Harsh criticism as people support rising benefits (8)
I believe the answer is:
diatribe
'harsh criticism' is the definition.
'diatribe' can be an answer for 'criticism' (I have seen 'Violent criticism' mean 'diatribe' so perhaps 'criticism' could also mean 'diatribe'). I'm not certain of the 'harsh' bit.
'people support rising benefits' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'tribe' (a tribe is a group of people).
'support' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters hold others up).
'rising benefits' becomes 'dia' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tribe' put after 'dia' is 'DIATRIBE'.
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for diatribe that I've seen before include "slating" , "provoking verbal onslaught" , "Vitriolic speech" , "Long speech" , "Bitter critical attack" .)