This afternoon Liz Kendall will update the House of Commons on her revised plans for welfare, following the concessions wrung out of her by Labour MPs. The Work and Pensions Secretary announced plans on Thursday night for £3 billion in additional funds. This will allow current claimants of personal independence payments to keep their current benefits. It ensures, too, that existing recipients of the health-related element of Universal Credit will have their incomes protected in real terms. The U-turn came ahead of tomorrow night’s vote on the welfare bill’s second reading.
The whips estimate there will be around 50 Labour MPs who defy the government
Ahead of Kendall’s statement, there is only one question that everyone is asking: how big will the Labour welfare rebellion be? The whips and those in the rebel camp estimate there will be around 50 Labour MPs who defy the government – the largest rebellion of Keir Starmer’s premiership. Some names will be the ‘usual suspects’, but others, such as veteran Clive Efford, are seen as loyal and mainstream. He told the Today programme this morning:
For me, the situation hasn’t changed for those people who will be adversely affected and until we know and understand the impact on them, we shouldn’t be taking what I think is a leap in the dark.
A good rule of thumb for judging how much trouble Starmer is in is the prominence of Andy Burnham at any given time. The Greater Manchester mayor calls the concessions merely ‘half a U-turn, a 50 per cent U-turn’, saying: ‘I’d still hope MPs vote against the whole bill when it comes before parliament.’ With 24 hours to go until the crunch vote, how many of his Labour colleagues in Westminster will oblige?
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