The welfare reform vote: All you need to know
– What have MPs agreed to?
MPs voted on Tuesday to allow the Government's Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill to advance to the next stage in becoming law.
Some 126 Labour backbenchers had previously threatened to vote against the legislation, enough to block its passage through the Commons, but in the end only 49 did so.
But ministers were forced to offer a series of concessions to persuade the rebels to back the Government.
– What concessions did the Government make?
Last week, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced a partial U-turn aimed at heading off the rebellion that included three key points.
Firstly, changes to Pip eligibility would only come into effect in November 2026, and anyone claiming the benefit before that date would not be subject to the new rules, instead of imposing the changes on everyone.
Secondly, people claiming the health element of universal credit, and new claimants with the most severe conditions, would see their incomes protected in real terms.
Thirdly, disabilities minister Sir Stephen Timms would conduct a review of the Pip assessment, 'co-produced' with disabled people.
But during Tuesday's debate, Sir Stephen offered a further concession, saying any changes to Pip eligibility would only be introduced after his review had concluded, further delaying them.
– What do the concessions mean for the Government's proposals?
The decision to push back Pip changes to an unspecified date, and leave uncertain the details of what those changes will be, removes a major part of the Government's reform plans.
The proposed changes to universal credit remain, raising the standard allowance while halving the health element for most new claimants from April 2026.
But the concessions will also pose a problem for Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who will need to find extra money now the expected savings from welfare reform are no longer expected to materialise.
Indeed, the Resolution Foundation think tank suggested the concessions meant there would now be no 'net savings' from the reform by 2029/30, a key year for Ms Reeves' fiscal targets.
– What happens next?
The Government has pledged to make the necessary amendments to remove the Pip changes from the Bill when it returns to the Commons next week.
It is then likely to continue through Parliament, becoming law after it has been approved by both MPs and peers.
But wider questions remain for the Government. Not only does Ms Reeves face a fiscal headache, but the Prime Minister could face a political one too as he seeks to repair fractured relations with his backbenchers.
And uncertainty will continue to surround the Government's plans for welfare reform.
Ministers will still want to reduce the cost of the welfare bill and get more people back into work, while Sir Stephen's Pip review could result in another row depending on what it recommends.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
17 minutes ago
- Times
‘Megaquake' that could kill 300,000 is coming, Japan warned
Japan is still unprepared for an expected 'megaquake' that could kill almost 300,000 people despite the authorities having made a basic preparedness plan for such a disaster a decade ago. There is a 75 to 82 per cent chance that a massive Nankai Trough earthquake will happen off the Pacific coast in the next 30 years, a government panel said in January. Worst-case scenarios include 298,000 fatalities, 2.35 million buildings collapsing and damage worth $2 trillion (£1.4 trillion). On Tuesday the government again endorsed a basic plan from 2014 to prevent a widespread catastrophe, but said the steps taken so far would reduce the death toll by only 20 per cent. The state has now called for the implementation of several safety measures over the next decade to reduce the potential death toll by about 80 per cent. Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister, told a government meeting: 'It is necessary for the nation, municipalities, companies and non-profits to come together and take measures in order to save as many lives as possible.' The measures include strengthening homes in areas vulnerable to strong tremors and high tsunami waves. Better evacuation facilities will also be prepared. The government is demanding annual progress reports giving updates on 200 sites earmarked for improvement. The Philippine Sea plate is being thrust under the Eurasian plate along the 800km Nankai Trough. The tectonic feature has caused many earthquakes over the centuries and big ones happen roughly every 100 to 200 years. Magnitude 8.0 earthquakes along the trough in 1944 and 1946 left thousands dead and injured. Although scientists cannot predict exactly when quakes will strike, many tourists are staying away from Japan on the advice of a manga artist who apparently predicted the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that devastated northeastern Japan in March 2011. More than 18,000 died. Originally published in 1999, The Future I Saw by Ryo Tatsuki is based on the artist's dreams. The work was updated in 2021 and predicts the next disaster will occur on Saturday. It suggests that a massive seabed rift will open between Japan and the Philippines, generating tsunamis three times as tall as those in the 2011 quake, which reached as high as 40m.
Daily Record
20 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Lifeline for Alexander Dennis workers as SNP Government considers furlough scheme
More than 400 staff could lose their jobs if the bus manufacturer proceeds with a plan to close factories in Scotland and switch production to England. Hundreds of workers who face redundancy from an historic bus manufacturer could be put on furlough under a plan being discussed by the SNP Government. Alexander Dennis (ADL) sparked anger last month when the Falkirk-based firm announced plans to close its two factories at Camelon and Larbert and centralise production in England. The company has now extended its 45-day consultation scheme with 400 workers who stand to lose their jobs if the shut-downs are rubber-stamped. Shona Robison, the Finance Secretary, said today Government officials have raised the prospect of a furlough scheme with ADL which could avoid the need for compulsory redundancies. The bus manufacturer, which has been based in Falkirk for more than a century, has blamed a shortage of orders for the environmentally-friendly double-decker vehicles it specialises in. ADL recently completed more 160 buses for Greater Manchester's new Bee public transport network - and Labour has questioned why a similar order has not been made by a Scottish local authority. In a letter to Holyrood's economy committee, Robison said: "The company has been clear there are a number of factors that impact on its decision about the future of its workforce in Scotland - the availability of orders both in the short and long term, changes to the regulatory landscape around procurement, and assistance in supporting a short-term company furlough scheme. "The Scottish Government is continuing to work tirelessly on this issue, and is maintaining close contact with the company, the unions and the UK Government to understand all options to support the workforce. "In relation to orders, the key issue is to establish greater confidence in demand for the double deck vehicles which ADL manufacture in Larbert. "Given the relative size of the Scottish bus market, the English market for double deck vehicles is clearly critical. There are around 3,500 public sector vehicle buses operating in Scotland, with a split between double deck and single deck. Meanwhile there are around 30,000 such vehicles in the English market." The SNP minister added: "Officials have met with ADL to discuss a potential company furlough scheme which, if progressed, would be the business's offer to its employees to prevent compulsory redundancies among the manufacturing workforce, and would be administered by the business. "We are in discussions with ADL on the potential for the Government to support the company's scheme for a defined period." Kenny MacAskill, Alba Party leader, said: "A furlough is fine and welcome. But ensuring orders is the solution and essential." Unions have previously called for a two-week extension to the consultation period to coincide with the annual Falkirk Fair, when businesses traditionally close for summer. MSPs were previously told buses built in China are around £100,000 cheaper than buses built at the Scottish factories facing closure.
The Guardian
21 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘The ground shook': drone attacks help Haitian government wrest control of capital from criminal gangs
The earth beneath Jimmy Antoine's apartment shuddered and for a split second he feared another natural disaster had struck, like the 2010 cataclysm that brought Port-au-Prince to its knees. 'The ground shook like it does during an earthquake. You tremble like everything might collapse,' said the 23-year-old trainee mechanic, recalling how he and his panicked neighbours raced out on to the street. This time, though, the jolt had come not from deep below, but from high above: it was the detonation of a weaponized drone of the sort being used to hunt Haitian gang members who have hijacked most of the country's capital since the start of a coordinated criminal insurrection early last year. 'People had told me about drones … but this one caught me off guard … It felt like it exploded right where I was standing,' said Antoine of the 6am attack last month near Sico, the working-class neighbourhood where he lives. As Haiti's beleaguered government struggles to reconquer a sprawling seaside city now almost entirely controlled by the gangs, armed drones have become a key part of their arsenal. Since the drone campaign began in March, at least 300 people have been killed by the remote-control devices and almost 400 injured, according to a local human rights group called RNDDH. Videos of those attacks have spread rapidly on social media, painting a terrifying portrait of the drone warfare unfolding on the streets of one of the Caribbean's largest cities. One such video, which the Guardian identified as having taken place in a gang-run area called Fort National, shows four people – at least two of them armed – moving through an alley before being hit from above by an explosion. Blue and white smoke fills the backstreet as the men scatter. Another clip, posted on social media by a US missionary, shows an attack on an evangelical theological seminary about 2 miles south-west of Fort National, not far from Jimmy Antoine's home. At least one person can be seen sprinting for cover as the drone swoops towards its second-floor target and explodes. 'I have fond memories of teaching in the very classroom it struck,' Luke Perkins, the president of the missionary group Crossworld, tweeted in mid-June. Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the drones used in Port-au-Prince appeared to be first-person-view (FPV) drones. Images of one such improvised weapon were shared on social media in March, reputedly from the aftermath of a police raid on a gang stronghold in the Lower Delmas area. The Guardian was able to identify this model of FPV drone, and found it being sold on Chinese e-commerce sites for about $200, making them relatively cheap and expendable. Ball said it was not possible to determine from the images the exact munitions being used but it was likely the drones had either been fitted with explosives intended for commercial mining, or black powder – a homemade mix of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur that is used in fireworks. 'These tactics are used in other parts of the world, especially in the Ukraine-Russia war. Using first-person-view drones to deliver explosive devices has become extremely common there, and has been seen in other conflicts as well,' Bell added. One other video that surfaced earlier this year showed a targeted drone strike on a moving car less than 500 metres (547 yards) away from the compound believed to belong to Johnson André, a notorious gang boss known by the nickname 'Izo' whose gang is called 5 Segonn ('Five Seconds'). The car was driving near waterways reportedly used for drug and gun trafficking by the gangs. The provenance of the online drone videos remains unclear but many suspect at least some of them are being produced and released by a shadowy government-recruited armed group which has been enlisted to bolster the counterattack against the gangs. The aerial videos generally depict 'action shots' or the moment the drone strikes on a target, often edited and set to energetic music. Last month the New York Times, citing senior Haitian and US government officials, reported that the controversial Blackwater founder Erik Prince had been working with the Haitian government 'to carry out deadly operations against gangs that are terrorizing the nation and threatening to take over its capital'. The newspaper claimed American contractors, including Prince, had been hired 'to work on a secret taskforce to deploy drones meant to kill gang members'. Two experts said Prince had recently shipped 'a large cache of weapons' to Haiti and was seeking to recruit Haitian American military veterans to send to Port-au-Prince as part of a 150-strong mercenary force over the coming months. Earlier this month, Fritz Alphonse Jean, the head of the transitional council that has attempted to govern Haiti since its prime minister, Ariel Henry, was toppled early in the gang rebellion, confirmed that a private security firm had been engaged by the government. But he declined to name it or say how it was being paid. Jean argued it was impossible for Haiti's underequipped and underfunded police to 'face these challenges alone'. Perhaps surprisingly, Haitian human rights activists have backed the use of drone warfare to target criminal groups who have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes and killed thousands. A UN-backed international security force, led by Kenyan police officers, has so far failed to repel the criminal advance. 'For us … drones are entirely proportionate to the level of weaponry the gangs possess,' said Rosy Auguste Ducéna, a respected human rights advocate who works for RNDDH in Port-au-Prince. Ducéna said her group supported such strikes against gang strongholds. 'Why? Because we consider the sophistication of the weapons in the gangs' hands, how those weapons are used to inflict suffering on the rest of the population – the crimes we know about: killings, thefts, rape, gang-rape, the burning of people's entire belongings,' she said. Ducéna thought drones were 'instilling fear' in heavily armed gang members and appeared to have such criminals on the back foot. 'We cannot dismiss the fact that these operations are having an impact on them. The element of uncertainty is also very important. The gangs don't necessarily know when or where a strike will happen, and we believe that's one reason for the drop in gang activity we're currently seeing,' she said, describing how the fear that has gripped her city's streets was gradually subsiding. 'Many banks have reopened, and many schools are open again. There is no longer the same tension as during the height of the insecurity … There is a glimmer of hope,' said Ducéna, although she voiced concern that the taskforce coordinating the drone attacks was being led by the office of the prime minister, Alix Fils-Aimé, rather than security officials. 'We believe [this is] extremely dangerous for democracy. A political authority should not be leading a team conducting this type of operation,' Ducéna said. Foreign human rights activists and specialists question the efficacy – not to mention legality – of using weaponized drones in a country which, despite all the bloodshed, is not officially considered to be in a state of conflict. 'I don't think it works. They haven't killed a single gang leader after three, going on four months of doing this, and we don't know how many civilians have been harmed,' said one expert, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. 'It just shows how absolutely desperate the government and the police [are].' 'I think it's a sign of desperation … It shows how desperate people are to have some sign that … something can be done to stop [the gangs]. That's really what it is all about,' they added, fretting that gang leaders might adopt the same tactics, exacerbating an already dire situation. 'What if they [the gangs] start shooting off drones? The escalation factor is also very worrying.' Earlier this month there were signs that gangs were already seeking to build their own arsenal of drones when three alleged 'terrorists' were arrested in the neighbouring Dominican Republic trying to buy the devices. In recent years both Mexican cartels and drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro have started using armed drones to launch attacks on authorities or rivals. On the ground in Port-au-Prince, many offer a more positive assessment of the aerial offensive. Last month, Belony Jassé, an 18-year-old high school student who said he heard drone explosions 'all the time', finally managed to return to the home that gangs once forced her to flee after security improved. The sound of drone attacks terrified the algebra-loving teenager. 'It makes you jump. It's scary. You don't expect the noise. You might drop whatever you're holding. The sound is very loud. It breaks your heart, it takes time to recover. It's heavy,' he said. But Jassé credited those attacks – coupled with an intensification of ground operations by police and vigilante groups – with the recent progress in his neighbourhood. 'I don't hear much gunfire any more. Last night I hardly heard any shots … This week I haven't heard any gunfire at all,' he said. The situation remained critical, Jassé admitted. 'But compared to how it was, I'm not scared any more.'
