The Labour MPs rebelling against UK Government's welfare reforms

Wales Online

5 hours ago

The Labour MPs rebelling against UK Government's welfare reforms
It includes three MPs from Wales
A sizeable number of Labour's MPs have voiced discontent about the proposals
(Image: 2025 WPA Pool/Getty )
More than 100 Labour MPs have publicly backed a bid to halt the UK Government's welfare reforms. Some 108 MPs, including three from Wales, have backed what is called an amendment which could stop the reform plans in their tracks when it is voted on in the Commons on July 1.
The so-called reasoned amendment is a way MPs can formally object to a Bill. If the reasoned amendment is selected by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and the majority of MPs vote in favour of it, the bill will not be allowed to continue its passage through Parliament.
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The number who have signed the letter is enough to threaten Sir Keir Starmer's majority and the rebels could sink the plan, if opposition MPs joined the Labour rebels. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
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It remains unclear whether the Conservatives would back the rebels. Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel would not state the Conservatives position when asked.
She told Sky News the Tories backed the "fundamental principle of welfare reform, which could lead to structural changes in our country which our economy needs".
It is signed by Henry Tufnell, Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, Steve Witherden MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr - who had already indicated he would vote against the Bill, and Ruth Jones, MP for Newport West, who is also chair of the Welsh affairs select committee.
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She is one of 10 Labour select committee chairs to sign the letter.
The amendment, published on Tuesday's order paper, notes there is a "need for the reform of the social security system" but it 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".
There has been no formal consultation with disabled people who will be impacted by the changes, the MPs said.
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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.
Debbie Abrahams, chairwoman of the work and pensions select committee is one of those who has signed the amendment. The MPs "want the Government to listen and to think again on this Bill", she said.
"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.
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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.
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Ministers have previously said the reforms could save up to £5 billion a year. Amid the growing threat of rebellion, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden warned on Tuesday morning it would be a "very serious thing" for Labour MPs to effectively vote down the Bill at its first major outing in the Commons.
He added: "You're right to point out that this phrase reasoned amendment isn't just a small tweak. It would stop the legislative process if it succeeded."
Mr McFadden insisted the growing costs of welfare were unsustainable, as a "city the size of Leicester" was being added to the population on benefits each year.
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"I don't think as the party of labour, the party of work, we can sit back and be relaxed about so many people going on to long-term sickness and disability benefits," he added.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, meanwhile, would not say whether the Conservatives would side with the Labour rebels in the Commons.
But she told Sky News the Tories backed the "fundamental principle of welfare reform, which could lead to structural changes in our country which our economy needs".
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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).