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The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Labour's welfare revolt: ministers should take MPs more seriously
MPs and the parliamentary process rarely get a good press. Most citizens do not trust either of them much. As a result, the decline of parliament's role in national life has been a familiar topic for decades. Yet, when push comes to shove, as it has done again this week with Labour's important backbench revolt against the government's welfare plans, it turns out that MPs actually matter quite a lot. By Thursday morning, more than 120 Labour MPs had signalled opposition to the government's universal credit and personal independence payment bill. With the bill due to be voted on next Tuesday in the House of Commons, and with Labour's working majority currently standing at 165, that level of rebellion was irresistible. If the bill as it stands had come to a vote, Labour would have lost. This would have been a fundamental humiliation for Sir Keir Starmer, almost a year to the day after Labour was elected. Speaking to journalists two days earlier, Sir Keir had stuck to his guns. There was a 'clear moral case' for the bill's reforms, he insisted. A day later, he dismissed the revolt as 'noises off'. Those responses were tin-eared. Back in the Commons on Thursday, the prime minister had to face reality. He admitted talks were now taking place 'to get this right'. They would continue over the coming days, so that MPs 'can begin making change together on Tuesday'. There were claims on Thursday night that a big climbdown was taking shape. That seems inevitable, but it is not yet clear exactly what the changes to be put to MPs on Tuesday will be. The rebels say eligibility for disability benefits is being tightened too fiercely, and that the health related element of universal credit is being cut too hard. But ministers remain publicly committed to pressing on and making savings. Finding enough common ground for concessions that will definitively head off a government defeat is hard, since it involves a fundamental clash of approaches. Backbench revolts are a feature of modern politics. Yet this confrontation between Labour and its MPs is unusually large by any standards. It is a reminder that big majorities can bring as many headaches as small majorities more obviously do. Above all, it is a reminder that backbench revolts tend to be the visible tip of a larger iceberg of dissatisfaction with a government. Many of the Labour MPs who are challenging the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, over welfare reform would not describe themselves as natural rebels. But their willingness to join a revolt on this major issue should not be dismissed as a one-off. It is likely to represent something broader too. This is why the complaints about the No 10 operation should be taken seriously. Sir Keir's staff may or may not be 'over-excitable boys', as some complaints have it, or operate the bunker mentality that is sometimes alleged. The fact is, however, that this revolt was visible long ago, but was not addressed in a professional manner. The policy was wrong. The opposition to it was broadly based. But the response of Labour's parliamentary managers and political strategists was hopeless. They did not take MPs seriously enough. In a manner echoing the way Dominic Cummings displayed such disdain for Tory backbenchers after 2019, Labour ministers and staffers seem to have thought that unhappy MPs do not matter. Sir Keir and his team are discovering just how wrong they were. It serves them right. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Labour MPs warn winter fuel could be Starmer's 'Poll Tax moment' as panic grows over Reform 'working class insurrection'
Labour MPs ramped up their revolt against Keir Starmer over winter fuel and benefits cuts today - warning he faces a Poll Tax moment. Diane Abbott compared the public backlash to that faced by Margaret Thatcher during a bruising debate in Westminster Hall. The former frontbencher said Labour's local elections drubbing represented anger 'boiling over', urging Sir Keir to take a 'moral' stance and drop the policies. Other Labour MPs rowed in to insist they will oppose the welfare reforms when they come before the Commons. Meanwhile, 'Blue Labour' peer Lord Glasman has urged the government to be more radical, saying Nigel Farage was leading a 'working class insurrection against the progressive ruling class'. Sir Keir squirmed over the winter fuel allowance at PMQs this afternoon as he was accused of hammering pensioners. Keir Starmer squirmed over the winter fuel allowance at PMQs this afternoon as he was accused of hammering pensioners During a bad-tempered PMQs, Kemi Badenoch said the government was 'balancing the books on the backs' of the older generation. But Sir Keir retorted that only Labour was addressing the 'challenges we face', pointing to the trade deal with India announced yesterday. Sir Keir is under huge pressure to change direction following the dire performance in the local contests. Labour lost the Runcorn by-election along with nearly 200 councillors as Reform translated its polling into real power. The Red Wall group of Labour MPs met last night and issued a statement urging Sir Keir to 'rebuild' trust. The group said that 'responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, isn't weak'. The unrest was fuelled today as a poll showed Reform's support hitting a new record high. The insurgents were on 29 per cent in the latest YouGov poll carried out in the wake of the local elections, up three on last week. That was seven points ahead of Labour, who were down one. The research found the Tories were on just 17 per cent, the lowest since the end of Theresa May 's leadership. Speaking during the Westminster Hall debate on disability benefits, Ms Abbott said: 'The country's anger at these cuts boiled over last week in a spectacular fashion with a by-election in Runcorn where Labour lost its 16th safest seat... 'The single most important reason for vote switching was anger at the government cutting winter fuel allowance and welfare cuts like the cuts proposed for PIP. Immigration comes well down the list.' Ms Abbott demanded to know 'in what universe is slashing benefits for the disabled moral?' She accused the government of making 'a conscious choice to balance the books on the backs of people on welfare'. 'Some of us are old enough to remember Mrs Thatcher and her poll tax and it was her undoing,' she swiped. 'It is not too late to drop the winter fuel and the cuts to PIP and I plead with my government to do so.' Fellow Labour MP Rachael Maskell, another strident critic of the cuts, said: 'Colleagues we are better than this... 'I will be voting against these cuts because I am Labour and disabled people matter.' Backbencher Nadia Whittome said: 'If the government goes through with these disability benefit cuts it will be making a huge mistake which the public will not forgive us for.' Labour MP Steve Witherden also indicated he is ready to vote against the benefits cuts. Appearing at a Policy Exchange event in London, Lord Glasman - a Labour thinker with connections to Trumpian factions in the US - said the time of delegating decisions out to supernational bodies had past Appearing at a Policy Exchange event in London, Lord Glasman - a Labour thinker with connections to Trumpian factions in the US - said the time of delegating decisions out to supernational bodies had past. He insisted that from the perspective of the White House 'the worst thing you can be is a globaliser'. 'Politics is back. This is the terrifying reality for our ruling class. IS that the people of the country are making their views known extremely clearly, they think there is a better path ahead.'
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour revolt on winter fuel mounts as poll shows Reform with a SEVEN POINT lead - hitting record high support after local elections surge
A Labour revolt on winter fuel allowance mounted today as a poll showed Reform's support hitting a new record high. Nigel Farage 's party was on 29 per cent in the latest YouGov poll carried out in the wake of the local elections, up three on last week. That was seven points ahead of Labour, who were down one. The research found the Tories were on just 17 per cent, the lowest since the end of Theresa May 's leadership. A separate survey has suggested Labour is on track to come third in Welsh elections due next year - a long way behind Plaid and Reform. Keir Starmer is under huge pressure to change direction following the dire performance in the local contests. Labour lost the Runcorn by-election along with nearly 200 councillors as Reform translated its polling into real power. The PM has admitted the Government must 'explain the decisions that we've taken' after a 'disappointing' set of results. The Red Wall group of Labour MPs met last night and issued a statement urging Sir Keir to 'rebuild' trust. The goup said that 'responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, isn't weak'. Louise Haigh, who resigned as a Cabinet minister in November, said a shift was needed on winter fuel and benefits curbs. She told the BBC's Newsnight: 'I don't think we can underestimate how catastrophic those results were last week for the Labour Party… people don't really feel that we're taking the action to address the issues that matter, whether that be on the cost of living, the public services or on the economy more widely, and that's very frustrating. 'I think the unpopular decisions are overshadowing the good ones. I think this Labour government has a lot to offer, whether it be the Employment Rights Bill, the increase in the minimum wage, the massive investment in our NHS, but people have heard the winter fuel allowance and the welfare cuts overwhelmingly.' Ms Haigh said Labour should 'properly explore' a tax on the wealthy as an alternative to 'cutting public spending and cutting money from the people who can least afford it'. She told the BBC: 'There are other options on the table be it a land tax, be it proper reform of council tax that hasn't been reformed since the '90s. 'We just cannot continue down this path that means, as I say, we keep coming and raiding those people that can least afford it.' Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan said yesterday the decision to means-test the previously universal benefit was 'something that comes up time and again' as she called for a 'rethink'. The Guardian reported that, while a full restoration of the universal winter fuel payment was unlikely, the Government was considering whether to increase the £11,500 threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance. However, Downing Street flatly ruled out a change in the policy yesterday - hours after Health Secretary Wes Streeting seemed to leave the door open. The decision last July to restrict the winter fuel payment to the poorest pensioners was intended to save around £1.5billion a year, with more than nine million people who would have previously been eligible losing out. Cabinet ministers acknowledged the winter fuel payment decision had hit the party at the ballot box. Asked whether the cut had been part of Labour's poor electoral performance, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: 'I think that has been a feature. 'I think the Prime Minister himself has said that and we're not sugar-coating those results, they're very challenging for us.'
