London — UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sharply scaled back planned welfare cuts to quell a damaging rebellion by legislators in his governing Labour Party.
More than 100 Labour MPs had publicly opposed Starmer's reforms, which sought to shave £5bn per year off a rapidly rising welfare bill. They had argued that the plans failed to provide support for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions.
Faced with the prospect of a defeat in parliament next week — just a year after he won a landslide majority in a national election — Starmer’s office confirmed that the cuts would be scaled back.
“We have listened to MPs who support the principle of reform but are worried about the pace of change for those already supported by the system,” a spokesperson said.
The reforms are set to be put to a vote in parliament on July 1.
In a letter to legislators, work and pensions minister Liz Kendall said only new claimants would be subject to the planned tightening of eligibility for certain benefits payments.
Existing recipients, some of whom had faced losing those benefits, would now be unaffected.
“Our reform principles remain; to target funding for those most in need and make sure the system is sustainable for the future to support generations to come,” Kendall said.
Labour legislator Meg Hillier, who chairs an influential parliamentary committee and had spearheaded the efforts to water down the bill, welcomed the government’s move as “a good and workable compromise”.
U-turn
However, opponents slammed the changes as another government U-turn following a reversal in cuts to winter fuel payments and a decision to hold an inquiry into grooming gangs.
The opposition Conservative Party’s work and pensions policy chief, Helen Whately, said the decision was humiliating, and represented a missed opportunity to cut the welfare bill.
“Starmer ducked the challenge — leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill,” she said in a post on X.
The government has argued that cutting the ballooning welfare budget is necessary to shore up the public finances and get more people into work.
The government did not set out the cost of the change in policy. Care minister Stephen Kinnock said that details would come in the next budget, which is due later this year.
Annual spending on incapacity and disability benefits already exceeds Britain’s defence budget and is set to top £100bn by 2030, according to official forecasts, up from £65bn pounds now.
But the plans to cut payments to some of the most vulnerable in society have proven particularly painful for legislators in the centre-left Labour Party, which founded the state-run National Health Service and traditionally sees itself as the protector of the country’s welfare state built after World War 2.
Despite Starmer’s concessions, one Labour legislator, Peter Lamb, said after learning of the changes that he would vote down the bill “alone” if necessary.
“To me, it's insufficient when better options have repeatedly been put forward and ignored,” Lamb said on X.
Reuters
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