a result of forthcoming changes to Employment and Support Allowance.”

Peter Kelly, Director of the Poverty Alliance, said the cuts were a “devastating blow” for the disabled.

He said: “We can expect to see 200,000 people lose their entitlement to PIP completely, with another 400,000 expected to lose approximately £1,400 a year.

"These are substantial amounts of money to anyone, but especially to those on a low income.

“We have had six years of welfare cuts, and there is now nothing left to cut.

“For every one of those 600,000 people affected by these cuts, this is a devastating blow which will have a negative impact on their lives and their ability to participate in society.

“What type of message does it send to disabled people that we can afford a tax break for those earning over £40,000 a year but we cannot afford to support them to live dignified lives?”

John Swinney, SNP Finance Secretary

Where will Osborne's axe fall?

The budget revealed more in what it didn’t tell us than what it did – a hidden £3.5billion in cuts with no mention of where the hammer will fall.

We were told Scotland will receive £650million in Barnett funding – but this will be all but wiped out by public spending cuts and increased pension contributions for public sector staff.

The truth is that Scotland can expect to see UK Government austerity cut even deeper, to the tune of over £1billion.

This Budget confirms a real-terms reduction of almost five per cent in funding for public services over the next four years as the Chancellor continues his ideologically driven programme.

The Scottish Government have consistently demonstrated that deficit and debt can be brought down without the need for huge spending cuts. We will continue to do everything in our power to protect the vulnerable, to lift people out of poverty and make Scotland a fairer place.

That should also be the job of the Chancellor. Sadly, he is fixated on cuts at the expense of the people least able to bear the burden.

John McDonnell, Labour Shadow Chancellor

Britain deserves better than this

George Osborne’s Budget is the result of six years in which he’s failed on closing the deficit, failed to get debt under control and failed to support investment.

Forecasts for growth and wage rises have been slashed so we’ll all be earning less as a country.

Having staked his reputation on closing the deficit by 2015, he announced that it will be over £70billion this year.

Having promised only months ago that the debt burden would fall in each year of the Parliament, he had to admit he is going to bust that target wide open again.

(Image: Getty)

Osborne’s problem is that he doesn’t listen. We’ve warned for months that he needed to strengthen our economy for these uncertain times.

That means real investment for the future, laying the foundations for the high-technology, high-wage economy we all want.

But it’s not just future generations who will pay the price for Osborne’s obsession with impossible targets.

Last week he admitted that the Government would be taking benefits away from people with disabilities to try and save money for tax breaks for the rich.

We’ve said all along that Labour would close the deficit – but we refuse to do so on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society. We all deserve better than this and the next Labour government will deliver it.

David Mundell, Scottish Secretary

It's over to Holyrood

Yesterday’s Budget was a historic one – the last time a UK chancellor will set income tax rates for Scottish workers.

From next year, decisions on how much comes out of your pay packet to pay for services will be made at Holyrood.

For our part, the UK Government have responded to the crisis in the oil industry with a major package of measures worth £1billion.

This will help protect jobs and the long-term future of the north-east.

(Image: Daily Record)

Because UK Government action on education and business rates in England, there will be an extra £650million available to Holyrood through the Barnett formula.

The freeze in fuel duty and spirit duty is good news for rural Scotland and the whisky and gin industries in particular.

It is clear to me that Scotland has the best of both worlds – we still benefit from the broad shoulders of the UK but Holyrood will also become the powerhouse Parliament we pledged to deliver.

Graeme Smith, STUC

Raising the tax rate threshold benefits those in the top half of income distribution while doing nothing for the lowest-paid.

Cutting corporation tax, business rates and capital gains taxes will do nothing to boost jobs, growth or productivity.

And the Chancellor is catastrophically wrong to increase spending cuts in an already slowing economy.

Once again, society’s most vulnerable citizens will suffer the most.