Keir Starmer vows to face down welfare rebels and push ahead with vote
Sir Keir Starmer has set up a confrontation with Labour rebels over welfare reforms, saying he will “lead from the front” in fighting for the changes.
The Prime Minister confirmed a Commons vote on the plans to squeeze sickness and incapacity benefits will go ahead on Tuesday despite at least 120 Labour MPs publicly backing a move to block the legislation.
He acknowledged it is “tough going” but “the important thing is to focus on the change that we want to bring about”.
Sir Keir defended his leadership against accusations he had misjudged the mood in his party, insisting he is “comfortable with reading the room”.
At a press conference at the Nato summit in The Hague yesterday, he said: “Many people predicted before the election that we couldn’t read the room, we hadn’t got the politics right and we wouldn’t win an election after 2019 because we lost so badly.
“That was the constant charge of me at press conferences like this, and we got a landslide victory. So I’m comfortable with reading the room and delivering the change the country needs.”
In the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told Prime Minister’s Questions that the vote would go ahead, before vowing not to “walk away and stand by and abandon millions of people trapped in the failing system left behind by him and his colleagues”.
The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill faces its first Commons test on Tuesday.
The plans restrict eligibility for personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit, with the aim of getting more people back into work and saving up to £5bn a year.
The rebel MPs, which include 17 from Yorkshire and the Humber, including former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, are particularly concerned with the tightening of Pip eligibility and the lack of consultation with disabled people.
Josh Fenton-Glynn, the Calder Valley MP who has signed the amendment which would bring down the legislation, told The Yorkshire Post: “I’ve been entirely up front throughout this process that I’ve got issues with this policy, that’s why I wrote to the Chief Whip, that’s why I wrote to the Prime Minister.
“It can’t be right that as things stand if you can’t pull up your trousers and you can’t go to the toilet unsupervised, you won’t get Pip.”
Sir Keir currently has a mammoth majority of 165, so it would require 83 Labour MPs voting against the legislation.
It is not certain if all the rebels would vote against the bill or abstain, however The Yorkshire Post understands that even more MPs are opposing the measure in secret.
Some Labour MPs, who have not signed the amendment but were still planning to rebel, said they were “keeping their powder dry”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under pressure to pass the legislation, as the £5bn of savings has been factored into the Office for Budget Responsibility’s scoring of her fiscal statements.
The Government has already made a major U-turn on the Winter Fuel Payment cut, costing around £1bn.
One rebel said this had emboldened them, explaining: “How do we know they won’t change their minds of welfare as well?”
Mr Fenton-Glynn added: “This could all have been avoided with greater engagement, and hopefully they’ll take this opportunity to step back from the brink.”