One MP told The Mirror of those previously wavering on a key benefits vote: ‘A lot of people have now decided they are more frightened of the voters than they are of the whips’
Keir Starmer is facing the biggest rebellion of his premiership so far – as a key vote on controversial cuts to sickness and disability benefits looms.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall outlined £5billion in cuts to welfare including huge changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in March.
Under the reforms eligibility for PIP – a key disability benefit – will be tightened with hundreds of thousands of people expected to lose support when the changes are ushered in. A government analysis in March warned the overall reforms could push over 250,000 people – including 50,000 kids – into poverty by the end of the decade.
Charities and Labour MPs condemned the cuts and urged the government to change course. But the row has exploded once more in the wake of last week’s local election results.
Multiple MPs told The Mirror the PIP cuts were raised on the doorstep in Runcorn and Helsby – a by-election Labour lost to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by just six votes. One MP said of those previously wavering on a key vote: “A lot of people have now decided they are more frightened of the voters than they are of the whips”.
Another backbencher said: “It’s not Reform that’s the problem. It’s Labour’s positioning that is the problem. We have to rethink. There needs to be welfare reform but it needs to be done in a considered way. It needs to be in a Labour way with care and compassion and fairness. It’s not so much our policies sometimes. It’s also the comms. Our comms are pretty poor.”
Almost a dozen MPs raised the concerns against the cuts in a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday brought by the veteran left-wing MP Diane Abbott. She issued the stark warning to No10: “Some of us are old enough to remember Mrs Thatcher and her poll tax and it was her undoing. It is not too late to drop the winter fuel [cut] and the cuts to PIP and I plead with my government to do so.”
Members of the new intake of Labour MPs elected just last year – including Steve Witherden and Cat Eccles – also spoke out against the cuts during the debate. Ms Eccles said: “The narrative being created is that of scroungers and cheats when in reality disabled people are fighting tooth and nail for every little scrap they get.”
Less than 24 hours later a letter was sent to the Prime Minister from 42 MPs saying the reforms were “impossible to support”. They warned it represented “the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity”. It was signed by a number of left-wingers, including Ms Abbott, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Ian Byrne, Ian Lavery and Nadia Whittome.
A separate letter is also expected to be sent to the Chief Whip in the coming days, which has reportedly been signed by as many as 80 MPs. But in a move that will cause alarm in Downing Street the letter is understood to have been signed by those who have voted in line with the leadership since Mr Starmer won power back ten months ago – rather than known rebels.
One MP – not asked to sign the letter – said: “It’s a group that doesn’t involve the left. It’s largely people who have come in last year, which is obviously very, very dangerous for the government.” They added: “We thought that they’d be 50 who’d vote against – roughly – and 50 who said they aren’t prepared to vote for it, but are waiting to see whether to abstain or actually vote against it.”
Another backbench MP said new arrivals to the Commons had started to turn against Mr Starmer. “It’s about time, most of them have been like nodding dogs since [the] election,” they added.
But a third said that several MPs had instead decided to write to the Prime Minister directly to express their concerns – rather than a coordinated letter. “They don’t want to be seen as ganging up on him,” they suggested.
Government sources insist they are in listening mode but Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended the measures on Friday and said Labour MPs know the welfare system needs reform. She told reporters: “If we’re going to lift people out of poverty and give more people the chance to fulfil their potential, the focus has got to be on supporting people into work.
READ MORE: DWP benefit claimants give verdict on welfare system – ‘You’re not treated as human’
“Of course, if you can’t work the welfare state must always be there for you, and with this government it will be. But there are many people that are trapped on benefits that are desperate to work, that have been cut out of opportunity for too long. That will change under this Government.”
With the vote now just weeks away it is clear unease is growing in the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Chancellor’s words are likely to do little to ease the tension. MPs are pushing on the government to – at the very least – delay the vote while the PIP reforms are consulted on.
Just six MPs rebelled against the government over the two-child benefit limit in July last year and lost the whip. Expect the rebellion over PIP benefits to be significantly higher if the vote does indeed go ahead in early June.
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