Labour MPs Raise Alarm Over Benefit Cuts
3 min read
There is growing uneasiness among Labour MPs about the prospect of welfare cuts.
On Wednesday, the BBC reported Chancellor Rachel Reeves had set aside billions of pounds worth of prospective spending cuts to welfare and other departments ahead of the spring statement.
Reeves on Thursday told Sky News that the welfare system was “letting down taxpayers” because there were too many people trapped in out-of-work benefits.
The Labour government's commitment to meeting its fiscal rules means it is now under pressure to save money when Reeves provides an update on the state of the nation's finances later this month.
The decision to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent by 2025, quicker than previously set out, has put additional pressure on the government's spending plans.
However, the prospect of welfare being impacted by cuts at a time of cost-of-living pressures is causing concern among Labour MPs.
Debbie Abrahams, chair of the work and pensions committee, this week has spoken with numerous Labour MP colleagues about how they'll respond, PoliticsHome understands.
On Thursday, Labour MPs from London constituencies were invited to a meeting in 10 Downing Street, where they raised the alarm over potential welfare cuts. Asked by PoliticsHome about a potential House of Commons rebellion, one MP who attended said: “I bloody well hope so”.
YouGov polling exclusively shared with PoliticsHome on Thursday will likely only add to Labour MP fears about the potential impact of cuts to the welfare state.
The research carried out for the charity Trussell found that over three-quarters of people receiving Universal Credit and disability benefits went without essentials in the last six months, while 43 per cent said they skipped meals to keep up with other costs.
In September, more than 50 Labour MPs failed to vote with the government over its decision to reduce winter fuel payments for pensioners.
At the time, a Labour source said most of the abstentions had been authorised by the party, meaning they were deemed to have "legitimate" reasons for not voting like medical appointments, travel and pairing with the opposition.
Brian Leishman, Labour MP Alloa and Grangemouth, said potential cuts to welfare will impact the “most vulnerable, disadvantaged and poorest in society”.
He called on ministers to press for an annual wealth tax of 2 per cent on those with assets of £10m and more to keep up with current welfare spending.
“The government need to appreciate that inequality in the UK is growing and frankly, out of control,” he said.
“We have seen the wealth of the few explode at the same time people have been consigned to poverty through years of austerity, then a pandemic and then a cost-of-living crisis that has seen the corporations charge eye-watering bills.”
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme there had been a "huge rise in the welfare budget" and that there was a "moral case" for getting people out of the benefits system and into employment.
"There's a moral case here for making sure that people who can work are able to work and there's a practical point here as well, because our current situation is unsustainable."
Government spending on sickness benefits is expected to reach £100bn before the next general election.
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