Sir Stephen Timms told The Mirror the government needs to ‘get on with’ overhauling the benefits system as Keir Starmer faces the biggest revolt of his premiership so far
Keir Starmer’s disabilities minister has resisted Labour MPs’ calls to delay a major vote on welfare cuts – insisting benefit reforms are “urgent”.
Sir Stephen Timms told The Mirror the government needs to “get on with” overhauling the system despite mounting concern in the party. His comments come as the PM faces the biggest revolt of his premiership so far when MPs are asked to vote on the issue next month.
As part of the welfare reforms, the government has announced plans to plough £1billion into employment support for disabled people. But around £5billion is expected to be saved largely through restricting the eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), with hundreds of thousands of people set to lose out.
A group of 42 MPs warned the PM last week that the plans were “impossible to support”. They demanded the government delay the vote until the autumn until a full assessment is made of the cuts and the impact on employment and health. A separate letter signed by as many as 80 MPs is also understood to be calling for a delay.
Speaking to The Mirror on Tuesday, Sir Stephen said: “I think pretty much everyone agrees the system is broken and does need reform. What we are saying is the proposals we set out in the green paper are the right changes.
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“We are going to very substantially improve support to make it possible for people to be in work. We’re going to remove disincentives in the benefits system at the moment and we’re going to make sure the cost of PIP are sustainable.”
Pressed on whether the government will delay the vote on reforms, he replied: “I think the reform is urgent. We do need to get on with this. There’s a lot we’ve got to do. We’ve got to make sure there are jobs around the country, we’ve got to make sure the health service is doing its job, we’ve got to improve employment support, but we do need to reform the benefits system.”
Asked if his message was ‘this is urgent, we’re not going to delay the vote’, Sir Stephen replied: “It is urgent, we need to crack on with it.” He added: “I’m talking to lots of MPs and I’m sure we’ll carry on talking to lots of MPs and listening to the concerns that they are raising. But as I say I think everybody agrees – everybody I’ve spoken to so far – agrees the system does need reform.”
Quizzed on whether he was confident the government has the numbers to pass the reforms, he added: “I think the proposals we are making are the right package. I think we’ve got the balance right between improving support, tackling the problems in the benefits system, and making the costs sustainable. I’m very much hoping my colleagues in Parliament will agree.”
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Many claimants have expressed anxiety and worry over the changes after the government’s grim analysis suggesting 250,000 extra people – including 50,000 children – could fall into poverty. Sir Stephen said he understood the “anxiety that people are feeling at the moment” over the changes the government has proposed. And he insisted he is “certainly not expecting any further changes” when asked if he could rule out further cuts to disability benefits at the autumn Budget.
“We’re very focused on this package of measures we set out in the green paper, talking to colleagues about those, and we’re getting on with it,” he said.
The comments came as the minister appeared at Network Rail’s office in Victoria Station on efforts to help disabled people into the workforce. He said figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday showed the disability employment gap was “much too big”. “We want to give many more people the opportunity of being in work,” he said.
“We know from surveys 200,000 currently out of work on health and disability grounds say they would like to be in a job today if they could get the support they need to be in work.” He added: “There are far too many people who cannot get a job and we need to remove the barriers as Network Rail is helping us do. But we also need to improve the support we are providing to people to make work possible.”
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