Sir Keir Starmer needs to listen to his own MPs, a former Labour frontbencher who quit her role over plans to slash benefits has said.
Vicky Foxcroft, who dramatically resigned as a government whip in June, said ministers need to “properly engage” with Labour backbenchers after a massive rebellion forced the government to abandon key aspects of its benefit reforms.
Ms Foxcroft said she was “really concerned” about the negative impact the proposals – which were later abandoned – would have on disabled people.
“There were some quite bad cuts to disabled people’s benefits suggested, particularly around personal independence payments (PIP) and having to have four points before you would be able to access the benefit.
“And I was just really concerned about that. And at that point, I didn’t feel that I could support it and didn’t feel that I could go out and whip for it and get other MPs to do the same,” Ms Foxcroft told GB News presenter Gloria De Piero.
She said she had “sleepless nights” in the lead-up to her decision to resign, saying it was “really difficult and I really would rather not have had to do that”.
“I was actually having a hard personal time at that time as well, with my dad passing away quite suddenly. And so, you know, I had the stress of all of that, but also I was really worried about these proposals, and I really spoke to lots of people about what my concerns were around it.
“I had some sleepless nights; it plays on your mind the whole time,” the MP for Lewisham North added.
Asked what the government could do differently next time, Ms Foxcroft said: “I think it’s really important to listen to MPs. MPs are out in their constituencies. They’re meeting with people. When they’re raising concerns, it is coming from what people are worried about.
“It’s really important that that engagement takes place in the future. And properly takes place.”
But Ms Foxcroft also insisted that the government can turn around its fortunes despite a poor performance in the polls, with Reform UK surging ahead.
“We’ve got quite a few years until a general election, and we are doing a lot of good things in parliament – the Renters’ Rights Bill, the Employment Rights Bill, the Football Governance Bill – but at the moment, some of this stuff is just bills in parliament.
“What we need is people to really feel the difference, actually, genuinely in their lives.”
It comes amid growing concern over the direction of Sir Keir’s government among voters on both the left and the right, with the prime minister’s approval rating having hit an all-time low in recent months.
His support among the public reached new depths of minus 46 following the local elections in May, while polling published last month put the prime minister’s approval rating at minus 43 after the £5bn welfare U-turn.
The survey by More in Common, first reported by The Sunday Times, also found that just a year after Labour came to power, seven in 10 voters think Sir Keir’s government is at least as chaotic as the Tories’ previous term.
Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
