How every Welsh MP voted on controversial welfare change plans
Another late, and major concession, from the UK Government was needed to avoid an embarrassing defeat
MPs have voted in favour of watered-down plans to reform welfare payments. The UK Government had to go further with its concessions from last week to avoid a humiliating defeat for its plans.
A number of MPs, including five Labour MPs from Wales, had said they would vote for what's called a reasoned amendment, which, if it had passed, would have sunk the government bill. Plaid Cymru's four MPs also said they would back the amendment.
That led the government to change the substance of its bill with all but one of the Welsh Labour rebels, Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr MP Steve Witherden, keeping his name on the rebel amendment.
During the debate and before any vote the government offered a further concession to rebelling Labour MPs over its plans with disability minister Sir Stephen Timms saying changes to PIP would not take place until after a review of the benefit has concluded. The BBC's political editor, Chris Mason, has said the government was told hours before the ballot that numbers showed that even with the first major concession "defeat was very realistic".
The combination of concessions meant enough MPs backed the bill and the proposal has passed the first stage of parliamentary scrutiny and it will go on to further scrutiny called the second reading.. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here .
Mr Witherden was the only Welsh Labour MP to vote against the Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill. All four Plaid Cymru MPs and the sole Liberal Democrat also refused to give it their backing.
Article continues below
On Monday 86 disability and human rights groups put out a joint statement urging MPs to vote down the bill despite the protections for existing claimants including Scope, Mind, the Trussell Trust, Sense, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Oxfam.
During the debate work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall told the Commons: "Welfare reform, let's be honest, is never easy, perhaps especially for Labour governments. Our social security system directly touches the lives of millions of people and it is something we all care deeply about.
"We have listened to the concerns that have been raised to help us get these changes right. The Bill protects people already claiming PIP, it protects in real terms the incomes of people already receiving the UC (universal credit) health top-up from that benefit and their standard allowance, and it protects those with severe lifelong conditions who will never work, and those near the end of their life as we promised we would."
Wales has 32 MPs with 27 representing Labour, four for Plaid Cymru and one Lib Dem.
How all Welsh MPs voted on the welfare reform:
Aberafan Maesteg
Stephen Kinnock - Labour
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Alyn and Deeside
Mark Tami - Labour
(Image: Mark Tami, Alyn and Deeside Labour candidate )
For
Bangor Aberconwy
Claire Hughes - Labour
Claire Hughes
(Image: Mike Plunkett )
For
Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney
Nick Smith - Labour
Nick Smith
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe
David Chadwick - Liberal Democrat
(Image: Welsh Liberal Democrats )
Against
Bridgend
Chris Elmore - Labour
Chris Elmore
(Image: Nathan Roach )
For
Caerphilly
Chris Evans - Labour
Chris Evans
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Cardiff East
Jo Stevens - Labour
Jo Stevens
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Cardiff North
Anna McMorrin - Labour
Anna McMorrin
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Cardiff South and Penarth
Stephen Doughty - Labour
Stephen Doughty
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Cardiff West
Alex Barros-Curtis - Labour
Alex Barros-Curtis, Labour candidate for Cardiff West
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Caerfyrddin
Ann Davies - Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru candidate for Caerfyrddin, Ann Davies
(Image: PA )
Against
Ceredigion Preseli
Ben Lake - Plaid Cymru
Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru candidate for Ceredigion Preseli
(Image: Plaid Cymru )
Against
Clwyd East
Becky Gittins - Labour
Becky Gittins, Labour candidate for Clwyd East
(Image: Mike Plunkett )
For
Clwyd North
Gill German - Labour
Gill German, Labour candidate for Clwyd North
(Image: Mike Plunkett )
For
Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Liz Savile Roberts - Plaid Cymru
Plaid MP Liz Savile Roberts
(Image: JoeBlomfield 2022 / Plaid Cymru )
Against
Gower
Tonia Antoniazzi - Labour
Tonia Antoniazzi MP for Gower
(Image: Tonia Antoniazzi )
For
Llanelli
Nia Griffith - Labour
Nia Griffith
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Merthyr Tydfil and
Gerald Jones - Labour
Gerald Jones
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Monmouthshire
Catherine Fookes - Labour
Catherine Fookes, Labour candidate for Monmouthshire
(Image: Nathan Roach )
For
Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr
Steve Witherden - Labour
Steve Witherden, Labour candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr
(Image: Nathan Roach )
Against
Neath and East
Carolyn Harris - Labour
Carolyn Harris, Labour candidate for Neath and Swansea East
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Newport East
Jessica Morden - Labour
Jessica Morden
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Newport West and Islwyn
Ruth Jones - Labour
Ruth Jones
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Pembrokeshire Mid and South
Henry Tufnell - Labour
(Image: Nathan Roach )
For
Pontypridd
Alex Davies-Jones - Labour
Alex Davies-Jones
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Rhondda and Ogmore
Chris Bryant - Labour
Chris Bryant
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Swansea West
Torsten Bell - Labour
Torsten Bell
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Torfaen
Nick Thomas-Symonds: Labour
Nick Thomas-Symonds
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Vale of Glamorgan
Kanishka Narayan - Labour
(Image: Labour Party )
For
Wrexham
Andrew Ranger - Labour
Andrew Ranger
(Image: Mike Plunkett )
For
Ynys Mon
Llinos Medi - Plaid Cymru
Llinos Medi
(Image: Plaid Cymru )
Against
Use this tool to check how any MP in Westminster voted:
Article continues below
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Labour's NHS plan: it is right to celebrate medical science, but delivery is the hard part
The NHS is a totemic institution in Labour's history and that of the country, and voters care more about it than most things the government does. So the publication of Labour's 10-year plan for health in England was a crucial opportunity for ministers to show that they are in tune with the public. Given that satisfaction with the health service has hit a record low of 21%, and doctors are again threatening to go on strike, the announcement was also a moment of peril – even before the damage suffered by the prime minister and chancellor earlier this week, when rebels forced a U-turn on planned cuts to welfare. The overarching principles of Labour's reforms were set out last year: more prevention, more technology, more care delivered in the community (as opposed to in hospital). So the challenge was to find something fresh, original and hopeful to say. The promise of science and the potential of localism are what Wes Streeting's team has come up with. The strand of DNA pictured on the document's cover points to high expectations of genomic medicine and other cutting-edge technology. Neighbourhood clinics, by contrast, represent a prosaic recognition of demand for more ordinary services and treatments, from an ageing and increasingly unhealthy population. The aim is to deliver most outpatient care away from hospitals by 2035. This could mean GP surgeries becoming more like hospitals, or hospital trusts taking a bigger role in primary care. The plans for new contracts make it clear that both are possible. But while this sounds fine in theory, questions remain over how, and by whom, such crucial decisions will be taken, and whether the new model will be better than the old one. With the abolition of NHS England, and scaling back of integrated care boards, the existing administration is being radically downsized. One of the risks of the next few years is that this backstage upheaval will distract time and energy from the frontline. Plans to shift resources from richer areas to poorer ones deserve an unequivocal welcome. There is no great secret about expertise being concentrated in prestigious teaching hospitals, or about richer, better educated people being more confident advocates for themselves and their loved ones. Shifting the 'best to the rest' is both a neat slogan and an acknowledgment of present unfairness. Plans to integrate employment support and services such as debt advice into healthcare hubs signal an encouraging awareness that illness and disability have socioeconomic as well as biological causes. The plan tells a promising story. Healthcare is an area of human progress that all can celebrate. It is plausible that proactive Labour ministers can both drive advances and ensure that they are more equitably shared than in marketised systems. Embedding more healthcare workers in communities, and focusing on outreach, could help to improve population health. But there are some worrying gaps. Social care reform is due to be tackled separately, but worsening mental health, particularly in young people, also needs dedicated attention and research. Ministers should also be pressed on the contradictions between their health plan and their pro-growth, anti-regulation message to businesses – including those that sell alcohol and the high-sugar foods that cause obesity. Having brought control of the NHS in England back in-house, to the heart of government, Mr Streeting must now find the people with the imagination to further develop his plan, while turning it into action.
The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Government still reforming ‘utterly broken' welfare system
The Scottish Secretary has said the UK Government is still working to reform the 'utterly broken' welfare system, following the substantial concessions made in Parliament earlier this week. Ian Murray also said the Cabinet is in a 'resolved' mood following the tearful appearance of Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the House of Commons. Mr Murray, a former publican, visited Belhaven Brewery in East Lothian on Thursday – where he poured a pint which then had his face imprinted on the foam by a machine at the bar. Speaking almost a year on from Labour's general election win, Mr Murray said his party had achieved 'a lot', adding: 'We've had 30 Bills through Parliament, the most that have ever been passed in the history of a new government. 'We've given 200,000 Scots the biggest pay rise, we've been able to set up GB Energy, we've stabilised the economy.' On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer's Government was forced into a last-minute climbdown in order for welfare legislation to pass its first parliamentary hurdle. Ministers shelved plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), with any changes now only coming after a review of the benefit. These changes are expected to put pressure on other parts of the Government's finances. Mr Murray said 'everybody agrees' the welfare system needs reform and too many people are 'locked out of the workplace because of the way the welfare system works'. He said the Timms review would examine the Pip system and the Government is confident the 'journey' of reform would continue. Pressed on whether substantial parts of the reform had been dropped, he said: 'A thousand people a day are going into personal independence payments, that's 371,000 a year. 'That's completely unsustainable.' He added: 'This whole system is completely and utterly broken and it's unsustainable and that's what we're trying to resolve. 'The one thing that unites everybody in this debate is the fact they know the system is broken and it has to be reformed.' The Scottish Secretary was asked if the Chancellor's Budget choices would affect the devolved Scottish Government budget, with Mr Murray noting the Spending Review had given Edinburgh a further £9.1 billion over two years. He said: 'The Budget will be set in October as it is in any budget. 'Of course, with things fluctuating so quickly, we wouldn't speculate now what would happen then, because things can change so quickly. 'But we've already said there'd be no change to the Scottish Government's budget.' Mr Murray said the mood in Cabinet is 'one of resolve' following Ms Reeves' appearance in the Commons and markets had responded positively to the Prime Minister's show of support in her.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Keir Starmer's authoritarian tendencies are on full display
EVEN before Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, his authoritarian tendencies were already apparent in the ruthless purge he conducted of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn and the left wing of the Labour Party. Starmer's authoritarian intolerance is starkly clear today following his government's decision to proscribe the direct action protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. It beggars belief, but in the UK today, non-violent direct action involving trivial damage to property by throwing paint is now classified as being on a par with planting a nail bomb in a crowded pub and killing and maiming innocent people. So just so we are clear, chucking red paint on an RAF plane which was suspected of taking British-made munitions to Israel, where they would be used to perpetuate the genocide which the Israeli Government and its armed forces are currently inflicting on the people of Gaza, is a terrorist act according to the Labour government. READ MORE: Petition to have Israeli military branded terrorist group gains traction On the other hand, actual genocide, including dropping a 230 kg bomb on a crowded seaside cafe and killing dozens, flattening civilian infrastructure, bombing hospitals, restricting food aid as a weapon, and mowing down starving civilians desperately seeking food and water, count as Israel's legitimate right of self-defence and the British Government will continue to supply Israel with armaments, military intelligence, and spare parts for the aircraft used to bomb Gaza into the stone age. Meanwhile, the British establishment and media are far more exercised about chanting at Glastonbury than they are about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, mass murder and starvation, and the Israeli Government's openly aired plans to ethnically cleanse the entire population of the territory and effectively annexe it. A spot of chanting is the really offensive thing here. Any hope that the election of a Labour government might see an end to the erosion of civil liberties and the right to protest have been well and truly scuppered now. Expressing support for a direct action protest group which has never caused physical harm or committed violence against any individual is now classified as supporting a terrorist organisation, a criminal offence which potentially carries the risk of fourteen years in prison. Cynically, the Labour government sought to minimise opposition to its authoritarian anti-protest ban by bundling the measure classifying Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in with the banning of three deeply unpleasant extreme right groups, the "Maniacs Murder Cult", a Moldovan neo-Nazi group, the Russian Imperial Movement – a violent white supremacist far-right group aiming to rebuild the Russian Empire – and its paramilitary wing the Russian Imperial Legion. Classing Palestine Action along with violent Nazis and far right Russian nationalists is an obvious nonsense, but it succeeded in reducing opposition to the measure as MPs did not want to be accused of voting against classing violent Nazi groups as terrorist organisations However, a group of around twenty people, including a former government lawyer, have announced that they intend to defy the Government's proscription by holding Palestine Action signs in protest this weekend, despite the risk of criminal conviction and jail time for doing so. The campaign group Defend Our Juries has said the action will be the first in a series, and every week, "more people will show their support for freedom of expression". The protest will take place on Saturday, July 5, at 1pm, in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament Square in London. Activists will hold signs saying, 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action." The Government's decision to proscribe the direct action protest group as a terrorist organisation has been widely condemned as an authoritarian over-reach which infringes on freedom of expression and the right to protest, which are vital to democracy. Thousands of people and organisations, including the Network for Police Monitoring and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, four UN special rapporteurs, and 266 solicitors, barristers and legal academics, have condemned the decision from the Home Office. (Image: Supplied) Defend Our Juries hopes to create a dilemma for UK law enforcement, calling the law change "unenforceable". The group stated: "If they are arrested and charged with Terrorism Act offences, for a statement opposing the genocide of Palestinians, and supporting those who resist it, it will expose the end of democracy and free speech in the UK. "If they do not get arrested, they demonstrate that you cannot, in practice, proscribe a popular organisation like Palestine Action and stop hundreds of thousands of people across the country from supporting them." Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer and director of Plan B, a charity that supports strategic legal action against climate change, is one of those set to take part. He said: 'There are already 18 Palestine Actionists held in UK prisons without a trial, following lobbying by the Israeli government and Elbit Systems, the leading supplier of the machinery of genocide. "If we cannot speak freely about the genocide of Palestinians, if we cannot condemn those who enable it and praise those who resist it, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning, and democracy in this country is dead.' If the Government can proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, they open the door to doing the same to any other protest organisation which the British Government considers a nuisance, climate activists, disability rights organisations, Scottish and Welsh independence groups, and anti-monarchy campaigners, all could potentially face similar treatment. MP Zarah Sultana, who was suspended from the Labour party for voting against the two-child benefit cap, said: "Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb isn't just absurd, it is grotesque. It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity, and suppress the truth." (Image: PA) Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, slammed the move as 'unprecedented legal overreach', pointing out that it gave the authorities 'massive powers to arrest and detain people, suppress speech and reporting, conduct surveillance and take other measures." Deshmukh added: Using [anti-terrorist powers] against a direct-action protest group is an egregious abuse of what they were created for."
