Latest news with #governmentReform
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Keir Starmer's Domestic Leadership Skills Are Found Wanting
Some of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's closest advisers have been asking this week 'Who runs this government?' The precedents are not good when this question rears its head — when Conservative PM Edward Heath asked it before a 1974 snap general election, the voters answered 'not you, obviously,' and turfed him out. Until he caved in on Thursday, Starmer faced a massive rebellion over proposals to cut disability benefits by £5 billion ($7 billion). Some 126 MPs, half of Labour's representation in Parliament outside the ranks of ministers, had backed an amendment that would have wrecked the government's bill. Worse for the PM, the rebels included past and present House of Commons committee chairs with deep knowledge of the subject, rather than just left-wingers who oppose any efforts to curb the bloated benefits system.
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Starmer in Talks With Labour Rebels About Easing Welfare Cuts
Prime Minister Keir Starmer looks ready to water down another of the UK government's key policies, offering concessions to stop Labour party colleagues derailing his reforms to Britain's expensive welfare payments. Starmer's government planned to save £5 billion ($6.9 billion) a year by tightening criteria for disability payments, yet this week over 100 of Labour's own Members of Parliament put their names to an amendment that could effectively kill the new laws at a vote next Tuesday.
