London (AFP) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced the most serious internal rebellion of his year-long premiership on Tuesday with MPs set for a close vote on welfare reforms that have already forced a damaging climbdown. The government backed down Friday on controversial plans to slash disability and sickness benefits after a major rebellion by MPs that threatened to derail the legislation, even though Labour enjoys a huge majority in the lower House of Commons.
Only days after Starmer insisted he would plough ahead with the reforms, the government confirmed concessions had been made to 126 rebel MPs who had threatened to scupper the proposed changes. Despite the concessions, there are an estimated 39 Labour MPs still planning to rebel, around half the number needed to sink the key bill, leaving Starmer facing an uncomfortable vote.
Minister Liz Kendall revealed the new-look bill to parliament on Monday, but the UK media reported that wavering parliamentarians were only left more aggravated. “It was falling apart in the Commons today because MPs were exposing so many holes in the government’s plans,” leading rebel MP Rachael Maskell told the Guardian newspaper. The concessions include a “staggered approach” to the reforms, care minister Stephen Kinnock said. This means the narrower eligibility criteria proposed for sickness and disability benefits will only apply to new claimants, not those already receiving the payments.
Government data published Monday estimated an extra 150,000 people would be pushed into poverty by the reforms, even taking into account the concessions, further ramping up the pressure on the government. Starmer had hoped the bill would make savings of £5 billion ($6.9 billion), but that figure has now been reduced to £2.5 billion. That means finance minister Rachel Reeves, who has struggled to generate growth from a sluggish UK economy, will need to find more money elsewhere.
The vote comes just before Starmer marks the first anniversary of what has been a rocky return to power for Labour after 14 years in opposition, with questions already being raised about his political acumen and the direction of the ruling Labour party. He has had little success in his attempts to revive a sluggish UK economy while angering many in the process, leading to a series of damaging U-turns.
On June 9, the government declared it had reversed a policy to scrap a winter heating benefit for millions of pensioners, following widespread criticism and another rebellion from its own MPs. A week later, Starmer — a former chief state prosecutor in England and Wales — announced a national inquiry focused on a UK child sex exploitation scandal, after previously resisting calls.
The prime minister has a massive majority of 165 MPs, meaning he should be able to force whatever legislation he wants through parliament. But many of his own MPs complain of a disconnect between Starmer’s leadership, which is focused on combatting the rise of the far-right Reform UK party, and Labour’s traditional centre-left principles. A YouGov poll of more than 10,000 Britons released last week found that while Labour is losing voters to Reform, it is also forfeiting supporters to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens on the left.
© 2024 AFP
