Labour welfare bill latest: Starmer’s benefits policy ‘disintegrated before our eyes’, claims rebel MP – UK Times

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:

The depth of anger still felt towards Keir Starmer was voiced by York Central Labour MP Rachel Maskell, who tabled an amendment on Tuesday to kill the bill.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I think we saw yesterday the bill disintegrating before our eyes even in the last moments of the debate, when the minister was winding up, we heard that other sections of the bill will be removed.

“Throughout the day, what we saw was a change in power between the prime minister and his government and disabled people across our country. They having their voice at the heart of Parliament, and that’s why I put the reasoned amendment down.”

Ms Maskell refused to say that the prime minister had “shown good leadership” or even defend him against charges of being “immoral”.

She warned: “I think he should be listening far more. Of course, he’s got a complex job in a complex world at the moment, and I appreciate that.”

She said that the problems of the bill were that “the big elements, the fiscal elements, the elements determined by the Treasury, were not for consultation.”

She went on: “I believe there was a fix, because that paper was rushed out from the Treasury needing to find savings, and they chose to find savings on the back of disabled people.”

The Independent’s political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

Pat McFadden has insisted the chancellor will keep her job despite the chaos around Labour’s welfare reforms.

The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster defended Rachel Reeves, insisting she is doing an “excellent job”.

One of the key issues with Labour’s benefit cuts was that MPs and campaigners believed they were reverse-engineered to meet a savings target demanded by the chancellor.

Having scrapped almost the entire plan, the government has now been left with a £5bn hole in its spending plans.

But, asked by Sky News whether she would keep her job, Mr McFadden said: “Of course she will, she is doing an excellent job, we take those decisions as a team, we stand as a team and go forward as a team.”

The Independent’s Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin reports:

The government may have won the welfare vote, but it does not seem like a victory this morning.

In fact, the vote may have created more problems than it solved.

A last-minute U-turn has left Rachel Reeves with a multi-billion pound hole in her sums.

Ministers are facing growing calls to pull the welfare bill entirely.

And furious Labour backbenchers are now demanding a government “reset”.

This vote now appears to be one of the most consequential of Labour’s first year in power – and not in the way Keir Starmer would have wanted.

Wrangling with backbench MPs over welfare reforms has been a “difficult process”, a Cabinet minister has said.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Times Radio: “It’s been a difficult process there’s no doubt about that, over the last couple of weeks on this.

“But we got to a position where the second reading of the bill was passed, and where in regard to the most contentious issue of reforms to the Pip regime that will now be taken forward in slower time, with my colleague, Stephen Timms, the minister in charge heading up a review of that.”

While his welfare reform bill passed its second reading by 335 votes to 260 – a majority of 75 – the prime minister still suffered the largest rebellion of his premiership so far, with 49 Labour MPs voting to reject the legislation.

Read the full story here from our political editor David Maddox:

The UK Government must abandon its “unfair” welfare reforms in the wake of its late climbdown on a key plank of the proposals, Scotland’s Social Justice Secretary has said.

Shirley-Anne Somerville was commenting after the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill passed its first legislative hurdle at Westminster.

Ahead of the crunch vote, Sir Keir Starmer ditched a mainstay of his welfare reform agenda as he battled to get the draft laws through the House of Commons.

Read the full article here:

After a series of open revolts by his backbenchers – the last so powerful that it overwhelmed his government’s ability to withstand it – and having executed a variety of hand-brake turns, U-turns, and very nearly leaving the highway altogether, the prime minister finds himself at a fork in the road.

Behind him is a milestone that reads “2 July 2024. The first Labour election victory since 2005.” Ahead of him, two routes. One, bearing left, is a dead end, as he must surely realise. He cannot carry on as he has in recent weeks, relegated to being a back-seat passenger with a succession of backbench rebels grabbing at the wheel.

No prime minister can survive in such circumstances – as the recent history of the Conservative Party graphically reminds us. “Chaos and confusion” was how Sir Keir Starmer derided it in opposition, as the Johnson, Truss and Sunak administrations gyrated around like broken shopping trolleys. Now, against all expectations, the prime minister has suffered some unfortunate traffic collisions of his own.

Read our full editorial here:

Keir Starmer has suffered a serious blow after dozens of his own MPs voted against his planned welfare reforms in Parliament.

The prime minister had been forced into two humiliating U-turns on the legislation in less than a week to head off a revolt that threatened to defeat his government on one of its flagship policies.

But how does this compare to previous revolts by politicians?

Read the full analysis here:

MPs have backed a Government proposal to reform welfare payments for sick and disabled people, but only after significant concessions saw much of Sir Keir Starmer’s plan abandoned.

Below, we take a look at what happened, what it means for personal independence payment (Pip) and universal credit, and what might come next.

Read the full breakdown here: