Latest news with #disabilityBenefits
Times
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Meet Brian Leishman, the leftwinger holding Keir Starmer's feet to the fire
Sir Keir Starmer has been prime minister for less than a year but his government's retreat from its own proposed welfare reforms is the kind of political humiliation rarely visited upon any government so early in its tenure, let alone upon one that won a 174-seat majority at last July's general election. Across Britain, however, newly elected Labour MPs made it clear to the prime minister and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, that they were not, in their view, sent to Westminster to preside over cuts to welfare spending. The government's decision to limit changes to disability benefits to new claimants — protecting those who currently claim up to £110 a week to assist them with the costs of their physical or mental difficulties — may satisfy some parliamentary rebels but many others remain implacably opposed to any changes in welfare eligibility. 'The concessions have turned an absolute horrific policy into an awful policy,' said Brian Leishman, the left-wing firebrand elected as the Labour MP for Alloa & Grangemouth last year. 'The government has got to pull it, and get around the table with charities and others and devise a proper welfare system designed for people who need it.' 'There is no way I will be voting for the sort of two-tier welfare system this will create', he said. Leishman overturned an SNP majority of more than 12,000 votes as Labour swept to victory north of the border, taking 36 seats from the SNP. Although Labour had been confident the party could take a swathe of central belt seats from the nationalists, Alloa & Grangemouth was considered the kind of seat that could fall to Starmer's party only in exceptional circumstances. As it transpired, however, the election was precisely that kind of occasion and Leishman took the seat with a swing of 29.3 per cent. His victory, party insiders concede, was 'not expected'. Since entering the Commons Leishamn has emerged as the highest-profile figure within a reanimated and reinvigorated Scottish left. 'Brian has been a brilliant MP. He has fought tirelessly for his constituents, stood up for real Labour values and be unafraid to oppose the worst aspects of the Starmer regime. He is exactly the type of campaigning MP people want to see,' Neil Findlay, the former Labour MSP, said. Leishman, who is the only new Labour MP from Scotland to have joined the left-wing Scottish Campaign for Socialism group, also enjoyed the support of Richard Leonard, the former leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Campaigning for Leishman last year Leonard pointedly asked voters to 'ensure that the next Labour government has a Scottish socialist among its ranks, fighting for the many not the few'. The rebuke to Starmer was overt rather than merely implied. While most newly elected MPs struggle to make a name for themselves, the combination of Leishman's left-wing credentials and the fate of the Grangemouth oil refinery in his constituency gave him the kind of platform few of his Scottish colleagues — most of whom continue to labour in some measure of obscurity — enjoyed. 'There could have been many more Labour MPs like Brian in parliament had they not been blocked from being selected by the people, or more accurately person, who controls Labour selections in Scotland,' Findlay said. MPs who win surprising victories often surprise party managers. 'The only thing we knew about him was he was a golfer,' said one Westminster colleague referring to Leishman's previous career as a golf professional. 'Was it a surprise that he turned out to be a firebrand leftie? Yes it was. He's not disliked, and has a tendency to pick up fashionable causes, even some he appears to have little background in.' Another Scottish Labour MP notes that Leishman's higher-than-typical profile has irked many of his colleagues. 'He was the first Scottish Labour MP outside of the ministers to get a profile, and not in a good way so he's not massively popular in the Scottish Labour group.' Leishman, who says his ideal dinner party guests would be Tony Benn and Jack Nicklaus, is unabashed. 'I didn't join the Labour Party to impoverish people.' Although a dozen Scottish Labour backbenchers signalled their opposition to the planned welfare reform that would have trimmed £5 billion from a disability bill that is expected to be more than £60 billion a year by the end of the decade, few have been as public or forthright in their criticisms as Leishman. That has allowed him to become a champion of the Labour left and a figure of considerable suspicion for the party's right wing and those still loyal to the prime minister. The impact of the welfare rebellion on next year's Scottish parliament elections is not yet easily estimated. Anas Sarwar, Labour Scottish leader, insists that 'everyone' favours some of the welfare reform, pointing to the fact that disability claims are higher in Scotland than England. Yet the SNP senses the opportunity to embarrass Labour on this issue, insisting there will be no change to looser, more generous, eligibility criteria for disability payments in Scotland. This remains the case despite the fact that Scottish Fiscal Commission indicated this week that ministers face a 'really challenging period', with spending on social security forecast to grow from just over £6.1 billion in 2024-25 to more than £9.4 billion by 2030-31. Increased spending on welfare and the NHS inevitably means less money will be available for other causes and priorities. For Leishman and his newly emboldened backbench allies, however, rebellion is a taste that once acquired may easily become a habit. Starmer's concessions to his backbenchers are, for many, both too little too late and a taste of controversies to come.
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘A negotiated dog's dinner': Starmer faces second revolt over welfare bill concessions
Keir Starmer is battling to stem the revolt over his cuts to disability benefits, with about 50 Labour MPs concerned the concessions will create a 'two-tier' system where existing and newly disabled people are treated differently. Senior government sources insisted things were 'moving in the right direction' for No 10, with the whips calling round backbenchers to persuade them to get behind the bill on Tuesday. Government insiders believe they have peeled off enough of the 120-plus opponents of the legislation to win the vote, after the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, promised to exempt current disability claimants from the changes, and increase the health element of universal credit in line with inflation. However, rebel MPs will attempt to lay a new amendment on Monday giving colleagues a chance to delay the bill, which will still involve £2.5bn of cuts to future disability benefits. The continuing row over the reforms will likely blight the week that will mark the first anniversary of Labour's return to power. In an interview yesterday, Starmer admitted to a range of mistakes – including using the phrase 'an island of strangers' in an immigration speech, and of hiring his former chief of staff Sue Gray. His government has made a series of U-turns in the last 12 months – but his handling of the welfare bill might be the most damaging episode of them all. Starmer will next week be hoping to draw a line under the difficult period, which has also seen the government reverse cuts to winter fuel payments and change course over holding an inquiry into grooming gangs. Dozens of Labour MPs are continuing to speak out against the welfare cuts on a Labour WhatsApp group, with many MPs still undecided about how they will vote and pressing for more assurances that it is ethical and legal to set up a division between current and future claimants. Disability charities are warning that the bill is still 'fatally flawed' and will lead to an 'unequal future' for different groups of disabled people, making life harder for hundreds of thousands of future claimants. Starmer defended the bill on Friday, saying it strikes the right balance. The changes will protect 370,000 existing recipients who were expected to lose out after reassessment. 'We talked to colleagues, who've made powerful representations, as a result of which we've got a package which I think will work, we can get it right,' the prime minister said. Asked how the government would pay for the £3bn of concessions, which experts believe will have to be funded by tax rises or extra borrowing, Starmer replied: 'The funding will be set out in the budget in the usual way, as you'd expect later in the year.' There would need to be at least 80 rebels to defeat the bill, and government sources are quietly confident they have given enough ground after Meg Hillier, the chair of the Treasury committee, said she would back the legislation following changes. However, others are unconvinced. One leading rebel said 'everyone but a handful of people is unhappy', even if they do end up reluctantly backing the changed legislation, while another expressed frustration that No 10 and the whips were 'trying to bounce people into agreeing before we've seen enough details'. Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, who is one of the leading opponents of the bill, said: 'They are going to have to go back to the negotiating table … deaf and disabled people's organisations [DDPOs] are rejecting these changes as it fails to address future need and gives no security for people with fluctuating conditions, for instance where people are in remission.' Other critics who plan to vote against the bill include the MP for Crawley, Peter Lamb, who said: 'Despite many improvements to the system set out in the bill, at its core the bill remains a cost-cutting exercise. No matter the level of involvement of disability groups in co-producing a scheme for new applicants, to save money the new scheme has to result in people with high levels of need losing the support necessary to wash themselves, dress themselves, and feed themselves.' Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Simon Opher, the MP for Stroud, also said he still opposed the bill: 'The changes do not tackle the eligibility issues that are at the heart of many of the problems with Pip [personal insurance payments]. The bill should be scrapped and we should start again and put the needs of disabled people at the centre of the process.' Diane Abbott, a leading figure from the left of Labour, said the rebellion was 'far from over', while another Labour MP said: 'The bill starts from the premise of cuts, not reform. It's also arse about face in terms of impact assessments and co-production. It's simply a negotiated dog's dinner. In that sense, nothing has really changed except the fact they've negotiated more misguidedly to sign up to it.' One thing Labour MPs are pushing hard for is more clarity on the review of how the Pip system works, due to be done by the autumn by Stephen Timms, a work and pensions minister. Many expect that process to change the points system from what has been proposed so far. Some in the party also want Starmer to reinstate Vicky Foxcroft, who quit as a whip to vote against the bill before the U-turn was made. Stella Creasy, a leading Labour MP who had initially signed the amendment to delay the bill, said she wanted to see more details. 'The concern is to get to be workable … We need to understand why we would treat one group of claimants differently from another,' she added. Another Labour MP, from the 2024 intake, said: 'I'm waiting to look at the details before making any decisions. Many are in the same place as me and need to get something more than a midnight email on an issue of this much importance to hundreds of thousands of people'. The Labour MPs opposed the changes are citing a fundamental rejection of the idea that a Labour government will be making disabled people worse off. But at the same time, many of them have also been alienated by what they say is a No 10 operation that is out of touch with how the parliamentary party is feeling, and has tried to strongarm MPs into backing the legislation by threats and promises of preferment. 'Goodwill has been lost and there is still huge suspicion about whether they will try and pull a stunt at the last minute,' said one Labour MP. The majority of disability charities and campaign groups were on Friday still opposed to the cuts. The disability equality charity Scope said that despite concessions, an estimated 430,000 future disabled claimants would be affected by 2029/30. Its strategy director, James Taylor, said: 'It is encouraging that the government is starting to listen to disabled people and MPs who have been campaigning for change for months. But these plans will still rip billions from the welfare system. 'The proposed concessions will create a two-tier benefits system and an unequal future for disabled people. Life costs more if you are disabled. And these cuts will have a devastating effect on disabled people's health, ability to live independently or work.' A coalition, including Disabled People Against Cuts, said: 'Disabled people and disability rights groups totally reject the performative politics being enacted by the government, in response to being challenged by a growing MP rebellion and a tidal wave of anger from the public. 'We will not sell out generations of disabled people past and future by accepting this sham of alleged concessions on welfare spending so that they can save face. The reforms are ill thought out, and MPs still do not have a full understanding of their implications and impact.'
Bloomberg
15 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
UK Budget Reversals Threaten Reeves as Well as Her Fiscal Rules
By , Joe Mayes, and Freya Jones Save Labour's costly climbdowns on big policy plans don't just leave Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves with the dilemma of how to find the money to meet her budget rules. They're also starting to raise questions about her own job security. More than 120 Labour rebels forced Prime Minister Keir Starmer to make significant concessions on proposed changes to disability benefits that had been designed to save £4.8 billion ($6.6 billion) and keep Reeves on track to meet her budget rule that taxes must cover day-to-day spending. The U-turn wiped out some £3 billion of those savings, according to Resolution Foundation Chief Executive Ruth Curtice, who until last year was the Treasury's director of fiscal policy.
Sky News
15 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News
'Sometimes there is strength in listening': Liz Kendall defends welfare U-turn
Liz Kendall has defended the government's welfare U-turn saying: "Sometimes there is strength in listening." The embattled work and pensions secretary said "positive changes" have come about as a result of crisis talks with senior Labour backbenchers, who were poised to vote against planned cuts to disability benefits next week. However, she would not guarantee the bill will pass, amid criticism from some MPs the changes don't go far enough. The welfare concessions follow a U-turn over cuts to winter fuel and the decision to launch a grooming inquiry. Asked how the government can be trusted, Ms Kendall said: "Sometimes there's strength in listening. "I really believe that to be the case, that you end up in the right position when you talk to all of those with knowledge and experience and actually, if you want decisions to be the right ones and to last for generations to come, I believe that's how you make the right changes." The concessions include exempting existing personal independence claimants (pip) from the stricter new criteria, while the universal credit health top-up will only be cut and frozen for new applications. This has led to criticism of a two-tier system, but Ms Kendall said it is "very common in the welfare system that there are protections for existing claimants". 5:45 She said she "hopes" the changes have done enough to get the bill over the line next week. The cabinet minister also said government had "more to do" and would "talk to people over the coming days", with many MPs still on the fence about whether they will back the new proposals. The concessions were hashed out last night after a frantic ring around of MPs earlier in the week failed to bring critics onside. The government had planned to tighten pip criteria for new and existing claimants, with some 370,000 people set to lose out. It was part of a package of measures aimed at shaving £5bn off the welfare bill by 2030 and getting more people into work amid record levels of economic inactivity. However, MPs were concerned that disabled people had not been consulted, while the government's own impact assessment said the changes could plunge 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. 8:25 Ministers insisted this would be offset by measures to get people back into work, but many rebel MPs said while they agreed with that in principle it wasn't clear how this will be achieved. By Thursday, 127 Labour MPs had backed an amendment calling for the changes to be paused for further consultation - meaning the bill was at risk of being defeated when it goes to a vote on Tuesday. Dame Meg Hillier, the chair of the Treasury select committee who had tabled the amendment, said last night that the government had offered a "good deal". Ultimately, individual MPs will decide if they want to support it. Many MPs on the left of the party have said they won't, with the likes of Ian Byrne and Nadia Whittome saying no concessions are enough while cuts are still going ahead and the bill should be pulled. Others have told Sky News they are undecided and want to see more details first. None of the rebels have publicly said they will now support the government, but two have told Sky News they expect they will vote for the new measures. It's not clear how much the new package will save, with those details expected to by set out in the autumn budget. The prime minister's spokesperson said on Friday that the changes will be fully funded but refused to be drawn on whether that meant tax rises. He rejected the suggestion that Sir Keir is at the mercy of his backbenchers, saying he has "listened to MPs who support principles but worried about pace of change".
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
What do UK welfare reforms mean in Scotland?
The UK government has confirmed it will scale back its planned welfare reforms in a bid to fight off a rebellion by backbench Labour MPs.A third of the Scottish group of Labour MPs were among the 120-odd who signed an amendment calling for the changes to be with much of social security devolved to Holyrood, what do the concessions now made by Sir Keir Starmer mean in Scotland?Details are still being confirmed ahead of votes at Westminster next Tuesday. But the headline is that instead of tightening who is eligible for certain disability and sickness benefits straight away, planned cuts will only hit future has its own devolved social security system, which puts limits on the direct impacts for people Credit still applies across the UK, so reforms to that will affect Scottish claimants. Or, to be exact, future claimants of the health element. Anyone currently in receipt of this will continue to get it, but anyone starting a claim in future may be assessed more the same cannot be said of the other major target of the reforms, the Personal Independence Payment (Pip).As of this summer, everyone who was on Pip is due to have been transferred to the Scottish equivalent, the Adult Disability Payment (ADP).There are still some outstanding questions. Citizens' Advice Scotland has questioned whether ADP will have the same "passporting" capacity as Pip, where eligibility for one benefit can provide access to others at a UK this is the kind of detail which will become clearer once legislation is amended at Westminster and as backroom officials get their heads together to iron out how things will work in practice. Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has been clear that the Scottish government "will not follow Labour's lead on any of these changes".We essentially have two governments moving in different directions when it comes to social of the latest U-turn, the UK government is still keen to get a grip on welfare spending in light of a forecast £30bn increase in the cost of working-age health-related watchword has long been about getting people back into work and keeping budgets from ballooning in future the Scottish government prides itself on taking a more generous has set up new offerings like the Scottish Child Payment, currently set at £27.15 per week for eligible modelling suggests that policy alone will keep 40,000 children out of relative poverty this year. How much does Scotland spend on social security? Ministers have also uprated benefits by inflation each year - including the new winter fuel payment, allowing them to trumpet that it is a more generous offering than that available down south, even if the difference is only £ security thus accounts for an increasingly large share of the Scottish government's Scottish Fiscal Commission says spending on it was £6.1bn in latest forecast for next year is £7.7bn, and the figure is due to pass £9bn by Adult Disability Payment makes up the lion's share of that figure, with the cost set to hit £5bn by the end of the almost ten times more than the Scottish Child Payment (£517m in 2029-30), and almost thirty times more than the devolved winter fuel payment (£174m) - benefits which politicians spend far more time talking a reminder that there can be a big difference between the political importance of a policy and the financial weight of key question is how this is all going to be paid the end of the day John Swinney has the same problem as Sir Keir Starmer - budgets are finite, and costs are on social security in Scotland is already £1.2bn higher than the block grant which comes from Westminster. The gap is forecast to grow to £2bn by £2bn that the Scottish government has to find elsewhere in its budget. Or raise from if the UK government does ultimately reduce its welfare spending, that will in turn reduce the amount of funding flowing to Holyrood and widen the financial gap. Sir Keir's original plan was to save £5bn by 2030. Some analysis is suggesting the cuts may be closer to £3bn government officials are already scratching their heads about what this means for their own have fluctuated quite a bit as policy has shifted at Westminster, so it's hard to predict what the figures will be until the chancellor announces if we remain in a position where the UK government is seeking to cut its welfare bill while the Scottish government's one increases, it's obvious that the financial gulf is going to SNP administration has already leaned on its powers over income tax to fund some of this extra spending, with ministers again proud to talk about a more "progressive" system that asks those with the broadest shoulders to pay more to support public Finance Secretary Shona Robison has been clear that they can't keep going back to the well on that front. Further tax rises have already been ruled out for the rest of this parliamentary they have embarked on a programme of public service reform, which includes targets to reduce the public sector workforce by 0.5% per year and to cut the cost of running government and public bodies.A previous commitment to universal entitlements has also fallen by the wayside. When setting up the Scottish version of the winter fuel payments, ministers had insisted on a universal approach - at the very least a payment to all households, if not all individual they have now decided to copy the UK government's model of automatically clawing back payments from better-off households, and targeting funds at those most in the end of the day, all of this feeds into the politics of next year's Holyrood election, with the SNP and Labour already locked in a fierce battle for a fairly similar chunk of the Swinney built his efforts to turn around the SNP's fortunes after last year's general election drubbing on a pledge to mitigate the two-child cap on some UK benefit this is something which has a much bigger political impact than a financial one. The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC), which provides independent economic forecasts, reckons this will cost about £200m a year by the first minister has not missed an opportunity to hammer home his message that the SNP will be more generous to Scottish voters than Labour is being at Westminster. What will this mean at the polls? His party's campaigning is based very heavily on its record of big-state interventions and universal entitlements.A leaflet they circulated during last year's election campaign listing the SNP's achievements in office gave prominent place to the Scottish Child Payment, alongside free tuition; free personal care; free prescriptions; free bus travel; free school lunches; free baby boxes and free meanwhile, have majored on responsible stewardship of the public finances in their UK Scottish leader Anas Sarwar is not promising a tax-and-spend approach at says he'd ideally like to cut the tax burden, while maintaining spending on public services by growing the these are two parties which face similar problems in government - tight budgets, weak growth and spiralling answers they provide - and the extent to which voters trust them to deliver on them - are going to play a critical role in next May's election.
