Latest news with #CatEccles
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
PHOTOS: Big crowds for Stourbridge Carnival 2025
STOURBRIDGE Town Centre was packed full of people on Sunday for the annual carnival. The popular event saw live entertainment, an array of food vendors and stalls, children's rides, and more take over the town centre. There was also a display of classic cars, which delighted vintage motor enthusiasts. Although there was rain pouring down in the morning, it fortunately held off for the carnival. Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles said on Facebook: "The rain didn't dampen people's spirits at Stourbridge Carnival. Jason Griffin and I really enjoyed the day, especially the musical entertainment at the two stages and from the brilliant Bhangra Smash Up on the parade". Check out our photo gallery from the day.
Sky News
18-06-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Welfare cuts vote could be the government's biggest parliamentary test to date
Liz Kendall, the welfare secretary, said today that the welfare system was at a crossroads - and that the road she had chosen was the one of "compassion, opportunity and dignity". Dozens of Labour MPs feel that what was promised as a plan to support disabled people into work has instead turned into a cost-cutting exercise to shave £5bn off the budget. Kendall announced the reforms in March, saying that the welfare bill was "spiralling" and "unsustainable". The figures are striking: nine million working-age people are economically inactive. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims per month have doubled in just five years. Many MPs agree the system needs reform, but worry the government is acting without fully thinking through the consequences. Today saw the legislation published - the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill - setting out a tightening of criteria for the main disability benefit in England, PIP. It also sets out plans to cut the health element of Universal Credit and delay access to it until age 22. Forty-two Labour MPs have signed a letter saying they cannot support the changes - and the names include newly-elected MPs who have not been critical of the government before. They say concessions, such as a longer grace period before benefits are removed, are not good enough. Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge, who spoke to Sky News today, has been on sickness benefits herself - after an unexpected illness saw her forced out of her job. She said she was worried about people who rely on PIP for the costs of working – such as petrol, and those who would lose it, but not be ready for employment. "It's really not good enough because we know so many people this is going to affect," she said. "We know PIP can be a gateway to getting other benefits like carers allowance which really help families just survive. We're not even talking about people having some great lifestyle, they're literally barely surviving on these payments. It all just doesn't feel very Labour to me." Other MPs who have not yet spoken publicly are concerned. "It seems as if we're getting all the bad stuff first – before we hear about the job schemes and child poverty strategy", one said. Several MPs say while the £1bn for tailored support in job centres is welcome, they worry it will not help all those losing out; and they worry about the economic outlook and employers being willing to take people on. Government insiders believe the rebellion can be contained. But it poses a challenge, and both Ms Kendall and Stephen Timms have been devoting time to one-on-one meetings to win around individual MPs. PIP – paid at a basic rate of £73.90 a week at the standard rate, and £110.40 at the enhanced rate – would be restricted from people who do not score four points on the daily living criteria. Disability groups say people who struggle to feed and dress themselves could lose out. 1:34 Kathy Laprell, from Eastbourne, who suffers pain and mobility problems following a serious car accident, has been receiving PIP for nine years. She currently qualifies for the enhanced rate, but fears she would not meet the new criteria and lose £440 a month if reassessed when these changes take effect next year. "People are terrified, we're angry, that yet again we're the scapegoat, we had it with the conservatives for 14 years", she told Sky News. "I use it to help pay for my carer's expenses because I pay her, I use it for petrol for the car so I can get out and about, and obviously extra winter fuel; the increase in bills since April has been astronomical. Losing it would mean I would be at food banks to actually be able to eat. "We're not scroungers. If I could work I would work," she said. 1:23 Yesterday, employment minister Alison McGovern faced down some angry Labour MPs who had called for the money to be taken from the wealthiest instead, saying the government had already put taxes on private schools and private jets, as well as increasing inheritance tax. MPs are also concerned that after spending months defending the decision to slash Winter Fuel Payments from pensioners, the government was forced into a U-turn. With many yet to be convinced, the first vote in two weeks could be the biggest parliamentary test the government has faced yet.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Labour rebellion brewing over welfare changes
Britain's welfare system is broken. Just about every Labour MP – maybe every member of Parliament - agrees with fixing the system is proving to be a most divisive decision taken so far by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is to restrict disabled people's eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip).Legislation to enact the cuts – part of a package aimed at saving £5bn by 2030 – will be introduced in Parliament on a major rebellion is brewing on the Labour benches – and some of the party's new intake of MPs are among those considering voting against the bill. This is a big step for a new MP but feelings are running high. Some told us they fear the benefit cuts will lead to more the same time, there are some freshly-elected Labour MPs who feel strongly that the party needs to use its huge Commons majority to bring in long overdue to reforms to the system. We spoke to two MPs elected for the first time last year, and who find themselves on different sides of the Eccles has recent first hand experience of the benefit becoming MP for Stourbridge, in the West Midlands, she found herself dependent on benefits when she was on long-term sick leave from her NHS was eventually let go and spent a year on welfare."If I hadn't have had family and friends to support me, I wouldn't have been able to eat," she says."I wouldn't have been able to pay my bills or even remain in the property that I was then, because it's private rented property."Her experience has given her an insight that some of her MP colleagues do not share, she believes."There are people who that has never touched their lives and so it is perhaps a little bit more difficult for them to appreciate the challenges."She is in favour of measures to get people with physical or mental health conditions into work - but she believes some ministers are using rose-tinted spectacles when assessing the willingness of employers to she says it has been wrong for the government to confuse measures to get people in to work with cuts to Pip, which she says currently help some of her constituents stay in work. 'Unimpressed' The changes in Kendall's bill may have the opposite effect to what is intended, she argues."A number of constituents are in employment thanks to their Pip. They could be spending those payments on a carer to support them getting ready in the morning, or even topping up their salary, so they can work fewer hours and not get so exhausted."My question to ministers is: will they potentially lose that payment and therefore no longer be able to maintain their employment?"Although no-one will lose their Pip payments until 2027, she says the "response of my constituents is one of fear".Kendall has now offered something of an olive branch to potential rebels by telling them anyone who loses eligibility for Pip will keep their payments for a three month transition has declared herself "unimpressed" and suggested that "this won't be enough to appease MPs".Along with around 100 of her colleagues, she wants to see the increased threshold in the legislation for claiming Pip lowered to its current she says, "people who can't cut up their own food, or someone who can't wash themselves" could lose out. "It's a brutal system," she hopes that if political arguments haven't persuaded some of her colleagues to come round to her point of view, then arithmetic has around a 3,000 majority in her Stourbridge seat but points out that more than 8,000 constituents receive Pip. 'Moral duty' David Pinto-Duschinsky does not subscribe to that argument. He won his Hendon seat in north-west London by just 15 believes it would be a political error for Labour to avoid radical reforms – or the whole system could become worked for the previous Labour government as an adviser in the Treasury under the late Alistair Darling but has been trying to grapple with the problems of unemployment and welfare for even said: "I started working on this issue over 25 years ago at the then New Labour's government's New Deal Task Force, dealing with issues such as welfare to work and getting the long term unemployed into not just jobs but good long term sustained jobs."A quarter of a century on, he believes the whole system is in danger."We have a moral duty to reform welfare and to safeguard the long-term future of that system. One in 10 working age adults is out of work in our country."He insisted restrictions on Pip – the sticking point for many Labour MPs who otherwise accept reforms such as the "right to try" a job without losing benefits – were as befits a former Treasury staffer, he comes armed with statistics. While he insists the most vulnerable will be protected, he says: "The numbers of people claiming Pip are going up by more than 1,000 people a day and the cost of this has gone up by 50% since 2018 - that's just not sustainable."He argues that "employment rates amongst disabled people are almost 30% lower than those without a disability"."If we are serious about tackling low incomes and poverty amongst people with health conditions we have to tackle those issues," he also denies that the government's reforms are fundamentally driven by the need to make savings."Of course there are economic considerations but the core reason for changing things is moral."This is an emotive and difficult issue but the current system is letting people down. There is nothing compassionate about a system that is throwing three million people on the scrapheap."Parliament will vote on the welfare bill in a couple of weeks. With a large Labour majority ministers are confident of victory. But clear blue – or perhaps red – water between the government and some of its own MPs seems unlikely to be bridged. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The National
04-06-2025
- General
- The National
SNP slam Labour over MP lobbying trip to Israel amid Gaza genocide
The National previously reported that the party's most prominent pro-Israel group, Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), sent a delegation of parliamentarians to the country last week. This included LFI chair Jon Pearce, as well as fellow Labour MPs Cat Eccles, Kevin McKenna, Peter Prinsley, Mark Sewards and Labour peer Luciana Berger. READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn brings in bill for public inquiry into UK complicity in Gaza genocide Israel's actions in Gaza have been described as genocide by leading international experts including Amnesty International, UN special rapporteur to the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, and the UN special committee investigating Israel's action in Palestine. The International Court of Justice has also said that there is a plausible risk of Palestinians' right to be protected from genocide being violated. But this didn't stop the Labour MPs from smiling and being pictured with a host of Israeli officials over the course of the four-day delegation (below), including president Isaac Herzog. (Image: LFI/Twitter) Herzog has previously been criticised after photographs showed him signing Israeli bombs set to be dropped on Gaza. His comments in the wake of the October 7 attack were also cited in South Africa's International Court of Justice case as expressing genocidal intent. Meanwhile, they also met with deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel, Israel's Leader of the Opposition, Yair Lapid, as well as with Yair Golan, leader of Labour's sister party, the Democrats. Golan said in October 2023: 'I think that in this battle, it is forbidden to allow a humanitarian effort. We need to say to them: listen, until the [captives] are released, from our side, you can die from starvation. It's totally legitimate.' Now, the SNP have hit out at Labour over the trip, saying it is a 'new low' for the party. "The Labour Party has repeatedly found themselves on the wrong side of the appalling destruction and slaughter of Gaza and the Palestinian people. But Labour MPs posing for pictures with these individuals is a new low,' the party's Middle East spokesperson Brendan O'Hara said. "Children are starving to death in Gaza and the Labour Government continues to allow the sale of component parts for the jets that bomb them to pieces - all the while too many Labour MPs sit silent and now we see some of them all smiles with the very state dropping the bombs.' He added: 'It is brutally and blatantly clear that the Netanyahu Government will continue to act with impunity unless and until there are consequences for their actions - smiling for pictures with these men does exactly the opposite and people in Scotland will be appalled." Labour have been approached for comment.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Conservation and heritage groups have their say on historic hotel extension plan
NATIONAL conservation charities and heritage groups have had their say on a planning application submitted to Dudley Council detailing plans to extend an historic hotel in Stourbridge Town Centre, adding 10 additional rooms. The application submitted to the council to extend The Talbot Hotel in the High Street and repurpose its conference room into new bedrooms has sparked controversy since its submission on March 18. A planning, design, access and heritage statement, submitted by AP Architects on behalf of the Talbot Hotel, details plans to construct a two-story flat roof extension and a single story pitched roof extension at the back of the building, which in total would allow for seven extra bedrooms, a space for laundry storage and a boiler/plant room. The plans also request permission to divide the historic conference room to create two additional bedrooms and make internal alterations to the hotel's lobby and reception areas, the bar and its toilet facilities, including relocating the accessible toilet. The hotel was bought by Birmingham-based hospitality operators, Rosevine Ltd, at the end of 2024, with the new owners looking to revamp the hotel. The Grade II listed building dates back to the 1600s, with the application having attracted strong criticism from over 100 objectors, including the town's MP, Cat Eccles and local councillors including ward councillor, Andrew Tromans. Echoing the concerns of objectors, conservation charity The Georgian Group have submitted recommendations to the council saying the plans pose 'serious concerns'. Read more Hotel management issues statement over application to extend historic town landmark On behalf of the group, James Darwin said: 'These proposals cumulatively have the potential to cause a considerable degree of harm to the listed building. 'The proposed works are both poorly explained and justified, and thus fail to meet the minimum requirements set out by the Secretaries of State within the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework). 'The group is particularly concerned by the extremely poor standard of the information provided in support of this application and by its failure to adequately assess the impact of the proposed alterations on the significance of the listed building.' Historic England have also criticised the application, voicing concerns bout the 'level of detail' in terms of potential harm to the listed building that the applicant has included, and the degree of harm the alterations would cause overall. Benjamin Williscroft from the organisation said: 'Fenestrated with sash windows, [The Talbot] has a commanding presence within the streetscene, and makes a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the conservation area.' He continued: 'Overall, it is considered that these external and internal alterations, including two storey extensions to existing extensions and that to the conference room, would result in a significant degree of incremental alteration, and harm to the significance of the existing designated heritage asset, especially where the legibility of historic internal spaces would be compromised.' The building, which is mostly located within the Stourbridge High Street Conservation Area, has many historical features including original timber framing, red brickwork, timber sash windows and a 'good' 18th century staircase. The planning, design, access and heritage statement submitted by the application said that the proposals have been 'designed to be sympathetic and in-keeping with the character of the existing building', with the two rear extensions being designed to 'echo the aesthetic, forms and feature of the immediate host' and continue the form of the existing building, therefore 'minimising' the impact on neighbouring buildings. The Georgian Group and Historic England are both statutory consultees, whose views the council are obliged to take into account when deciding on applications to alter listed buildings. The relevant applications P25/0222 and P25/0223 are available to view on the council's planning portal and will go before Dudley Council Planners.
