Huge Blow For Keir Starmer As More Than 100 Labour MPs Try To Block Welfare Cuts
More than 100 Labour MPs have mounted a bid to kill off the government’s plan to slash £5 billion from the welfare bill.
In a major challenge to Keir Starmer’s authority, the MPs – including around a dozen chairs of parliamentary committees – have signed an amendment which would effectively block the controversial reforms.
The 108 Labour rebels include former government whip Vicky Fixcroft, who resigned last week in protest at the the cuts, and Louise Haigh, who resigned as transport secretary last year.
It means the government is in serious danger of being defeated in a crunch Commons vote on the plans next week, despite Starmer’s huge parliamentary majority.
The prime minister, alongside work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall, are now under huge pressure to water down their plans or face humiliation.
However, that would blow a hole in the government’s spending plans as chancellor Rachel Reeves desperately tries to balance the nation’s books.
Under the planned reforms, the eligibility criteria to qualify for personal independence payments (PIP) will be made tougher so that only the most disabled people will qualify for it.
It is estimated that around 1 million people will lose out on the payment as a result.
Other changes will see the top rate of Universal Credit paid to those who are unfit to work halved from £97 to £47 a week for new claimants.
Kendall has insisted that those on benefits will receive greater help to get back to work under the changes.
But a government impact assessment of the plans said they would push 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into poverty.
The rebel amendment gives a list of reasons why the Commons should block the Universal Credit and Personal Independents Bill.
They include the fact there has been no consultation with disabled people or their carers, and because the Office for Budget Responsibility will not publish its analysis of the employment impact of the changes until the autumn.