UK Politics

The leader of the rebel Labour MPs who forced Sir Keir Starmer to abandon his welfare reforms has called for a wealth tax to meet the £5bn cost of the U turn.On Tuesday, the prime minister suffered the biggest blow to his leadership since coming into power a year ago after he was forced to shelve a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament.While his welfare reform bill passed its second reading by 335 votes to 260 – a majority of 75 – the prime minister still suffered the largest rebellion of his premiership so far, with 42 Labour MPs voting to reject the legislation.Rachael Maskell, who led the backbench Labour rebellion which forced further changes to the reforms on Tuesday, suggested that as much as £24bn a year could be raised by increases in capital gains tax and other measures.Rachael Maskell called for a wealth tax More

Sir Keir Starmer forced the tattered remnants of his welfare reforms through the Commons on Tuesday night, staving off what would have been an embarrassing defeat. But the prime minister can barely say he won the battle, and may have lit the touchpaper on a wider war for the future of the Labour Party. The unedifying spectacle of a leader with a huge majority after just a year in Downing Street chopping and changing one of his flagship bills to buy off backbench rebels has badly damaged his authority. Worse, a bill that was once set to save the taxpayer £5bn will now end up costing £100m by the end of the decade, leaving Chancellor Rachel Reeves with a gaping hole to fill ahead of the Budget this autumn. The director of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the passage of the bill through its second reading was “not a triumph”. Sir Keir Starmer gave in to backbench MPs More

Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare bill has managed to scrape past its second reading as he fended off what is believed to be the most significant rebellion since he became prime minister a year ago.The bill passed its second reading by 335 ayes to 260 noes, a majority of 75, with 49 Labour MPs voting against the welfare cuts which have caused controversy. Disability minister Sir Stephen Timms announced a last-ditch concession that plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) – which had been the central pillar of the government’s reforms – would not take place until after a review of the benefit had concluded.The government had initially planned to change the eligibility criteria for disability benefits for all new claimants from November 2026 but now the new system will not come into force until the review has concluded.It comes just days after the government watered down the legislation for the first time on Thursday, excluding all existing claimants from changes to PIP in a chaotic U-turn.Sir Keir’s welfare bill has continuously caused controversy as a growing rebel camp, led at the time by Dame Meg Hillier, putting forward an initial amendment which forced the government to U-turn from its initial plans. While she voted to back the legislation, almost 50 Labour MPs expressed their discontent with the bill still. One key voice in the ‘noes’ was MP Ms Maria Tidball, born with a congenital disability affecting all four limbs, who broke down in tears as she delivered an impassioned speech criticising the welfare cuts. Another key rebel, Rachel Maskell, said disabled people will have been worried watching the debate.The MP for York Central said: “I’m obviously really sad that the Bill went through but I think my greatest sadness is that disabled people will have been looking on and seeing Parliament debating their futures, and I think they’ll be incredibly distressed when they see the way that Parliament was today.“That’s the thing that tugs at me, because I think ultimately we’ve got huge responsibility to disabled people and they weren’t served well by the department today.”Sir Stephen Timms later said, in response to concerns over a two tier system, that it was “completely normal in social security.”“PIP replaced DLA (disability living allowance) in 2013 but half a million adults are still on DLA today. That doesn’t cause problems. Parallel running is normal, and actually it’s often the fairest way to make a major change.”Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said welfare reform was particularly “difficult” for Labour because the party cared “passionately” about the subject.Asked what the main lessons were from the backbench rebellion over proposed cuts, she told broadcasters: “Welfare reform is always really difficult, perhaps especially for Labour governments.“It’s something we care passionately about.” More

Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare bill has managed to scrape past its second reading as he fended off what is believed to be the most significant rebellion since he became prime minister a year ago.The bill passed its second reading by 335 ayes to 260 noes, a majority of 75, with 49 Labour MPs voting against the welfare cuts which have caused controversy. Disability minister Sir Stephen Timms announced a last-ditch concession that plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) – which had been the central pillar of the government’s reforms – would not take place until after a review of the benefit had concluded.The government had initially planned to change the eligibility criteria for disability benefits for all new claimants from November 2026 but now the new system will not come into force until the review has concluded.It comes just days after the government watered down the legislation for the first time on Thursday, excluding all existing claimants from changes to PIP in a chaotic U-turn.Sir Keir’s welfare bill has continuously caused controversy as a growing rebel camp, led at the time by Dame Meg Hillier, putting forward an initial amendment which forced the government to U-turn from its initial plans. While she voted to back the legislation, almost 50 Labour MPs expressed their discontent with the bill still. One key voice in the ‘noes’ was MP Ms Maria Tidball, born with a congenital disability affecting all four limbs, who broke down in tears as she delivered an impassioned speech criticising the welfare cuts. Another key rebel, Rachel Maskell, said disabled people will have been worried watching the debate.The MP for York Central said: “I’m obviously really sad that the Bill went through but I think my greatest sadness is that disabled people will have been looking on and seeing Parliament debating their futures, and I think they’ll be incredibly distressed when they see the way that Parliament was today.“That’s the thing that tugs at me, because I think ultimately we’ve got huge responsibility to disabled people and they weren’t served well by the department today.”Sir Stephen Timms later said, in response to concerns over a two tier system, that it was “completely normal in social security.”“PIP replaced DLA (disability living allowance) in 2013 but half a million adults are still on DLA today. That doesn’t cause problems. Parallel running is normal, and actually it’s often the fairest way to make a major change.”Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said welfare reform was particularly “difficult” for Labour because the party cared “passionately” about the subject.Asked what the main lessons were from the backbench rebellion over proposed cuts, she told broadcasters: “Welfare reform is always really difficult, perhaps especially for Labour governments.“It’s something we care passionately about.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has suffered the biggest blow to his leadership since coming into power a year ago after he was forced to abandon a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament.While his welfare reform bill passed its second reading by 335 votes to 260 – a majority of 75 – the prime minister still suffered the largest rebellion of his premiership so far, with 49 Labour MPs voting to reject the legislation. It came after a last-ditch announcement that plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payments (PIP) – which had been the central pillar of the government’s reforms – were being dropped.Keir Starmer’s authority suffers a major setback on Tuesday More

Keir Starmer has suffered a serious blow after dozens of his own MPs voted against his planned welfare reforms in Parliament. The prime minister had been forced into two humiliating U-turns on the legislation in less than a week to head off a revolt that threatened to defeat his government on one of its flagship policies. But how does this compare to previous revolts by politicians? It is the largest rebellion of Sir Keir’s premiershipAccording to political scientist Professor Philip Cowley, from Queen Mary University of London, who has done a comparison of previous votes, it was the largest backbench rebellion Starmer has suffered so far. The previous record holder was earlier this month during the passage of the planning and infrastructure bill, when 16 MPs rebelled. A smaller revolt last year, over the controversial two-child benefit cap, saw a number of Labour MPs stripped of the party whip – including Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell.Sir Tony Blair with Sir Keir Starmer (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Ahead of the welfare reform bill vote, a frustrated minister privately questioned the whole approach to the painful debate.“We are spending an extra £20bn on welfare [compared with the last government], we are not cutting it by £5bn but somehow everyone believes we are cutting it by £5bn,” they said. “There is clearly a problem with messaging.”Ahead of a damaging rebellion by Labour MPs on an issue which has pitted the parliamentary party against its own leadership, the comments reflect a widespread criticism of Sir Keir and many of his ministers.Nothing underlined the mess more than the dramatic late concession during the debate to postpone changes to disability reforms to try to stave off a humiliating defeat.One Labour MP put the prime minister’s problems more bluntly: “He is just bad at politics.”Keir Starmer in the Downing Street garden More