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Telegraph
21 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Rayner ‘instrumental' in forcing welfare U-turn
Angela Rayner was 'instrumental' in pushing Sir Keir Starmer to water down his flagship welfare Bill, The Telegraph understands. The Deputy Prime Minister held hours of crunch talks with Labour MPs who were poised to vote against the legislation before a last-minute climbdown by Sir Keir. A crackdown on the personal independence payment (Pip) has now been scrapped. It will only be considered after a wider welfare review by Sir Stephen Timms, the disability minister. Two well-placed sources told The Telegraph that Ms Rayner masterminded the about-turn, as first reported by Bloomberg. One source had conversations with the Deputy Prime Minister and Sir Alan Campbell, the Chief Whip, in the hours before the vote. They said: 'They were both definitely in listening mode and instrumental in getting a solution that was palatable to me and others.' The Bill cleared its first big hurdle in the House of Commons yesterday evening as MPs supported it by 335 votes to 260. It will face more scrutiny next week. But 49 Labour MPs still opposed the legislation despite Sir Keir giving ground, raising major questions about his authority. Ms Rayner declared on Wednesday that the welfare Bill was now in a 'better place' after the Prime Minister significantly watered down his proposals. Asked about the chaos of the past week, she told ITV's Lorraine: 'I would say that to be fair to my colleagues, many of them have been raising concerns privately. 'Some have not raised them privately, some have. It's fair that the process of Parliament can look argy-bargy, like everybody's falling out, but that's the way you get to a consensus, and when the crunch comes to a vote, that's like a pinch point, a flash point in the Commons, and what happens. 'So people might see that overall it's chaos, but actually we've got to a better place now, and we've got the bill through Parliament at its second reading. And now we'll get into the detail.' She also insisted that the reforms had to happen 'in the right order' and admitted changes to the benefits system were always going to be 'difficult'. Ms Rayner continued: 'So some of the concessions that people have said, all the work that we did with MPs, was to make sure that, first of all, anyone listening to your show today, they know that there will be no changes to their welfare. 'And I want to make sure people are reassured by that because a lot of people have been scared by what's going to happen. 'And then the future will be co-designed with disability groups… The Timms review, that had to happen before the changes came in and that's what everybody was really concerned about, making sure we did things in the right order, supportively.' The Government's original welfare reforms were designed to save approximately £5 billion by 2030. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the result of Sir Keir's concessions will be that the Government now saves nothing. That means there is a £5 billion hole in Sir Keir's spending plans which will have to be filled either through cuts elsewhere, more borrowing or tax increases. Ministers are resistant to increasing borrowing because of Labour's fiscal rules, while the welfare debacle has shown how difficult it is for the Government to reduce public spending – potentially leaving tax rises as Sir Keir 's only option. Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, hinted at tax rises on Wednesday morning when he said the welfare concessions would have 'financial consequences'. It came as Rachael Maskell, a leading Labour welfare rebel, said the debacle on the Bill saw a 'change in power' away from Sir Keir as the legislation 'disintegrated before our eyes'. Ms Maskell tabled an amendment on Tuesday aimed at killing off the Bill altogether. It was defeated in the Commons but won support from 149 MPs including dozens of Labour backers.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
MPs to vote on welfare bill as unrest rumbles on
MPs will vote on the government's planned reforms to welfare later - with dozens of Labour MPs still planning to vote against them, despite concessions from ministers. The Conservatives have said they will oppose the plans as they are not "serious reforms". The rebellion's scale has ebbed and flowed. Last week, more than 120 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have killed the proposals outright, an extraordinary threat of defeat for a government with a landslide majority. Now a replacement amendment, supported by disability charities, has attracted around 35 Labour MPs. It suggests that last-minute concessions may have reduced the potential for a government loss - but not comfortably. A number of MPs have expressed concerns about a promised review of personal independence payment (Pip) assessments, after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Monday that it would only report back around the same time that the proposed changes were introduced. Labour Chief Whip Sir Alan Campbell reportedly told a regular meeting of the parliamentary party last night that they should "act as a team" and government efforts at persuasion are expected to continue up until the vote itself, which is due this evening. Under the current government concessions people who currently receive Pip or the health element of universal credit will continue to do so. But future claimants will still be affected by the reforms. Chris Mason: Labour still has a big persuasion job ahead Welfare cuts: What are the Pip and universal credit changes? 'Disability welfare reforms could leave us worse off' The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, told the BBC her party would vote against the measures "The benefits bill is too high," she said. "It was 40bn just before Covid. It is now projected to be a 100bn by 2030. And what Labour is doing is not making any savings at all. It's just reducing the rate of increase. That's why we are not supporting it." Other criticism of the government proposals has been diverse, with some saying the reforms will not be as effective as the government hopes. "I strongly believe that these kind of punitive measures of cutting welfare are not going to have the outcomes that we've been told they will," said Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, who is disabled and opposes the reforms. "I think it will just be about saving money but will actually move spending into areas such as housing services, the NHS and social care," she told BBC Newsnight. Blake added that some MPs were still considering their vote, saying the rebellion would be "more significant than maybe people realise". Kendall defended the bill in the House of Commons on Monday, saying it aligned with MPs' shared values around providing support to those that could work while protecting those that cannot. Modelling published by Department for Work and Pensions suggested around 150,000 people might be pushed into poverty by 2030 because of the welfare cuts - lower than the original 250,000 figure estimated before the government made the concessions. Sir Stephen Timms is slated to conduct the report that was among the concessions. He told BBC Newsnight that the net effect of the government's policies would reduce poverty - including the measures to help people into work. He also stressed the need to make Pip sustainable in the future. The Conservatives have criticised the cost of the bill while the Liberal Democrats have called for proposals to be suspended so they can be further looked at. The government had hoped to save £5bn a year by 2030 before the concessions. These are now likely to cost around £3bn, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. What has been driving the rise in disability benefit claims? Labour MPs press Kendall on rollout of benefit changes Welfare U-turn means we are in 'better position', says Streeting
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
MPs to vote on welfare bill as unrest rumbles on
MPs will vote on the government's planned reforms to welfare later - with dozens of Labour MPs still planning to vote against them, despite concessions from ministers. The Conservatives have said they will oppose the plans as they are not "serious reforms".The rebellion's scale has ebbed and flowed. Last week, more than 120 Labour MPs signed an amendment that would have killed the proposals outright, an extraordinary threat of defeat for a government with a landslide majority. Now a replacement amendment, supported by disability charities, has attracted around 35 Labour MPs. It suggests that last-minute concessions may have reduced the potential for a government loss - but not comfortably. A number of MPs have expressed concerns about a promised review of personal independence payment (Pip) assessments, after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Monday that it would only report back around the same time that the proposed changes were introduced. Labour Chief Whip Sir Alan Campbell reportedly told a regular meeting of the parliamentary party last night that they should "act as a team" and government efforts at persuasion are expected to continue up until the vote itself, which is due this the current government concessions people who currently receive Pip or the health element of universal credit will continue to do so. But future claimants will still be affected by the reforms. Chris Mason: Labour still has a big persuasion job aheadWelfare cuts: What are the Pip and universal credit changes?'Disability welfare reforms could leave us worse off' The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, told the BBC her party would vote against the measures"The benefits bill is too high," she said."It was 40bn just before Covid. It is now projected to be a 100bn by 2030. And what Labour is doing is not making any savings at all. It's just reducing the rate of increase. That's why we are not supporting it."Other criticism of the government proposals has been diverse, with some saying the reforms will not be as effective as the government hopes. "I strongly believe that these kind of punitive measures of cutting welfare are not going to have the outcomes that we've been told they will," said Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, who is disabled and opposes the reforms."I think it will just be about saving money but will actually move spending into areas such as housing services, the NHS and social care," she told BBC added that some MPs were still considering their vote, saying the rebellion would be "more significant than maybe people realise".Kendall defended the bill in the House of Commons on Monday, saying it aligned with MPs' shared values around providing support to those that could work while protecting those that published by Department for Work and Pensions suggested around 150,000 people might be pushed into poverty by 2030 because of the welfare cuts - lower than the original 250,000 figure estimated before the government made the Stephen Timms is slated to conduct the report that was among the concessions. He told BBC Newsnight that the net effect of the government's policies would reduce poverty - including the measures to help people into work. He also stressed the need to make Pip sustainable in the Conservatives have criticised the cost of the bill while the Liberal Democrats have called for proposals to be suspended so they can be further looked government had hoped to save £5bn a year by 2030 before the concessions. These are now likely to cost around £3bn, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.
