The Prime Minister insisted he would press ahead with plans to cut eligibility for PIP and Universal Credit – and claimed the welfare system would collapse without reform
Keir Starmer has today defied calls to abandon plans to slash disability benefits as he faces a massive Labour rebellion.
The Prime Minister insisted he would press ahead with plans to cut eligibility for PIP and Universal Credit – and claimed the welfare system would collapse without reform.
Over 100 Labour MPs have added their names to an amendment rejecting the reforms – raising the prospect of the first government defeat in the Commons. But speaking to reporters on the way to the NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday, Mr Starmer said he would not pause the plans.
Asked if he would delay next week’s crunch vote, he said: “We were elected to change what is broken in our country. The welfare system is broken, and that’s why we will press ahead with our reforms.
“It’s very important that we do so, because the current system is not working for anybody. “People are trapped in it, and I’m not prepared to allow that to happen. So we will press forward with our reforms.”
Mr Starmer insisted there was a moral case for these plans – which the Government’s own assessments say would drive 250,000 people and 50,000 kids into poverty.
Asked if he’d failed to make this case, he said: “There is a clear moral case, which is the current system doesn’t help those who want to get into work. It traps people. I think it’s 1000 people a day going on to PIP. The additions to PIP each year are the equivalent of the population of a city the size of Leicester.
“That is not a system that can be left unreformed, not least because it’s unsustainable, and therefore you won’t have a welfare system for those that need it in the future.
“So those that care about a future welfare system have to answer the question – ‘how do you reform what you’ve got to make sure it’s sustainable for the future? But it’s not sustainable to add a city the size of Leicester every year and assume that that can be a sustainable future, a model for the future.”
Mr Starmer said he wanted to press ahead with the plans with Labour support – rather than relying on the Tories to get it through. He said: “I have no idea what the Conservatives will do. I don’t think they’ve got the first idea what they’re doing. So I intend to press ahead as a Labour government with our reforms.”
Legislation introduced into Parliament last week includes a tightening of the criteria for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) – a key disability benefit. Around 800,000 people are set to lose out on the benefit under the Government’s proposals. It forms part of plans to slash £5billion from the welfare bill by 2030.
The PM’s comments came as Downing Street earlier declined to say whether it was confident the welfare bill would get through its first vote next Wednesday. Asked whether the Government was confident it could pass the legislation, a Number 10 spokesman said: “Again, we are focused on delivering last week’s Bill and engaging, talking to colleagues … as to why this reform is so important.”
On Tuesday morning the PM also told the Cabinet “hard, honest choices” are needed to reform the welfare system, which he described as “broken”.
Among those who have signed the rebel amendment are 10 powerful chairs of Commons committees, including Dame Meg Hillier, the chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, and Debbie Abrahams, the chairwoman of the Work and Pensions Committe.
Other signatories include the Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft, who quit as a government whip over the cuts to welfare last week, and former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh. Anneliese Midgley, one of the Labour rebels, wrote: “The proposals are rushed. They will financially penalise disabled people and risk pushing some people away from work.”
One source told The Mirror the names on the amendment “very much represent the full breadth of the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party ) – people who are at the wits end in trying to get the government to listen”. They warned: “This is last chance saloon to get the government to think again.”