Keir Starmer will continue with his reforms of the disability benefit despite a growing rebellion of Labor MPs, because he said there was a “clear moral matter” for change.
Speaking before the commons of next week on the measures, the Prime Minister defended plans to tighten the suitability criteria for personal independence (PIP), with the argument that the current system was untenable.
“There is a clear moral matter, that is: the current system does not help those who want to go to work,” said Starmer. “It catches people. I think it is 1,000 people a day about PIP. The additions to PIP every year are the equivalent of a city the size of Leicester. That is not a system that cannot be reformed.”
When asked whether he would consider postponing the mood because of the scale of opposition, Starmer replied: “We were chosen to change what is broken in our country. The welfare system has been broken, and that is why we will push our reforms ahead. It is very important that we do that because the current system does not work for someone.”
More than 100 Labor MPs, including chairman of the senior committee and former shadow ministers, have signed an amendment in which the government has established the bill. The amendment evokes concern that the proposals can push up to 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into poverty.
Vicky Foxcroft, the former government whip that resigned about the welfare plans, has also signed the amendment, together with the former cabinet minister Louise Haigh.
It also criticizes the government for not publishing the office for the impact assessment of budget responsibility before the vote, and for the pursuit of changes without sufficient consultation with people with disabilities.
The proposed legislation would make it more difficult to qualify for PIP by obliging claimants to get a higher threshold in their reviews. It also contains plans to halve the health stop in Universal Credit for new claimants from 2026 and to abolish the assessment of the work capacity assessment.
Meg Hillier, who leads the amendment, said: “We all want the Labor government to get people back to work and support those who can’t do that. We don’t want to defeat the government, but we want the government to think again.
“We are asked to vote before consultation with people with disabilities and before impact assessments.”
The amendment was unveiled after the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, spoke to a private meeting of MPs in which she told that there was “no route to social justice based on greater benefit alone”.
The official spokesperson for the prime minister said that Downing Street “recognizes the power of feeling” about the welfare changes, but repeated the case for reforming a “broken” system.
Asked if concessions would be offered, a spokesperson for No 10 said: “We will talk to them the following week, but the government believes that this is a good package of reforms. We hope that colleagues will be positive in the coming days.”
They repeated the position of the government that Labor “has inherited a broken system that does not support people, that does not treat them with dignity and respect and does not support people to work”.
Minister of Cabinet Pat McFadden said on Tuesday that it would be a “very serious matter” for Labor MPs to effectively vote the legislation with the first big outing in the commons.
Handicap -Love institutions have criticized the reforms and warn that they will have disproportionate influence on people with mental disorders, women with fluctuating diseases and unpaid carers.
Despite the pressure of the back bench, McFadden said that the mood would continue as planned, although ministers would “continue to talk to people between now and then”.
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