Rebel Labour MPs have hit back at Sir Keir Starmer after they were threatened with suspension or blacklisting for voting against his benefit cuts.
Party whips have warned backbenchers they will be ruled out of government jobs and could lose the Labour whip if they reject plans to slash the welfare bill by £5bn.
Sir Keir is bracing for the biggest rebellion of his leadership when MPs vote on the changes, which will remove the main disability benefit, personal independence payment (PIP), from up to 800,000 people.
Around 50 Labour MPs are believed to be planning to vote against the government, with many more set to abstain on the plans. But the party’s whips have threatened serious consequences for those who rebel or abstain.
Whips have even sought to recruit popular Labour MPs to convince their colleagues to back the measures in a bid to stave off the rebellion.
On Wednesday Angela Rayner, deputising for Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions, refused to rule out punishing Labour MPs who vote against the government’s plans to cut disability benefits.
After SNP MP Pete Wishart asked whether the prime minister intended to remove the whip from rebels, she responded: “We’re absolutely committed to ending child poverty. We’ve already introduced free school meals. We’re already supporting families. We’ve given a living wage rise to over millions of workers that need it. We’re getting on with the job.”
And one Labour MP planning to rebel told The Independent “they can’t withdraw the whip from all of us”. The MP said: “This would be unprecedented, deeply authoritarian action from a Labour government. Besides, it’s not realistic – they can’t withdraw the whip from all of us.
“On being blacklisted for government jobs, I think I’ll get over it.”
And left-wing Labour MP Brian Leishman told The Independent “these welfare reforms are wrong”.
“The leadership would do well to remember the words of two past Labour PMs – in Harold Wilson, when he said the party is a moral crusade or it is nothing, and in Gordon Brown, when he said that leaders come and leaders go, but the mission of the party remains,” he added.
After the welfare bill was published on Wednesday, Sir Keir faced a fresh backlash from MPs and campaigners who warned the cuts will be “horrendous”, “harmful” and “a disaster”, and will drive already struggling disabled people into poverty.
The reforms – aimed at encouraging more people off sickness benefits and into work – are set to include the tightening of criteria for personal independence payment (Pip), which is the main disability benefit, as well as a cut to the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC) and delayed access to only those aged 22 and over.
In an attempt to head off some opposition, the legislation – known as the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill – will give existing claimants a 13-week period of financial support.
The Department for Work and Pensions said this will apply to those affected by changes to the Pip daily living component, including those who lose their eligibility to Carers Allowance and the carer’s element of UC.
But one Labour MP said the concessions offered up did not meet the demands of rebels and were “a canard”, a hoax or ruse.
James Watson-O’Neill, who runs the disability charity Sense, warned on Wednesday that the cuts would “push thousands further into poverty, hardship, and isolation”. “Many disabled people already find themselves in debt because current benefits don’t stretch far enough. Cutting support further at a time when the cost of living remains high is not only unjust — it is cruel,” he said.
And mental health charity Mind said it is “harmful in the extreme”.
“Struggling with your mental health is not a choice, but it is a political choice to attempt to fix the public finances by cutting the incomes of disabled people,” policy director Minesh Patel said.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall defended the reforms, saying they were necessary as the “social security system is at a crossroads”.
She said: “Unless we reform it, more people will be denied opportunities, and it may not be there for those who need it.
“This legislation represents a new social contract and marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity.”
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