Benefit cuts will push more people into poverty, warns Citizens Advice boss

Claire Moriarty, a former top civil servant, stressed that people who lose benefits will fall into debt and their circumstances will make it harder for them to get a job. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Cutting benefits for disabled people will push more people into poverty and make it harder for them to get into work, the chief executive of Citizens Advice (CAB) has warned.

In a rare intervention, Clare Moriarty criticised the Labour government’s proposals as a “short-term action which has very serious long-term consequences” that risk leaving an intergenerational effect.