DAN HODGES: The most cack-handed, incompetent welfare Bill in living memory
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer's benefits Bill turns to farce
Sir Keir Starmer has rendered his flagship welfare cuts legislation 'pointless' in a farcical climbdown to win the support of Labour rebels. A planned crackdown on the personal independence payment (Pip), which helps disabled people with extra costs, was dropped just 90 minutes before the crunch vote. The late concession came when it appeared dozens of rebels were still willing to vote down the package, even though it had already been gutted last week to appease critics. Even with the change, 49 Labour MPs voted against the Bill – the biggest rebellion of the Starmer premiership, which marks its one-year anniversary this week. Government ministers faced ridicule from Labour critics, who dubbed the handling of the changes 'shambolic', 'unedifying' and a 'total clusterf--- of Godzilla proportions'. The U-turn means that almost all of the £4.6 billion of annual savings the Bill was meant to deliver have been lost, increasing the chance of new tax rises this autumn. Labour Left-wingers are expected to seize on Sir Keir's weakness and push for further policy changes, such as a new raid on wealth or relaxed rules on immigration. The mishandling of the welfare package, despite a working majority in the House of Commons of 165, is also likely to fuel Labour calls for an overhaul in Number 10. The Prime Minister threw his support behind Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff blamed by some welfare rebels, in Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: 'This is an utter capitulation. Labour's welfare Bill is now a total waste of time. It effectively saves £0, helps no one into work, and does not control spending. 'It's pointless. They should bin it, do their homework, and come back with something serious. Starmer cannot govern.' Mel Stride, the Tory shadow chancellor, said 'This farcical climbdown is the most humiliating moment of Labour's first year in office.' He added: 'This isn't serious government, it's chaos. Labour has bottled welfare reform, left a multi-billion-pound hole in the nation's finances, and set the country on course for higher taxes or a debt spiral. It doesn't have to be this way.' The total disability and incapacity benefits bill is set to continue rising, from £76 billion last year to £98 billion by the end of the decade, piling pressure on the public finances. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, faces a black hole that some estimates suggest could run to tens of billions of pounds, meaning she risks being forced into a new tax raid in her autumn Budget. Helen Miller, the deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the changes would not save any money by 2029-30. She said: 'This is a Government with a majority of 165 that is seemingly unable to reform either pensioner winter fuel payments or working-age disability benefits. That doesn't bode well for those hoping this Government will grasp the nettle and address the deeper, structural challenges facing the UK public finances.' Labour rebels, some of whom are emboldened by forcing billion-pound changes on the Starmer administration, told The Telegraph they will push for new wealth taxes this autumn. One Labour rebel told The Telegraph: 'I'd say the new review will last longer than the PM. His sell-by date just got a lot closer after this week.' Andy McDonald, a Labour MP who voted against the welfare plan, said of wealth taxes: 'It is the broadest shoulders argument. 'Distributed to each according to his need.' That's not Marx, it's the Bible.' A second Labour rebel told The Telegraph: 'I think it is inevitable. I don't think the Chancellor has got any options left.' Sir Keir had been facing a huge rebellion last week when 127 Labour MPs – around one in four – signed an amendment to effectively block the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. In an attempt to quash the revolt last week, Mr McSweeney, Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Sir Alan Campbell, the Chief Whip, personally negotiated a compromise that meant all current recipients of disability benefits would not be affected by the changes. Instead, the new system would kick in from November 2026. A review of the most contentious part – toughening the eligibility for Pip – would also return that autumn. But on Tuesday afternoon, ministers were forced to make yet another alteration, removing the entire section of the Bill referring to changes to Pip. The sudden extra concession, which removed the most important part of the legislation just before the key vote, suggested government whips were not confident the legislation would pass. It eventually did by 335 votes in favour and 260 votes against - a much tighter result than expected given how drastically it had been watered down. As well as the 49 Labour MPs who voted against the Bill, 19 abstained. The concession was announced by Sir Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, during the Commons debate just 90 minutes before votes were due to be called. It came just hours after Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, had insisted there would be no further changes. Ms Kendall, who told broadcasters there were 'lessons to learn' after the result, was the driving force behind the Bill and is likely to face questions over her position. Labour rebels were left infuriated that the Government was continuing to force through a Bill which had lost the vast majority of its major elements, rather than pulling the legislation entirely. Paula Barker, the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree: 'Whilst grateful for the concessions, this has further laid bare the incoherent and shambolic nature of this process. It is the most unedifying spectacle that I have ever seen.' Ian Lavery, the Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington, urged the Government to withdraw the 'hodgepodge of a Bill which means nothing to nobody'. Ms Lavery said: 'This is crazy, man. This is outrageous, man. This Bill isn't fit for purpose.' 'I went out for a banana – and the whole thing changed' Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for the City of Durham, expressed shock at what had happened after she returned to the Commons after leaving for a snack. Ms Foy said: 'I popped out for a banana earlier on and, when I came back in, things had changed again. So I'm even more unclear on what I'm voting on.' The Tories were also critical of how the legislation had been handled. Simon Hoare, the Conservative MP for North Dorset: 'I have never seen a Bill butchered and filleted by their own sponsoring ministers in such a cack-handed way. 'Nobody can understand the purpose of this Bill now. In the interest of fairness, simplicity and natural justice, is it not best to withdraw it, redraft it and start again?' Around 800,000 claimants of Pip had been expected to lose money under the original cuts package, including 370,000 current recipients. The changes have now been shelved. It means the Government is still expected to spend £28.5 billion on Pip by the end of the decade. Already 3.8 million people get the payments, according to official figures. Sir Stephen will continue with his review, announced last week as part of the initial concessions deal, into Pip eligibility and report back in Autumn 2026. But government sources were unable to say if any of the original changes would be kept. That includes the most contentious element, which was to increase the number of points someone must get in an assessment for the payments. The legislation still contains the halving of the health top-up in Universal Credit for new claimants and the scrapping of the work capability assessment, as well as an increase in the amount of standard Universal Credit.
The Sun
20 minutes ago
- The Sun
Scrapping the Rwanda migrant deterrent scheme has been Labour's biggest act of self-harm
French farce NEXT week Britain will roll out the red carpet for the State visit of French President Emmanuel Macron. Someone should give him a tour of our asylum hotels instead. 1 After all, Macron's done precious little for the £480million we handed him to stop the boats. A record 20,000 have now crossed the Channel illegally in 2025 and been taken straight to free accommodation. Clearly, it's not just the migrants taking British taxpayers for a ride. Yesterday, French cops gave a demonstration of their expensive drones, cars and a beach buggy — all of which we helped pay for. Presumably their most-used bit of kit is new binoculars used by the gendarmes to make sure migrants are firmly on their way to Dover. Scrapping the Rwanda scheme has been Labour's biggest act of self-harm. Ministers are left making lame claims about smashing the people-smuggling gangs, while handing migrants millions more in legal aid to fight removal. Desperate Britain is now considering a 'one-in-one-out' returns agreement. In theory, the French set up asylum processing hubs and for every migrant with a genuine claim that they forward to Britain, we send an illegal back. But given their uselessness, how many will the French actually process? How car washes are being fined £3m a year for hiring illegal migrants to work - is your local firm among them? Migrants will keep chancing their luck until they know for a fact they will definitely be deported. Lost control WHAT total chaos. Normally, a Government with a huge majority would mark its first year in office by trumpeting a raft of great achievements. Sir Keir Starmer's Number Ten has chosen to blast itself in both feet. Last week's U-turn to try to salvage his flagship benefits bill was bad enough. Last night's second capitulation to Labour rebels renders it almost meaningless. No savings worthy of the name. No reform. No clue. We can now look forward to a second year in which Labour jacks up our taxes to fill the financial black hole. Still, at least the Prime Minister's Left-wing MPs will be happy. They look like the ones in control now. Cost of Red Ed In fact bills will go UP by a cumulative £104 by 2031 thanks to a massive upgrade of the network and green taxes. His uselessness would almost be considered funny. If it wasn't costing hard-up families yet another fortune.
Sky News
23 minutes ago
- Sky News
Starmer survives rebellion as watered down welfare cuts pass key vote
Sir Keir Starmer's controversial welfare bill has passed its first hurdle in the Commons despite a sizeable rebellion from his MPs. The prime minister's watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill, aimed at saving £5.5bn, was backed by a majority of 75 on Tuesday evening. A total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill - the largest rebellion since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair's Lone Parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University. After multiple concessions made due to threats of a Labour rebellion, many MPs questioned what they were voting for as the bill had been severely stripped down. They ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to Universal Credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the bill voted through "is not expected to deliver any savings over the next four years" because the savings from reducing the Universal Credit health element for new claimants will be roughly offset by the cost of increasing the UC standard allowance. Just 90 minutes before voting started on Tuesday evening disabilities minister Stephen Timms announced the last of a series of concessions made as dozens of Labour MPs spoke of their fears for disabled and sick people if the bill was made law. In a major U-turn, he said changes in eligibility for the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability payment to help pay for extra costs incurred, would not take place until a review he is carrying out into the benefit is published in autumn 2026. An amendment brought by Labour MP Rachael Maskell, which aimed to prevent the bill progressing to the next stage, was defeated but 44 Labour MPs voted for it. 4:31 A Number 10 source told Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby: "Change isn't easy, we've always known that, we're determined to deliver on the mandate the country gave us, to make Britain work for hardworking people. "We accept the will of the house, and want to take colleagues with us, our destination - a social security system that supports the most vulnerable, and enables people to thrive - remains." But the Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride called the vote "farcical" and said the government "ended up in this terrible situation" because they "rushed it". He warned the markets "will have noticed that when it comes to taking tougher decisions about controlling and spending, this government has been found wanting". 1:02 Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: "I wish we'd got to this point in a different way. And there are absolutely lessons to learn. "But I think it's really important we pass this bill at the second reading, it put some really important reforms to the welfare system - tackling work disincentives, making sure that people with severe conditions would no longer be assessed and alongside our investment in employment support this will help people get back to work, because that's the brighter future for them." Yesterday she made further concessions in the hope the rebels' fears would be allayed, but many were concerned the PIP eligibility was going to be changed at the same time the review was published, meaning its findings would not be taken into account. Her changes were: • Current PIP claimants, and any up to November 2026, would have the same eligibility criteria as they do now instead of the stricter measure proposed • A consultation into PIP to be "co-produced" with disabled people and published in autumn 2026 • For existing and future Universal Credit (UC) claimants, the combined value of the standard UC allowance and the health top-up will rise "at least in line with inflation" every year for the rest of this parliament • The UC health top-up, for people with limited ability to work due to a disability or long-term sickness, will get a £300m boost next year - doubling the current amount - then rising to £800m the year after and £1bn in 2028/29.
