Scottish Labour MPs say enough is enough over benefits cuts

STV News

4 days ago

Keir Starmer hasn't had to worry too much about his 37 Scottish Labour MPs so far. They've been a pretty loyal bunch. And why wouldn't they be?
All but one of them owe their elections to Labour's turnaround under Starmer – and the only one not elected last year, Ian Murray, is in the Cabinet.
They all went through a ruthless selection process tightly controlled by Starmer and Anas Sarwar. Having had to deal with some tricky customers in the past, Labour HQ knew going into the general election that selection equals discipline, and by and large, they got the people they wanted.
Because they're all new to Westminster, their expectations were limited when it came to big promotions – and Starmer delivered on his promise to put Scottish Labour at the heart of government, with many of the new MPs being given bag-carrying roles on the bottom rung of the front bench, as Parliamentary Private Secretaries.
It takes being passed over for promotion at a reshuffle to really make an MP disgruntled and rebellious, and we haven't had one of those yet, so that's still to come.
So far, only one Scottish Labour MP has become a serial rebel, and for a very specific cause: Brian Leishman, who represents Alloa and Grangemouth, has always been vocal in demanding more action on the closure of Scotland's last oil refinery in his constituency.
The rest of the group has kept pretty quiet. That's not to say they've been totally happy – like Labour MPs across the board, there was real anger at the way cuts to Winter Fuel Payments were handled. But Scottish Labour MPs did most of their lobbying behind the scenes.
Until now. For some of them, at least – enough is enough.
This morning, we learned the names of more than 100 Labour MPs who have signed an amendment to welfare reform legislation that will cut around £5bn from the benefits bill. In England and Wales, the plans will restrict access to disability benefits, while across the UK, top ups to Universal Credit for those with long term health conditions will also be squeezed.
Among the rebels are nine Scottish Labour MPs. Brian Leishman is among them, but the rest of the list are not your usual suspects. These aren't MPs on the left of the party, who have an ideological problem with Keir Starmer's government.
A rebellion of over 100 MPs is more than enough to wipe out Labour's majority. If opposition parties also vote against the plans when they're scheduled to come before the Commons, it will inflict a huge blow on the Prime Minister.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will be weighing up what would be more damaging and embarrassing for Starmer – defeating his flagship welfare reforms, or having them passed only thanks to Tory votes.
The scale of the rebellion means some kind of u-turn is inevitable. Politics is about numbers, and the rebels have shown they have the numbers. By u-turning over Winter Fuel Payments earlier this month, Starmer will have emboldened Labour MPs and shown them that they could force more concessions elsewhere.
A year into the Labour government, and finally we're seeing the Scottish group of MPs go in different directions. Labour whips won't forget the names of the nine Scots on the list, even if the government ends up conceding over its welfare reform plans.
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