Starmer says welfare reform vote will go ahead despite mounting Labour revolt
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will have a showdown with Labour rebels over the welfare reforms which have split his party.
The Prime Minister said the Commons vote would go ahead on Tuesday as planned despite 120 Labour MPs publicly backing a move to block the legislation.
Sir Keir said his party was elected 'to change that which is broken' and the welfare system 'doesn't work for anyone'.
Insisting the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would not be pulled in the face of the mounting rebellion, Sir Keir told LBC: 'There'll be a vote on Tuesday, we're going to make sure we reform the welfare system.'
The legislation plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment, the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit, with the aim of getting more people back into work and saving up to £5 billion a year.
Existing claimants will be given a 13-week phase-out period of financial support, a move seen as a bid to head off opposition.
But the fact so many Labour MPs are prepared to put their names to a 'reasoned amendment', a move which would stop the Bill in its tracks, shows how entrenched the opposition is.
Defending the plans while at the Nato summit in The Hague, Sir Keir said the current system 'traps people in a position where they can't get into work'.
'In fact, it's counterproductive, it works against them getting into work,' he said.
'So we have to reform it, and that is a Labour argument, it's a progressive argument.'
The rebels argue that disabled people have not been properly consulted about the plan and say further analysis is required before making any changes.
Social security minister Sir Stephen Timms said he was 'looking forward to the debate' next week.
He told the Commons Work and Pensions Committee the changes need to be made urgently to cut the spiralling welfare bill.
Committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams, who is one of the Labour MPs to have signed the amendment to block the legislation, asked why the provisions within the Bill had not been consulted on.
Sir Stephen said: 'Essentially because of the urgency of the changes needing to be made.'
He said the cost of Pip had gone up from £12 billion before the pandemic to £22 billion last year 'and that is not a sustainable trajectory'.
Setting out the impact of the reforms, he told the Committee 370,000 people getting Pip under the current system would not be receiving it by the end of the decade
'That will be a number of people whose income is lower,' he said.
'Of course, I'd love it for many of those to be able to move into work, and we're going to be providing the employment support to make that ambition realistic for people in a way that it hasn't been in the past. '
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham added his voice to the senior figures calling on the Government to reconsider.
He told BBC Newsnight: 'When the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) delivers its collective wisdom in such numbers, it is invariably right. And it is right on this.
'I would say to the Government, listen to the PLP.'
His comments came after his London counterpart, Sir Sadiq Khan, said that ministers 'must urgently think again' about the plans.
Labour's First Minister of Wales Baroness Eluned Morgan has also called for a rethink of the plans.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, who has already taken steps to soften the impact of the welfare Bill, has been locked in talks with backbenchers as she seeks to win over those opposed to the measures.
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch said the Tories would lend the Government votes to pass the legislation but only if Labour rules out tax rises in the autumn budget as well as reducing unemployment and lowering the welfare budget.
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Ministers are discussing the prospect of further concessions to win over a growing list of Labour MPs poised to rebel against planned cuts to disability benefits. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said talks between backbenchers and Government were 'ongoing' on Thursday night as Downing Street seeks to head off what would be Sir Keir Starmer's first Commons defeat on Tuesday. It came as six more Labour MPs added their names to an amendment that would halt the legislation in its tracks, arguing disabled people have not been properly consulted and further scrutiny of the changes is needed. The new signatories include North Ayrshire and Arran MP Irene Campbell and Colchester MP Pam Cox, both of whom won their seats in the party's 2024 landslide general election victory, taking the Labour total to 126. Stroke-on-Trent Central MP Gareth Snell, Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend MP Mary Glindon, Tamworth MP Sarah Edwards and Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins also added their names. 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To leave it until a few days before the vote, it's not a very good way of running the country. 'It's not very grown up.' They said that minor concessions would not be enough, warning: 'I don't think you can tinker with this. They need to go back to the drawing board.' According to the Government's impact assessment, the welfare reforms as a whole could push an extra 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into relative poverty. Asked whether she thought there were hundreds of thousands of people claiming disability benefits who were not disabled, Ms Rayner said: 'No, what we're saying though is that the welfare system has to be able to have longevity.' Earlier on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer defended his leadership against accusations he had misjudged the mood in his party, insisting he is 'comfortable with reading the room'. At a press conference at the Nato summit in The Hague, the Prime Minister said: 'Is it tough going? Are there plenty of people and noises off? Yes, of course, there always are, there always have been, there always will be. 'But the important thing is to focus on the change that we want to bring about.' Later on Wednesday, armed forces minister Luke Pollard echoed the Deputy Prime Minister, telling Sky News's Politics Hub show that 'of course' the Government was in talks about possibly making changes. 'Of course we are, and I think there's a concern that's very valid and real for lots of my colleagues. They're not doing this to cause trouble or be argumentative,' he said. 'They're doing it because they have a genuine, heartfelt concern about some of the impacts. ' He said some of the reforms would be supported across the party but 'where there is concerns… those discussions will continue until the vote and beyond.' Other senior Labour figures outside Parliament, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, have publicly expressed their opposition to the plans. Meanwhile, the Tories seem unlikely to lend the Government their support, with leader Kemi Badenoch setting out conditions for doing so including a commitment to rule out tax rises in the autumn budget and further cut the benefits bill.
