Labour rebellion brewing over welfare reform plans
Fairness for the people who need support and fairness for the taxpayer' – that was what Work & Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said she was aiming for as she set out the details of the government's plan to reform disability benefits.
But the proposal to tighten the eligibility for Personal Independence Payments, or PIPs, is worrying not only disability charities but many Labour backbenchers, despite assurances of protection for the claimants with the most severe conditions.
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Daily Mail
21 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Benefits bill on course to rise by £18billion a YEAR without reform - equivalent to more than the entire police budget
Spending on sickness benefits is on course to rise by £18 billion without reform – more than the entire police budget. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is facing a furious backlash from Labour MPs and campaigners who warn that 'cruel' cuts to disability benefits will drive hundreds of thousands into poverty. But official figures published alongside the Government's long-awaited welfare legislation yesterday reveal that spending on benefits will continue to soar even if the reforms survive a Commons rebellion, with many Labour MPs threatening the first big revolt of Keir Starmer 's premiership. An impact assessment reveals that spending on sickness and disability benefits for working-age adults is set to jump by £18 billion a year to £70 billion by the next election, if nothing is done to trim the bill. The report adds: 'The increase alone is more than the entire police budget.' The 2025-26 police budget is £17.4 billion. A Whitehall source said the surge in spending underlined the need for reform, adding: 'These figures show that the current welfare system is unsustainable.' Ms Kendall's reforms will trim £5 billion from the total unless they are blocked by mutinous Labour MPs. But spending on personal independence payments (PIP), which is at the centre of Labour's civil war on welfare, will rise by £8 billion to £31 billion – an increase of more than a third. Despite a tightening of eligibility criteria, the Department for Work and Pensions estimates another 750,000 will be claiming the benefit by the next election. Ms Kendall said the welfare package 'marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity'. The cuts were needed to put the welfare budget 'on a more sustainable path'. 'This is about ensuring fairness for people who need support and fairness for the taxpayer too,' she added. But Labour critics warned there was 'no moral case' for taking benefits away from people currently classed as 'disabled'. Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said the scale of the cuts 'would have made George Osborne blush'. She added: 'We cannot underestimate their human and political cost. The public will not forgive us if we remove support from those most in need of it.' Fellow Left-winger Richard Burgon said: 'These cruel cuts will drive hundreds of thousands of people into poverty. These cuts should have been dropped – now they should be voted down.' More than 100 Labour MPs have raised concerns about the proposals with party whips, but ministers are privately confident they can avoid a humiliating defeat in the Commons early next month. The most controversial cut involves ending eligibility for PIP payments for 800,000 people, who will lose around £4,500 each. The Government's own assessment suggests this will drive 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. The package also involves 'rebalancing' Universal Credit (UC) payments to end the 'perverse' incentive that makes it attractive for people to claim they are too sick to work. The standard UC payment of just over £400 a month will be increased by more than inflation, while the 'health element', currently worth an extra £423, will be frozen. The changes will hit around three million people. The Policy Exchange think-tank has warned that the sickness benefits bill will hit £100 billion by 2029/30 – meaning £1 in every £4 of income tax will be spent on it.
Daily Record
31 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Former Labour MP calls for party to ditch 'rigged' voting system
Scottish Labour members have said they are concerned the system could be manipulated to block left-wing candidates. A former Labour MP has called for the party to halt the use of a controversial computer system which is part of a Met police fraud probe. Beth Winter said she was appalled to learn that Scottish Labour has been using the Anonyvoter system to help select candidates for the next Holyrood election. It comes after the Sunday Mail revealed that members in Scotland had contacted the party over fears the computer software could be manipulated to block left-wing candidates from standing as MSPs. Similar concerns emerged about Labour's selection process for the 2024 general election with the Met police currently investigating reports of voter fraud in a London Labour branch. Winter said: ' The system shouldn't be used for any future contests because of the concerns that I and others have already raised. There's no independent oversight whatsoever. 'The system is highly questionable and it should not be used under any circumstances. It is not transparent at all.' Winter, former MP for Cynon Valley in Wales, called for an independent investigation into the Anonyvoter system after she lost her selection process in 2023 as did Sam Tarry - the partner of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. Despite winning the majority of votes from those who attended their selection contests in person, both Winter and Tarry lost via the online vote. Scottish Labour members have said they are concerned the system could be manipulated to block left-wing candidates standing for Holyrood and pointed to a recent selection in Dundee between MSPs Mercedes Villalba and Michael Marra. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Despite winning the vote in person Villalba lost to Marra due to the online votes with Marra receiving a significantly higher number of votes through Anonyvoter. Members who contacted the party asking for reassurance or for another system to be used were either ignored or told that there had been no issues in Scotland and Anonyvoter would continue to be used in selections. Winter said those hoping to stand for election for Labour should demand a contest without the computer system. She said: 'The best advice is to insist on an in-person hustings and a paper ballot because once Anonyvoter is included then there is no independent oversight. 'There needs to be independent tellers overseeing the count, trade union people involved as well. That is the only way that any trust can be had in the selection process because I have absolutely no trust in Anonyvoter whatsoever.' In March last year Winter instructed lawyers in an effort to understand what happened in her selection process. She said despite reassurances the party failed to provide data they had previously agreed to hand over. She quit Labour in November 2024, accusing party bosses of 'protecting the ruling class' and having an 'authoritarian agenda'.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Disability benefit claimants to rise by 750,000 despite Starmer reforms
The number of people claiming disability benefits in Britain will jump by 750,000 over the next five years despite Sir Keir Starmer's attempt to reduce the welfare bill, the Government has admitted. An official impact assessment of Labour's benefits reforms found that the total cost of two disability benefits would increase by £8 billion by 2030 as the number of claimants continued to soar. The rate will rise despite a crackdown on the criteria for some benefits by Sir Keir that prompted a rebellion from Labour backbenchers. There are around five million people currently claiming disability benefits in England and Wales, including 3.7 million on PIP (personal independence payment) and a further 1.4 million on disability living allowance (DLA). The Government had warned that figure was set to spiral in the coming years without reform to the benefits system, because of a large increase in claimants with mental health conditions and a rise in fraud. But even with Labour's changes, the number will increase by 750,000 people by 2030, while costs will increase from £23 billion to £31 billion a year. Labour's changes include a new, tougher criteria for PIP, as well as a cut to the sickness-related element of Universal Credit (UC). Ministers estimate that these reforms will save £5 billion a year by the end of this Parliament. Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, previously said there were 1,000 new PIP awards every day, which she described as adding a city the size of Leicester to the welfare books every year. On Wednesday, the Government laid the legislation to enact its welfare reforms, which Ms Kendall said marked 'the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity'. But Labour rebels pointed to the Government's own figures showing that 250,000 more people, including 50,000 children, are likely to fall into poverty by 2030 because of the changes. The impact assessment on Wednesday confirmed previously published estimates that changes to PIP entitlement rules could see about 800,000 people lose out, with an average loss of £4,500 per year. The changes to UC are expected to mean an estimated 2.25 million people lose an average of £500 per year. The UC losses are to people claiming an additional rate of the benefit because they have a 'limited capacity to work', which the Government says encourages jobless people not to go back into employment. Ministers argue that 3.9 million households who do not claim the extra allowance will gain an average of £265 each year from an increase to the standard allowance. Rebel MPs have secured a concession from ministers that PIP and UC claimants losing some benefits will be given a 13-week financial support package, up from a planned four-week package. But documents show the Government has ignited fury from Labour MPs without securing an overall reduction in the cost of welfare, while the number of people claiming disability benefits will rise by around 15 per cent. The £8 billion cost increase under the new system is equivalent to around five times the annual revenue that Labour says it will receive from imposing VAT on private schools, and more than the cost of building Britain's two aircraft carriers. The impact assessment said that without reform, the cost of working-age sickness and disability benefits would have increased by £18 billion a year to a total £70 billion. 'The increase alone is more than the entire police budget,' the document said. Ms Kendall told MPs that Britain's social security system was 'at a crossroads' as a result of rising costs since the pandemic. She said: 'Unless we reform it, more people will be denied opportunities, and it may not be there for those who need it. 'This legislation represents a new social contract and marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity. 'This will give people peace of mind, while also fixing our broken social security system so it supports those who can work to do so while protecting those who cannot.' Sir Keir said he was 'determined' to ensure the reforms go through because he feels the welfare system 'doesn't work for anyone'. 'It doesn't work for those that want to get back to work, and it certainly doesn't work for the taxpayer,' the Prime Minister told ITV, adding that 'those that need to be protected should be protected'.
