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Daily Mirror
09-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
How your MP voted on stripped-down welfare bill and full list of Labour rebels
Charities have reacted with fury over cuts to health-related Universal Credit payments, and 47 Labour MPs broke ranks to vote against the Government's stripped down welfare Bill Dozens of Labour MPs have again rebelled against controversial welfare reforms that have sparked fury among charities. Forty seven broke ranks over plans to cut health-related Universal Credit payments expected to impact an estimated 750,000 disabled people. Those affected will lose around £3,000 a year by 2030 in a move branded a "stain" on the Labour Party. Charities hit out after the Government's stripped-down Universal Credit Bill passed its final Commons hurdle with a majority of 94. They warned it would have a devastating impact on those whose payments are slashed. It comes after Keir Starmer and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall were forced to make major concessions last week. Ministers backed raising the Universal Credit standard allowance at least in line with inflation - a move they say will see four million households £725 a year better off. But the Bill will see new claimants who sign up to health-related payments receive a lower rate. Backbencher Rachael Maskell - who voted against the Government - told the Commons: "To pass this Bill tonight will leave such a stain on this great party founded on the values of equality and justice." The limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) benefit will be roughly halved for those who claim it from April 2026, unless they are terminally ill or meet a set of "severe conditions criteria". See if your MP supported the Bill using our tool below, and scroll down to see a full list of Labour rebels Pre-2026 claimants will receive £423.27 but new claimants will receive £217.26. Juliet Tizzard, Director of External Relations at Parkinson's UK, said: "The government's decision to cut Universal Credit costs is appalling. We believe that, despite the government's claims, savings are being made by effectively making people with Parkinson's ineligible for the higher rate health element. "The Bill clearly states that someone must be constantly unable to do certain tasks to qualify. This will penalise people with Parkinson's, whose symptoms come and go. Until we can be certain that people with fluctuating conditions will not be penalised, we'll continue campaigning for a fair system. "We're thankful to the MPs who tried to stop the changes to Universal Credit, and for every campaigner who raised their voice. We stopped the cuts to PIP, and while we're disappointed by the result today, this setback won't stop us." Former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, who last week quit as a Labour member more than a year after having the whip withdrawn, said: "This is a Government not only out of touch but also morally bankrupt. It works for billionaires and big businesses but turns its back on disabled people." But the Government argues reform is badly needed to better support people getting back into work. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: 'Our reforms are built on the principle of fairness, fixing a system that for too long has left people trapped in a cycle of dependence. We are giving extra support to millions of households across the country, while offering disabled people the chance to work without fear of the repercussions if things don't work out. 'These reforms will change the lives of people across the country, so they have a real chance for a better future.' The Government had initially proposed limiting access to personal independence payments (PIP) and health aspects of Universal Credit. Its own analysis suggested this would drag 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 childrens. The controversial measures were set to save around £5billion a year. But outraged Labour MPs refused to back the Bill, prompting the Government to announce a review of PIP headed by DWP minister Sir Stephen TImms. No changes to PIP will be made until this is complete, rebels were told in a massive concession. Earlier this week the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the changes will now pull 50,000 children out of poverty. Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at food bank charity Trussell, said: 'We are deeply concerned about the cuts being made to Universal Credit health payments for disabled and ill people applying in the future. "The scale of the remaining cuts in this ill-conceived bill will still be devastating and risks pushing more disabled people to food banks. Life costs more if you're disabled. Cutting this part of our social security system will mean 9 in 10 disabled people newly claiming the Universal Credit health element will miss out on around £3,000 worth of support on average by 2029/30. "It makes no sense to rip support away from people in the future, just because their health has worsened, they become disabled, or their income drops after an arbitrary date. " And Jon Sparkes, chief executive of learning disability charity Mencap said: 'By pushing ahead with these cuts, the Government will leave future claimants £3000 a year worse off. This will condemn disabled people with the most complex needs - people who cannot work and have no alternative income - to poverty and a lifetime of existing rather than living. 'It's important the Government is committed to listening to the needs of disabled people in reforming the PIP system. People with a learning disability should be at the heart of these reforms and we welcome today's commitment and reassurance that this will happen.' Full list of Labour rebels Abtisam Mohamed - Sheffield Central Alison Hume - Scarborough and Whitby Andy McDonald - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East Barry Gardiner - Brent West Bell Ribeiro-Addy - Clapham and Brixton Hill Brian Leishman - Alloa and Grangemouth Cat Eccles - Stourbridge Chris Bloore - Redditch Chris Hinchliff - North East Hertfordshire Dawn Butler - Brent East Derek Twigg - Widnes and Halewood Diane Abbott - Hackney North and Stoke Newington Emma Lewell - South Shields Euan Stainbank - Falkirk Graham Stringer - Blackley and Middleton South Grahame Morris - Easington Ian Byrne - Liverpool West Derby Ian Lavery - Blyth and Ashington Imran Hussain - Bradford East Irene Campbell - North Ayrshire and Arran Jon Trickett - Normanton and Hemsworth Jonathan Brash - Hartlepool Kate Osborne - Jarrow and Gateshead East Kim Johnson - Liverpool Riverside Lee Barron - Corby and East Northamptonshire Lorraine Beavers - Blackpool North and Fleetwood Margaret Mullane - Dagenham and Rainham Marie Rimmer - St Helens South and Whiston Marsha De Cordova - Battersea Mary Glindon - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend Mary Kelly Foy - City of Durham Maureen Burke - Glasgow North East Mohammad Yasin - Bedford Nadia Whittome - Nottingham East Navendu Mishra - Stockport Neil Duncan-Jordan - Poole Olivia Blake - Sheffield Hallam Paula Barker - Liverpool Wavertree Peter Dowd - Bootle Rachael Maskell - York Central Rebecca Long Bailey - Salford Richard Burgon - Leeds East Rosena Allin-Khan - Tooting Simon Opher - Stroud Stella Creasy - Walthamstow Tracy Gilbert - Edinburgh North and Leith
Daily Mirror
09-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer survives another rebellion amid outrage at DWP disability cuts
Forty five Labour MPs voted against the Government's stripped-down welfare Bill - with backbencher Rachael Maskell branding it a 'stain' on the party Keir Starmer survived another welfare rebellion as dozens of Labour MPs voted against a controversial shake-up. Critics lashed out at the Government's stripped-down welfare Bill, which will still see hundreds of thousands of disabled people lose £3,000 a year by 2030. It was branded a "stain" on the party as 47 Labour MPs rebelled against the Government to vote against its welfare reforms. Mother of the House Diane Abbott, former minister Dawn Butler, Andy McDonald, Stella Creasy and Jonathan Brash were among those in the "no" lobby. Charities hit out after the Government's Universal Credit Bill passed its final Commons hurdle with a majority of 94. Analysis quietly published on Tuesday evening said 750,000 people would be affected. It comes after the Government was last week forced to tear out key measures after more than 100 Labour MPs threatened to vote it down. Although ministers backed raising the Universal Credit standard allowance at least in line with inflation, they also want new claimants who sign up to health-related payments to receive a lower rate. Backbencher Rachael Maskell told the Commons: "To pass this Bill tonight will leave such a stain on this great party founded on the values of equality and justice." MPs voted to approve the Universal Credit Bill by 336 votes to 242, majority 94, and it will undergo further scrutiny in the Lords at a later date. The limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) benefit will be roughly halved for those who claim it from April 2026, unless they are terminally ill or meet a set of "severe conditions criteria". Pre-2026 claimants will receive £423.27 but new claimants will receive £217.26. Former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, who last week quit as a Labour member more than a year after having the whip withdrawn, said: "This is a Government not only out of touch but also morally bankrupt. It works for billionaires and big businesses but turns its back on disabled people. "It holds its summer reception at MasterCard's headquarters while disabled people are pushed to foodbanks. It impoverishes the sick and the elderly to satisfy spreadsheets and then dares to speak of tough choices." The Government had initially proposed limiting access to personal independence payments (PIP) and health aspects of Universal Credit. Its own analysis suggested this would drag 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 childrens. The controversial measures were set to save around £5billion a year. But outraged Labour MPs refused to back the Bill, prompting the Government to announce a review of PIP headed by DWP minister Sir Stephen TImms. No changes to PIP will be made until this is complete, rebels were told in a massive concession. Earlier this week the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) said the changes will now pull 50,000 children out of poverty. Debbie Abrahams, who chairs the Commons Work and Pensions Committee urged the Government to push back its reforms until November next year. She said: "This is to allow for the NHS capacity to ramp up and to ensure funding follows health need, so that people with newly required conditions or impairments can receive early treatment and a better aligned labour market that will enable them to return to work quickly. "Without this, there is the risk that 45,000 more newly disabled people and their children will be pushed into poverty." Labour MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge Marie Tidball urged the Government to properly work with disabled people in the Pip review, known as the Timms review. Ms Tidball, a disabled MP who tabled a cross-party amendment on the Timms review, said: "While the minister will head up this review, the voices of disabled people must be front and centre. Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at Trussell, said: 'We are deeply concerned about the cuts being made to Universal Credit health payments for disabled and ill people applying in the future. The scale of the remaining cuts in this ill-conceived bill will still be devastating and risks pushing more disabled people to food banks. 'Life costs more if you're disabled. Cutting this part of our social security system will mean 9 in 10 disabled people newly claiming the Universal Credit health element will miss out on around £3,000 worth of support on average by 2029/30. It makes no sense to rip support away from people in the future, just because their health has worsened, they become disabled, or their income drops after an arbitrary date. "
South Wales Guardian
09-07-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Ministers face fresh challenge to welfare reforms in Wednesday votes
The Department for Work and Pensions will try to steer the Universal Credit Bill through its final Commons stages, including clause-by-clause scrutiny, on Wednesday. The Bill, if agreed to, would roll out two different rates of benefit for claimants who cannot currently work. It would also freeze the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCW and LCWRA) elements of the benefit until 2030. The PA news agency understands that a 'substantial number' of Labour rebels have agreed to vote to gut the Bill of these reforms, if they can trigger a division. When MPs debated the reforms last week, Government frontbenchers rolled back on their plan to reform the separate personal independence payment (Pip) benefit, vowing to revisit any proposed changes only after a review by social security minister Sir Stephen Timms. 'The Government for all the goodwill of pulling clause five on Pip, they've lost it over being so stubborn and obstinate over clauses two and three,' Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell said. Clause two of the Bill includes a framework for two rates of LCWRA, with claimants who are eligible for the benefit before April 2026 able to claim a higher rate than later applicants. Claimants who are terminally ill or who have severe symptoms of an illness which 'constantly' apply would also be eligible for the higher rate, regardless of when they become eligible. Ms Maskell has proposed a change to the reforms, so that someone who has slipped out of and then back into the LCWRA eligibility criteria either side of April 2026 would still be able to claim the higher rate. Approving this change would be like 'gathering up the crumbs rather than getting the full course meal', she said. Asked what the Government should do to tackle welfare costs, Ms Maskell told the PA news agency: 'We've got to put the early interventions in to take people off this path of ill health. 'We've got quite a sick society at the moment for all the reasons that we know, a broken NHS, you know, social care not being where it should be, and of course long-term Covid. 'All of that is having its impact, and the endemic mental health challenges that people are facing. 'But to then have the confidence that your programme is so good that it's going to get loads of these people into work and employers are going to have to fulfil their obligations in the future hopefully after the Charlie Mayfield report (the Keep Britain Working review) will make those recommendations – all of that, great, as far as it goes. 'But what we can't do is leave those people that can't work in poverty, because they would love to work and earn money, but they can't, so we have to pay for it. 'And therefore the people who've got the good fortune of earning money, whether it's through income or assets, they're the people that are going to have to support a wider society.' Labour MP for Poole Neil Duncan-Jordan proposed gutting the Bill through a series of draft amendments, to strike clause two and cancel the freeze in clause three. He and Ms Maskell were two of 49 MPs who unsuccessfully tried to block the Bill at second reading, when it cleared its first Commons hurdle by 335 votes to 260, majority 75. Amid fears the Bill had been rushed through Parliament, and referring to the Liberal reformer William Beveridge who published a post-war blueprint for the welfare state in 1942, Mr Duncan-Jordan asked: 'Beveridge didn't design the welfare state on the back of a postage stamp, did he?' Beyond changes to parts of the benefit specifically for people who cannot currently work, the Bill would demand an above-inflation rise to the universal credit standard allowance each year until 2030.
North Wales Chronicle
08-07-2025
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Ministers face fresh challenge to welfare reforms in Wednesday votes
The Department for Work and Pensions will try to steer the Universal Credit Bill through its final Commons stages, including clause-by-clause scrutiny, on Wednesday. The Bill, if agreed to, would roll out two different rates of benefit for claimants who cannot currently work. It would also freeze the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCW and LCWRA) elements of the benefit until 2030. The PA news agency understands that a 'substantial number' of Labour rebels have agreed to vote to gut the Bill of these reforms, if they can trigger a division. When MPs debated the reforms last week, Government frontbenchers rolled back on their plan to reform the separate personal independence payment (Pip) benefit, vowing to revisit any proposed changes only after a review by social security minister Sir Stephen Timms. 'The Government for all the goodwill of pulling clause five on Pip, they've lost it over being so stubborn and obstinate over clauses two and three,' Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell said. Clause two of the Bill includes a framework for two rates of LCWRA, with claimants who are eligible for the benefit before April 2026 able to claim a higher rate than later applicants. Claimants who are terminally ill or who have severe symptoms of an illness which 'constantly' apply would also be eligible for the higher rate, regardless of when they become eligible. Ms Maskell has proposed a change to the reforms, so that someone who has slipped out of and then back into the LCWRA eligibility criteria either side of April 2026 would still be able to claim the higher rate. Approving this change would be like 'gathering up the crumbs rather than getting the full course meal', she said. Asked what the Government should do to tackle welfare costs, Ms Maskell told the PA news agency: 'We've got to put the early interventions in to take people off this path of ill health. 'We've got quite a sick society at the moment for all the reasons that we know, a broken NHS, you know, social care not being where it should be, and of course long-term Covid. 'All of that is having its impact, and the endemic mental health challenges that people are facing. 'But to then have the confidence that your programme is so good that it's going to get loads of these people into work and employers are going to have to fulfil their obligations in the future hopefully after the Charlie Mayfield report (the Keep Britain Working review) will make those recommendations – all of that, great, as far as it goes. 'But what we can't do is leave those people that can't work in poverty, because they would love to work and earn money, but they can't, so we have to pay for it. 'And therefore the people who've got the good fortune of earning money, whether it's through income or assets, they're the people that are going to have to support a wider society.' Labour MP for Poole Neil Duncan-Jordan proposed gutting the Bill through a series of draft amendments, to strike clause two and cancel the freeze in clause three. He and Ms Maskell were two of 49 MPs who unsuccessfully tried to block the Bill at second reading, when it cleared its first Commons hurdle by 335 votes to 260, majority 75. Amid fears the Bill had been rushed through Parliament, and referring to the Liberal reformer William Beveridge who published a post-war blueprint for the welfare state in 1942, Mr Duncan-Jordan asked: 'Beveridge didn't design the welfare state on the back of a postage stamp, did he?' Beyond changes to parts of the benefit specifically for people who cannot currently work, the Bill would demand an above-inflation rise to the universal credit standard allowance each year until 2030.
Leader Live
08-07-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Ministers face fresh challenge to welfare reforms in Wednesday votes
The Department for Work and Pensions will try to steer the Universal Credit Bill through its final Commons stages, including clause-by-clause scrutiny, on Wednesday. The Bill, if agreed to, would roll out two different rates of benefit for claimants who cannot currently work. It would also freeze the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCW and LCWRA) elements of the benefit until 2030. The PA news agency understands that a 'substantial number' of Labour rebels have agreed to vote to gut the Bill of these reforms, if they can trigger a division. When MPs debated the reforms last week, Government frontbenchers rolled back on their plan to reform the separate personal independence payment (Pip) benefit, vowing to revisit any proposed changes only after a review by social security minister Sir Stephen Timms. 'The Government for all the goodwill of pulling clause five on Pip, they've lost it over being so stubborn and obstinate over clauses two and three,' Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell said. Clause two of the Bill includes a framework for two rates of LCWRA, with claimants who are eligible for the benefit before April 2026 able to claim a higher rate than later applicants. Claimants who are terminally ill or who have severe symptoms of an illness which 'constantly' apply would also be eligible for the higher rate, regardless of when they become eligible. Ms Maskell has proposed a change to the reforms, so that someone who has slipped out of and then back into the LCWRA eligibility criteria either side of April 2026 would still be able to claim the higher rate. Approving this change would be like 'gathering up the crumbs rather than getting the full course meal', she said. Asked what the Government should do to tackle welfare costs, Ms Maskell told the PA news agency: 'We've got to put the early interventions in to take people off this path of ill health. 'We've got quite a sick society at the moment for all the reasons that we know, a broken NHS, you know, social care not being where it should be, and of course long-term Covid. 'All of that is having its impact, and the endemic mental health challenges that people are facing. 'But to then have the confidence that your programme is so good that it's going to get loads of these people into work and employers are going to have to fulfil their obligations in the future hopefully after the Charlie Mayfield report (the Keep Britain Working review) will make those recommendations – all of that, great, as far as it goes. 'But what we can't do is leave those people that can't work in poverty, because they would love to work and earn money, but they can't, so we have to pay for it. 'And therefore the people who've got the good fortune of earning money, whether it's through income or assets, they're the people that are going to have to support a wider society.' Labour MP for Poole Neil Duncan-Jordan proposed gutting the Bill through a series of draft amendments, to strike clause two and cancel the freeze in clause three. He and Ms Maskell were two of 49 MPs who unsuccessfully tried to block the Bill at second reading, when it cleared its first Commons hurdle by 335 votes to 260, majority 75. Amid fears the Bill had been rushed through Parliament, and referring to the Liberal reformer William Beveridge who published a post-war blueprint for the welfare state in 1942, Mr Duncan-Jordan asked: 'Beveridge didn't design the welfare state on the back of a postage stamp, did he?' Beyond changes to parts of the benefit specifically for people who cannot currently work, the Bill would demand an above-inflation rise to the universal credit standard allowance each year until 2030.
