DWP disability benefits cuts could be stopped as MPs rebel

South Wales Guardian

7 hours ago

Some 108 MPs signed their names to a Commons bid to halt the Government's welfare reforms in their tracks - crucially, that's enough to threaten Sir Keir Starmer's majority.
The rebellion, the Prime Minister's largest yet, would be enough to defeat the Government's plans if opposition MPs joined the Labour rebels. The signatures appear on a reasoned amendment declining to give the welfare reform Bill a second reading when it returns to the Commons on July 1.
The amendment calls for the Commons to decline to continue scrutinising the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill 'because the Government's own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of these provisions, including 50,000 children'.
The Government published its UC & PIP Payment Bill today.
Wales already has the highest poverty rates among disabled people in the UK - this will push them deeper into hardship.
We wrote to the DWP urging the cuts be abandoned.
I will be voting against this Bill. pic.twitter.com/LY6tY5mF1S
There has been no formal consultation with disabled people who will be impacted by the changes, the MPs said.
They also point to the fact that an analysis of the impact of the reforms on employment from the Office for Budget Responsibility will not be published until the autumn.
Several Labour select committee chairs were among those who put their name to the amendment, including chairwoman of the Treasury committee Dame Meg Hillier, and Debbie Abrahams, chairwoman of the work and pensions select committee.
Once again I'm having to say that PIP has such a low occurrence of fraud that the DWP in 2024 said it considered PIP to have a 0% fraud rate. PIP isn't the issue, it's extremely hard to be awarded and it's an in work benefit. Surely if they must look at any benefit they look at… pic.twitter.com/c4jNwTBTYV
The MPs who signed the amendment 'want the Government to listen and to think again on this Bill', Ms Abrahams said.
She added: 'We are being asked to vote for this Bill before disabled people have been consulted, before impact assessments have been conducted and before we have given enough time to some of the Government's key policies – investing in the NHS, to the right to try, and to work coaching – (to) have been able to bed in.'
Vicky Foxcroft, the former Government whip who resigned over the welfare plans, has also signed the amendment.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would need to select the amendment when MPs debate the legislation at its second reading.
Under the proposals in the Bill, ministers will limit eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of Universal Credit (UC).
Ministers have previously said the reforms could save up to £5 billion a year.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall spent Monday night speaking to backbench MPs about the reforms at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).
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Those leaving the meeting insisted there was broad consensus in the room, with only few MPs standing up to make their opposition known.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told the PLP that the plans are 'rooted in fairness'.
She argued they are about ensuring the survival of the welfare state so there is always a safety net for those in need of it.
Ms Kendall added: 'Above all, they are about our belief that everyone can fulfil their potential and live their hopes and dreams when, collectively, we provide them with real opportunities and support.
'This is the better future we seek to build for our constituents and our country.'