UK government backs down on disability benefit cuts after rebellion

Labour MPs unit concessions connected disablement reforms, applying changes lone to caller claimants amid mounting criticism.

The United Kingdom authorities has backed down connected arguable plans to slash disablement and sickness benefits aft a large rebellion by MPs, successful a stroke to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s authority.

The climbdown connected Friday is the 3rd U-turn that Starmer has been forced into successful little than a month, starring to questions astir his governmental acumen and absorption of the ruling Labour party.

Only days aft Starmer insisted helium would plough up with the reforms, the authorities confirmed concessions had been made to 126 rebel MPs who had threatened to scupper the projected changes.

The turnaround comes conscionable earlier Starmer marks the archetypal day of what has been a rocky instrumentality to powerfulness for Labour aft 14 years successful absorption to the Conservatives.

A spokesperson for Number 10 said the authorities had “listened to MPs who enactment the rule of betterment but are disquieted astir the gait of alteration for those already supported by the system”.

The root of friction was a measure that would person tightened eligibility for a cardinal disablement benefit, removing the Personal Independence Payment from hundreds of thousands of radical with semipermanent carnal oregon intelligence wellness conditions. Another health-related payment received by radical connected debased incomes would besides beryllium reduced nether the plans.

The authorities said the projected changes would assistance radical find jobs portion preserving a information nett for those who tin ne'er work. It would besides prevention an estimated 5 cardinal pounds ($6.8bn) a twelvemonth from a payment measure that has accrued since the COVID-19 pandemic.

But galore Labour legislators baulked astatine the changes, which the Institute for Fiscal Studies deliberation vessel estimated would chopped the income of 3.2 cardinal radical by 2030.

Friday’s backtrack means the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bill, which contains the payment reforms, volition apt marque it done a parliamentary ballot owed adjacent week.

The concessions, owed to beryllium acceptable retired successful parliament aboriginal connected Friday, see a “staggered approach” to the reforms, Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said.

This means that the narrower eligibility criteria projected volition lone use to caller claimants, not those already receiving the payment payments.

Policy U-turns

It has been a bumpy 12 months successful bureau for Starmer, during which Chancellor Rachel Reeves has struggled to make maturation from a sluggish UK economy.

On June 9, the authorities announced it had reversed a argumentation to scrap a wintertime heating payment for millions of pensioners, pursuing wide criticism, including from its ain MPs.

Less than a week later, Starmer announced a nationalist enquiry focused connected a historical UK kid enactment exploitation ungraded that had attracted the attraction of American billionaire Elon Musk.

Starmer had antecedently resisted calls for an enquiry into the alleged “grooming gangs” – that saw girls arsenic young arsenic 10 raped by groups of men – successful favour of a bid of section probes.

The premier curate has a immense bulk of 165 MPs, meaning helium should beryllium capable to unit immoderate authorities helium wants done parliament.

But galore of his ain MPs kick of a disconnect betwixt Starmer’s leadership, which is focused connected combating the emergence of the far-right Reform UK party, and Labour’s accepted centre-left principles.

“Labour is meant to basal for fairness, and those 2 flagship mistakes are each astir being unfair,” Steven Fielding, a governmental idiosyncratic and prof astatine Nottingham University, said of the planned wintertime substance and the disablement cuts.

The furores are besides overshadowing Labour’s tightening of employment rights, and concern successful lodging and greenish industries, helium added.

A YouGov canvass of much than 10,000 Britons released this week recovered that portion Labour is losing voters to Reform, it is besides forfeiting supporters to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens connected the left.

“They’ve been making truthful galore unforced errors,” said Fielding.

“I deliberation determination is present a precise reluctant recalibration of things.”