Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly caved in to his backbench rebels and performed a humiliating climbdown ahead of next week’s crunch vote on welfare reforms. Despite pledging there would be no more concessions, there are now widespread claims that the PM has made a number of costly concessions to his mutinous MPs, amounting to about £3billion.
This would more than halve the total savings originally intended by his benefits cuts and leave Chancellor Rachel Reeves with yet another black hole to fill in the autumn Budget. Among the changes is a promise that no Briton currently claiming Personal Independence Payments will lose out. Instead, the changes to eligibility will only apply to new applicants – a move that will shave between £1.5-2billion from the original £4.6billion saving. Changes to the disability top-up for Universal Credit will also only be applied to new applicants, potentially costing Ms Reeves another £1billion by 2029.
A final concession came as the Prime Minister agreed that a review of disability benefit entitlement, being led by Stephen Timms, will now be produced in coalition with disability activist groups.
One hard-Left MP said that speculation of “massive concessions” on the cuts was overblown, however.
Apsana Begum, who was elected as a Labour MP prior to her suspension from the party, said the giveaways by the PM “are tiny”.
“Fewer disabled people to be harmed but they’ll be harmed nonetheless. The Government’s plans mean that disabled people will be worse off than under the Tories. Drop the Bill.”
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: “If confirmed this is the latest in a growing list of screeching U-turns from this weak Labour government.”
“Under pressure from his own MPs, Starmer has made another completely unfunded spending commitment. Labour’s welfare chaos will cost hardworking taxpayers.
“Keir Starmer’s inability to get welfare spending under control will see families up and down the country slapped with even higher taxes to pay for it.”
The Prime Minister had been facing a humiliating defeat on Tuesday as over 120 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have killed the bill off.
After days of attempting to bully MPs back in line with threats of a potential general election should the Bill fail, Sir Keir finally began contacting his MPs on Thursday after returning from the NATO summit.
One Labour MP told the Express: “They are warning us we could bring the Government down, but what they don’t understand is that if my voters see me voting for these cuts, I will lose my seat.”
The initial proposals to cut Britain’s swelling welfare bill sought to make it harder to claim Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which helps disabled people with living costs, so that 800,000 lose an average of £4,500 annually.
Lucy Powell, the Leader of the Commons and a member of Sir Keir’s Cabinet, told MPs the vote would go ahead despite the civil war.
No 10 failed to deny reports of concessions on Thursday, though both Sir Keir and Ms Reeves insisted they would “listen” to concerns. Sir Keir told MPs: “We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday.”
He insisted there was a consensus “on the urgent need for reform of our welfare system, because the British people deserve protection and dignity when they are unable to work and supported to work when they can”.
Ministers argued action was essential to stop the welfare bill ballooning, as there are currently 1,000 successful claims for PiP every day. Spending on working age disability and incapacity benefits is set to reach £70 billion a year on current trends.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell urged the Government to axe the Bill. She said: “We have spoken to our constituents and organisations representing disabled people who reject the Bill because it will cause harm to disabled people and their voices have not been heard.”
Another Labour backbencher, Emma Lewell, said: “Cutting benefits will not incentivise people to go out and find a job that doesn’t exist.” She said the Government had failed to publish assessments showing how the changes would affect people.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir faced “the fight of his life” and said welfare spending was “out of control”.
She said: “Our country is living beyond its means. We are spending more than we’re earning and it means the cost of living crisis for working people is getting worse and worse,” the Conservative leader told the British Chambers of Commerce conference.