Labour MPs Remain Nervous About Welfare Cuts After No 10 Briefings

Liz Kendall, the DWP secretary, is coming under increasing pressure over benefit reform (Alamy)

Downing Street on Wednesday held meetings with groups of 40 MPs at a time, in pre-booked 45-minute slots, to discuss their concerns over planned cuts to benefits.

PoliticsHome understands discussions were led by No 10 political director Claire Reynolds and every MP in the room who wanted to ask a question was allowed to do so.

Despite the outreach by No 10, even some loyal party sources believe the government has underestimated the size of a potential rebellion. 

At the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting on Monday, several Labour MPs raised their concerns over cutting disability benefits. One such MP was Debbie Abrahams, Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, and chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, who had contacted several MPs over their concerns about cuts coming to the welfare budget last week.

The government is believed to be looking at £6bn in welfare savings by making it harder to apply for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which gives extra financial assistance for disabled people. At the same time, it is understood the government is considering raising the basic rate of Universal Credit paid to those searching for work.

Some backbench Labour MPs have launched a Get Britain Working group, which has pledged to help the Prime Minister in achieving his mission to get more people into work. The group was said to have included 36 names including David Pinto-Duschinsky, a former Treasury aide to Gordon Brown.

However, not all of 36 MPs whose names were on a published letter were happy to be included. Allison Gardiner, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent, posted on X her name “shouldn’t have been added to that letter”. PoliticsHome understands Gardiner is not alone in being frustrated that their names were added to the letter.

Rachel Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, told PoliticsHome she was waiting to hear the exact detail from the government on benefit cuts, but said MPs should be mindful of the sharp hand of the Treasury when making decisions.

"We need to be compassionate and understand the distress and concern shared by disabled people who may be worried about the changes,” she said.

"Where are we heading? This feels more like a Treasury decision as opposed to a DWP (department for work and pensions) decision. But ultimately I want to see the detail and see where this is going."

But one veteran Labour MP told PoliticsHome they were “not convinced” there would be a rebellion as too many of the MPs in the new intake were either on the payroll vote or would be too fearful of repercussions. 

YouGov polling exclusively shared with PoliticsHome last week 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.

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