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Ministers on resignation ‘watch list' over welfare reforms, Harman warns
Ministers are on a resignation 'watch list' over Labour's planned welfare reforms, Baroness Harman has claimed.
The former party chairman said there were fears in the Government that frontbenchers could quit over Sir Keir Starmer's plans to slash disability spending by more than £4 billion.
It comes as up to 130 Labour MPs are preparing to abstain on or vote against the plans when they are put before the Commons in the coming weeks.
Many in the party are concerned about changes that would mean only the most severely disabled adults could claim Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
Under-22s would also become ineligible for Universal Credit under proposals by Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, that would cut the benefits bill by £4.3 billion.
Speaking on Sky News's Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman was asked whether it was likely ministers would resign over the cuts.
She replied: 'There might be, but I don't think… Not Cabinet [ministers].'
Asked whether more junior ministers may feel unable to stay in post, she said: 'There are people on a watch list at the moment, but not Cabinet ministers.
'And I still think that although Labour MPs will feel very badly about it, and feel 'this is not what I got into Parliament in order to do', most of them will think: 'it's a difficult time, we'll stick with it, we don't want to undermine our Government'.'
Baroness Harman also argued that the issue would be 'harder' for Labour MPs to vote on because they would have to 'put themselves on the line, whether they are for or against it'.
She added: 'There is a lot of rumbling about this, there's a lot of discontent. And there's quite a lot of wild talk that there's going to be over 100 MPs who are going to rebel, and the Government could even lose their majority on this.
'And I would be very surprised about that. There is definitely a lot of nervousness about it, but I would be surprised because I think these MPs have only recently been elected.
'And if they vote in such large numbers that they actually cut across a major plan from the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, it's almost like a vote of no confidence.'
The Telegraph understands that a handful of parliamentary private secretaries (PPS), who hold the most junior ministerial rank, are said to be wavering on the issue.
The revolt follows an outcry over Sir Keir and Ms Reeves stripping 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel payments last summer, a decision that has now been partially reversed.
In a letter that was sent last month to Alan Campbell, the Government's Chief Whip, about 130 MPs called on Sir Keir to change course or risk defeat over his welfare plans.
The Government has a working majority of 165 in the Commons, meaning that 83 MPs would need to vote down the legislation in order to force a parliamentary defeat.
Sir Keir has doubled down on his policies and repeatedly insisted that there is nothing 'progressive' about the current size of the welfare state.
He said the moral thing to do is to tackle the worklessness crisis and ensure more disabled people find employment.
The Government's own figures predict that the benefit changes will push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children, while about 3.2 million families will lose out financially.
Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is understood to be engaging with concerned MPs.
Ms Kendall is convinced she has a strong argument to make and believes MPs will be won round once details of the bill have been published.
Speaking in the Commons in May, she said that at the heart of the reforms is a push to get long-term sick and disabled people back into work where possible.
