21 hours ago
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.
