UK's Starmer faces major rebellion over welfare cuts

LONDON (AFP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday doubled down on controversial plans to cut disability and sickness welfare, amid the biggest rebellion by lawmakers of his premiership.

Labour’s Starmer, who has had a bumpy first year in power since ousting the Conservatives in a landslide election victory last July, insisted that a vote on the proposed legislation would go ahead on Tuesday.

His government is under pressure to slash a spiraling benefits bill as Chancellor Rachel Reeves tries to generate much-needed growth from a sluggish U.K. economy.

The premier’s defiant words came as at least 120 Labour lawmakers, nearly a third of the 403 in Parliament, publicly backed a move to block the proposals.

Media reports pointed to growing alarm behind the scenes in Starmer’s Downing Street office at the scale of the mutiny.

One minister told The Times daily that the mood was one of “panic,” while a Labour Party insider told The Sun newspaper that many lawmakers were happy to rebel because “they’re seeing poll after poll showing their seats going to (the anti-immigration party) Reform next election.”

But Starmer, speaking from The Hague where he is attending a NATO summit, said he was elected to “change that which is broken,” adding that the welfare system “doesn’t work for anyone.”

Spiraling welfare bill

“There’ll be a vote on Tuesday, we’re going to make sure we reform the welfare system,” he told LBC radio.

The rebels, who have signed an amendment that could effectively kill off the legislation, say it is poorly thought out and will push a quarter of a million more people into poverty.

The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bill aims to restrict eligibility to welfare payments with the aim of getting more people back into work.

Latest official figures show that 3.7 million people in England and Wales claimed PIP, up from 2.05 million in 2019, with teenagers and young adults making up a growing proportion of claimants.

Leading Labour figures also called on the prime minister to reconsider.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said that ministers must “urgently think again” while Mayor of Greater Manchester in northwestern England Andy Burnham said that the sheer number of rebels ought to give Starmer pause for thought.

“When the PLP (parliamentary Labour Party) delivers its collective wisdom in such numbers, it is invariably right. And it is right on this," he said.

Labour’s First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, also called for a rethink.

Starmer told reporters in The Hague later he refused to be pushed off course and denied lacking political antennae on the issue.

The government needed to “ensure that we’ve got a welfare system that is fit for the future and that’s why … we will press ahead,” he said.

Reform challenge

The row comes as Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK continues to ride high in the polls.

Reform has consistently led national opinion polls for weeks now and won hundreds of councilors at local elections on May 1 amid widespread anger on a range of issues from creaking public services to crime, immigration and the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Although Reform only has five seats in parliament, it won 14% of the vote at last year’s general election.

An Ipsos poll last week put the party at 34%, nine points ahead of Labour at 25%.

Although the next election is not due for another four years, the results — if replicated across the country — could hand the keys of No. 10 Downing St. to Farage.

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By HELEN ROWE Agence France-Presse