London (AFP) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer avoided a humiliating parliamentary defeat on key welfare reforms Tuesday, after making last-minute concessions in the face of the most serious internal rebellion of his year-long premiership. Starmer had already staged an authority-sapping climbdown last week on controversial plans to slash disability and sickness benefits, following a major revolt from Labour MPs who argued the proposals went too far. The ruling party enjoys a huge majority in the lower House of Commons, with more than 80 of its MPs needing to rebel to defeat a bill.
Despite agreeing on Friday to water down the changes, an ongoing backlash from his MPs forced further major concessions just hours before a crunch vote on the legislation late Tuesday. They included delaying cuts planned for 2026 until after a review led by social security and disability minister Stephen Timms. That ensured the vote easily went the government’s way, with 335 MPs backing the legislation compared to 260 voting against — a majority of 75. But the series of big concessions left the bill — which had aimed to save billions of pounds from the country’s ballooning welfare bill — in tatters and critics branding the revised legislation “farcical.”
“This is an utter capitulation,” Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the main Conservative opposition, said on social media. “Labour’s welfare bill is now a TOTAL waste of time. It effectively saves £0, helps no one into work, and does NOT control spending. It’s pointless.”
Work and Pensions Minister Liz Kendall had unveiled the new-look bill to parliament on Monday, just as newly-released government data estimated an extra 150,000 people would be pushed into poverty by the watered-down reforms. Starmer — who later this week marks one year in Downing Street — had hoped the legislation would cut £5 billion ($6.9 billion) from the welfare budget. That estimate fell to £2.5 billion after last week’s initial concessions and it was unclear what, if any, savings would now be made. It means finance minister Rachel Reeves, who has struggled to generate growth from a sluggish UK economy, will need to find more money elsewhere.
The parliamentary wrangling has also clouded the first anniversary of Labour’s return to power after 14 years in opposition, while renewing questions about Starmer’s political acumen and the purpose of his centre-left government. Starmer has had meagre success in the government’s central mission of boosting economic growth, and in recent months made a series of damaging U-turns. “One year of Starmer, one year of u-turns,” Nigel Farage, leader of the surging far-right Reform UK party, posted Tuesday.
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 Reform UK 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
