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Labour MPs revolt over 'disastrous' and 'cruel' welfare cuts
Labour MPs have described the government's planned cuts to personal independence payments (PIP) as "cruel", "unfair" and "disastrous" during spiky questions to ministers at the Department of Work and Pensions.
Voters' anger about the welfare reforms is blamed by many as a key factor behind Labour's dire performance at the recent local elections.
The government plans to save £5bn by tightening the eligibility criteria for PIP, which is designed to help with the costs of additional care or mobility needs as a result of illness or a disability.
Watch: Why is the government cutting benefits?
Imran Hussain, Labour MP for Bradford East, told ministers his disabled constituents are "rightly horrified" by the plans.
"I cannot support any cuts that worsen inequalities in places like Bradford," he argued, calling on minister Liz Kendall to listen to calls to scrap the cuts and "tax the super rich" instead.
Hussain is no stranger to rebelling against Sir Keir Starmer.
He's one of six MPs who lost the Labour whip after voting for an SNP amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap shortly after the general election in July, though was reinstated in February.
Richard Burgon is another. The MP for Leeds East cited data which suggested 700,000 families already in poverty will be hit even harder than the 250,000 people the government's own impact assessment predicted will be pushed into poverty by the cuts.
"Will the minister come clean about the true scale of poverty this disastrous policy will cause?" he asked.
"It flies in the face of what a Labour government is meant to do - lift people out of poverty, not push people further in."
Watch: Benefit cuts explained
Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, echoed calls for a change in approach, calling for a wealth tax.
Mary Kelly Foy MP represents the City of Durham, an area where Reform made big wins in the local elections, taking control of the county council.
"Wouldn't it be more constructive for the government to start with listening to the calls from disability groups and disabled people and supporting them into work, rather than cutting the benefits first and pushing these people further into poverty?" she asked.
Government defends reforms
All four of these MPs are in the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group and signed a recent public letter calling for the cuts to be scrapped.
Work and Pensions Secretary Kendall told MPs: "We want to improve people's chances and choices by supporting people who can work to do so, and protecting people who cannot.
"If you are a disabled person in work you are half as likely to be poor than people who are out of work."
Minster Steven Timms argued impact assessments don't take into account the impact of plans to support more sick and disabled people into work, and said the government is engaging with disabled people's groups.
A vote on the reforms is due in June, with speculation it could lead to a large backbench rebellion - although Labour enjoy such a hefty majority they're unlikely to face defeat.

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Bullying claims in Parliament up 40pc in a year

Bullying complaints in Parliament have increased by 40 per cent in a year, with MPs most likely to be accused of misconduct. The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), which investigates bullying, harassment and sexual wrongdoing in Parliament, said it had seen a spike in complaints in the year to this April, which encompassed the general election. The body's annual report, published on Monday, said it had investigated 69 cases in the year, up from 47 the previous year. The cases were the result of 50 'disclosures' from parliamentary staff, some of which related to multiple individuals. The number of disclosures also increased by 25 per cent, and they were investigated at a total cost of almost £2 million. The ICGS said all but three of the complaints were of bullying and harassment, with the remainder relating to sexual misconduct including assault, harassment, stalking and voyeurism. Only four were upheld, with the remainder withdrawn, found to be out of scope or not completed by the end of the year. The report, which did not give details of individual cases, said the presence of alcohol in Parliament was 'a factor in almost one out of every five complaints investigated' and was 'notably prevalent' in sexual misconduct cases. MPs were the largest group of alleged perpetrators of either bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct, followed by House of Commons employees, staff working for MPs and members of the House of Lords. The ICGS did not explain the reason for the uplift in the number of complaints, which came after more than half of MPs were replaced at the general election. But it said that some of the bullying cases were caused by a 'power imbalance' in the workplace, where managers had 'abused their authority by publicly humiliating staff' or being 'openly critical and dismissive'. 'This behaviour caused complainants to feel insecure about their job stability and created an intimidating work environment,' it said. 'Additionally, it was alleged that managers assigned tasks that were excessively challenging or impossible to complete within the given timeframe, making the complainants feel as though they were being set up to fail.' Criticism over speed of investigations The ICGS was established in 2018 in response to the #MeToo movement and complaints that sexual misconduct was prevalent among MPs and their staff. But it has been criticised for the speed at which it can conduct investigations, with some dragging on for more than a year and involving multiple rounds of analysis by officials. In one case, a complaint was upheld by the ICGS and passed to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which investigates the conduct of MPs. The commissioner rejected the complaint, resulting in an appeal to another body, the Independent Expert Panel, which returned it to the commissioner. The appeal was ultimately not upheld. Thea Walton, the director of the ICGS, said: 'During the reporting period, we experienced a notable increase in the number of people contacting the ICGS. We received 25 per cent more disclosures in 2024-25 than in 2023-24. 'Unfortunately, this increase, the complexity of cases and the introduction of new processes and ways of working has contributed to longer timescales for completing cases. Over the next 12 months, the team will be working hard to reduce these timescales while bedding in our new processes and continuing to deliver a high-quality service for the parliamentary community. 'I am encouraged to see that awareness of the ICGS remains high across Parliament and more people are coming forward to use the scheme to seek redress when they feel they have experienced poor behaviour.'

The Guardian

an hour ago

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As Starmer unveils his 10-year plan, here's my advice: don't fall into the Joe Biden trap

Everyone in Westminster loves American politics. They – or, I should say, we – were raised on a diet of The West Wing and closely follow the twists and turns inside the Beltway coming from American media. This obsession has an effect on the real world: what happens in the US shapes British politics. Long ago this was seen in the parallels between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair's 'third way'; and this time last year Keir Starmer's Labour party was looking to Joe Biden's Democrats. Biden went all-in on reforming the US economy. Through the Chips and Science, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs and Inflation Reduction acts, he spent billions hoping to build more at home, boost growth and grow wages. It worked. Public investment led to more than $1tn (£750bn) of private sector spending, and real wages grew by $4,000 a person, with more for the worst off. Even with the pandemic, economic growth averaged 3% a year under Biden. 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If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Western Telegraph

an hour ago

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