I'll be there for you: After his welfare revolt bruising, Starmer should call his friend Albanese
Starmer has suffered a serious blow to his authority from rebel Labour MPs, who forced him to retreat on welfare savings meant to save more than £5 billion, or about $10.5 billion.
He survived a storm in parliament to pass a draft law with some of the changes, but only after throwing most of the savings overboard.
Starmer, who marked his first year in power only days ago, now has a gap in his budget that seems to be worth about £4.5 billion, although the rapid pace of the vote left some of his own team confused.
'I am not sure that all colleagues understood what they voted for,' one Labour MP, Paula Barker, told the BBC after the vote.
Albanese will know exactly what Starmer is dealing with – and so will Bill Shorten, the former government services minister who made tough calls over two years to slow the growth of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Shorten got there in the end, but only after months of concern from Labor caucus members and some hard politics with state premiers about where to find the savings. The Greens were strongly against, and the Liberals and Nationals played games to drag out the vote – before most of them agreed to the overhaul last year. Labor did not split.
Starmer got there in the end, but with far greater wounds.
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