Desperate Keir Starmer defended his unpopular welfare reforms as a “Labour cause” as he faced down backbench rebels. The Prime Minister told a meeting of Labour MPs that the measures were needed to get the country back on track.
Sir Keir is facing a massive rebellion over the cuts which were made as the government tries to balance the books. He is facing the prospect of up to 170 of his MPs refusing to back plans to make it harder to claim disability benefits when it is put to a vote next month. Around 60 could vote against it, with 100 or so more ready to abstain, which may allow it to become law but would be a major show of discontent less than a year into Labour’s time in power.
Sir Keir addressed a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party last night (Mon) where he desperately tried to appease his backbenchers.
A Labour source said: “The Prime Minister acknowledged that MPs are having to face incredibly tough decisions.
“He talked about seeing the support people need in his own constituency but also the support they need to get back into work.
“He described the welfare reforms as a Labour cause and part of how we are going to turn the country around.
“Believing in the value of good work, the dignity of supporting people to get back into work and also making sure we have a social security system for when people need it.”
It comes amid reports the Prime Minister could water down the cap on child benefits.
The Department for Work and Pensions is said to be looking at extending the current two-child cap on state handouts to a third child.
But it remains to be seen whether the proposal will be enough to appease rebels.
Rachael Maskell, the York Central MP who is leading organised opposition, told The Telegraph: “I do not support any caps on child benefits, as removing them is the single greatest policy which would take children out of poverty”.
The Government’s plans, set out in a Green Paper earlier this year, would tighten the eligibility criteria for the main disability benefit in England, the personal independence payment (Pip).
Restricting Pip would cut benefits for around 800,000 people, while the sickness-related element of universal credit also set to be cut.
The package of measures are aimed at reducing the number of working-age people on sickness benefits, which grew during the pandemic and has remained high since.
The Government hopes the proposals can save £5 billion a year by the end of the decade.
Meanwhile Chancellor Rachel Reeves is even under pressure from her own local Labour party branch to abandon her plans to cut disability benefits.
