Latest news with #ImranHussain
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Labour MPs call for action on benefits after winter fuel U-turn
Labour MPs have broadly welcomed the government's decision to reinstate winter fuel payments for three-quarters of pensioners but some are using the U-turn to renew their calls for planned benefit cuts to be reversed. Nine million pensioners in England and Wales with an annual income of £35,000 or less will now be eligible for up to £300 to help with energy bills this winter. Labour MPs thanked the government for listening to their concerns, arguing means testing the payment was fair but that the threshold was set too low last year. However, several urged ministers to also think again on planned cuts to disability payments, while others called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped. Under planned changes to the benefits system it would be harder for people with less severe conditions to claim personal independence payments (Pips), while the government is promising more support to help people get into work. While the two-child benefit cap policy prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017, which critics say has pushed people into poverty. Ministers are considering lifting the cap, with a decision expected in the autumn, when a child poverty strategy is published. Pressure from Labour backbenchers over the issues - as well as on winter fuel payments - has been growing since the party's poor performance at local election's in May. The winter fuel payment was previously paid to all pensioners but last year the government announced only those receiving pension credit or another means-tested benefit would be eligible in England and Wales. The original cut last year was estimated to save £1.7bn, with the government arguing it was necessary because of the state of the public finances. But the move, which meant more than 10 million pensioners did not receive the payment in 2024, was criticised by charities, unions, opposition parties and many Labour MPs. Following mounting pressure, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a U-turn last month, with the details of who will get the payment this winter set out on Monday. The chancellor said she would detail how the £1.25bn policy would be paid for in the autumn Budget. How much is the winter fuel payment and who will get it? Labour hope to put winter fuel misstep behind them At-a-glance: Key changes to benefits in welfare shake-up Imran Hussain was among the Labour MPs to call for the planned benefit cuts to be scrapped in response to a government statement in the Commons on changes to winter fuel payments. "It is clear the government has listened, so I ask them to listen again to the growing calls in this chamber and scrap their planned, devastating cuts to disability support," the MP for Bradford East said. Fellow Labour MPs Nadia Whittome and Richard Burgon also welcomed the winter fuel U-turn but urged the government to listen to backbench concerns over benefit cuts. In response, Torsten Bell, who is both a Treasury minister and pensions minister, told MPs there needed to be "a better system focusing on supporting those who can work into work". He added that the status quo - where 1,000 people a day are going onto Pips - was not "a position that anybody should support". Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who has been a leading campaigner for restoring winter fuel payments, welcomed the government's change in policy, saying it was "long overdue". She told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme the £35,000 salary threshold for the payment was a "sensible measure". However, Maskell called on the government to consider a larger payment following increases in energy prices over the past year. The MP for York Central also urged a rethink on planned benefit cuts, adding: "You can't rob disabled people in order to pay older people, that doesn't make sense." Meanwhile, she was among several MPs to reiterate their calls for the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap. In the Commons Rebecca Long Bailey, Labour MP for Salford, also asked for reassurances minsters "are doing all they can to outline plans to lift the two-child cap on universal credit as soon as possible" to bring children out of poverty. In response Bell said "all levers to reduce child poverty are on the table". The minister added: "She's absolutely right to raise this issue, it is one of the core purposes of this government. "We cannot carry on with a situation where large families, huge percentages of them, are in poverty." The Conservatives have called for the government to apologise to pensioners who lost out on winter fuel payments last year. Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately described the U-turn as "the most humiliating climbdown a government has ever faced in its first year in office". She told the Commons "this rushed reversal raises as many questions as it answers", arguing the move was "totally unfunded" and could lead to tax rises. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "Finally the chancellor has listened to the Liberal Democrats and the tireless campaigners in realising how disastrous this policy was, but the misery it has caused cannot be overstated. "Countless pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating all whilst the government buried its head in the sand for months on end, ignoring those who were really suffering." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
3 reasons why Starmer could U-turn on controversial benefits cuts to PIP
An upcoming vote in the House of Commons on government proposals to cut £5bn from the benefits bill has sparked a rift in the Labour Party. The Labour leader is reportedly facing a growing backbench rebellion over the government's welfare reforms announced in March, with some reports suggesting as many as 100 backbench Labour MPs have signed a letter saying they can not support the proposals as they stand. Some of the party's MPs have been publicly critical. Imran Hussain said 41,000 disabled people in his Bradford East constituency would be affected and that many were 'rightly horrified' by the policy. Neil Duncan-Jordan, the MP for Poole, is one of those to have signed the letter, branding the reforms wrong". I have signed this letter calling for the government to rethink its stance on disability benefits because I think the current plans are need to be listening to people's concerns and I hope things will begin to change. — Neil Duncan-Jordan MP (@NeilForPoole) May 8, 2025 Ahead of the vote (which is expected to take place some time in June) the anger has reportedly led the prime minister to consider softening the proposed reforms – specifically changes to the eligibility rules surrounding the benefits payments to disabled people. Yahoo News takes a look at what's going on. The government has proposed a raft of benefits cuts, predominantly affecting those who are disabled or have a long-term health condition. One of those cuts is to personal independence payments (PIP), a benefit for people in and out of work that helps with the additional costs of living with a disability. The government wants to limit who is eligible by changing the assessment criteria from 2026. It means at least 800,000 disabled people could lose out on payments, according to figures published by the department of work and pensions. The health component of universal credit (UC) is also to be frozen until 2030, with the amount cut in half for new claimants from April 2026. Under-22s who are disabled or have a long-term illness will also no longer be able to claim a health top-up of universal credit from April 2026, with the money saved set to be reinvested by the government into training young people. In total, the cuts will leave 2.25 million households losing out on £500 per year, according to the government's own impact assessment. Some of the government's welfare reforms are open to consultation, with the public being asked to submit their thoughts until 30 June 2025. However, critics have said that only the less serious reforms — like scrapping the work capability assessment for those applying for the health component of universal credit — are open to discussion. In recent weeks, reports have indicated ministers are considering softening the cut. According to the Financial Times, one of the rumoured changes includes making the proposed changes to eligibility for PIP less strict, which could mean 195,000 fewer disabled people are affected by the reforms. Claimants could also get a longer 'transitional period' — from when they are informed their benefits are cut to their benefits stopping — so they have more time to plan for the loss in income, the Times reported. The rumoured changes reportedly hopes to get frustrated MPs onside, who have taken moral objections with the scale and severity of the cuts, the disproportionate impact for voters in the Labour heartlands, as well as the increasingly positive polling for Reform. Several Labour MPs have taken issue with the cuts, voicing their concerns that Labour has historically supported and championed a robust welfare system. According to the Times, 170 backbenchers warned that they may not support the reforms that make it harder to claim PIP as well as cutting incapacity benefits to increase incentives to work. Added to this, it warned that the scale of the cuts had not been seen since George Osborne's austerity reforms, which the party voted staunchly against. Forty-two MPs — including Nadia Whittome, Diane Abbott and Stella Creasy — wrote to the Cabinet earlier this month saying that the reforms were "impossible to support" and called for "a change in direction". The letter reads: 'The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity and over three million of our poorest and most disadvantaged will be affected. "Without a change in direction, the green paper will be impossible to support.' Another private letter, signed by 100 MPs, said they could not support the government in the disability vote, the Guardian reported. MPs don't just have the party whip to answer to — they are also held to account by their constituents. While the scale of the PIP cuts are clearly far-reaching, the map indicates that the 10 areas most affected by the government's PIP cuts are in Labour heartlands. In fact, out of top 20 areas where claimants are set to miss out on PIP, 19 voted for Labour in the general election — with Clacton voting for Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. In fact, many of the areas are emerging Labour/Reform UK battlegrounds. And, in the wake of Labour's chastening local election results in May, some have pointed the finger at the government's welfare cuts as one of the key drivers of discontent among the party's traditional voting base. 3. Reform are out-positioning Labour on welfare At a national level, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged to reverse the winter fuel cut and scrap the two-child benefit cap if the party came to power in a naked attempt to target Labour's perceived weakness in the area of welfare. And while the government has signalled a partial U-turn on the winter fuel payment, it continues to dodge calls from campaigners and MPs to ditch the cap. Overall, the most recent YouGov poll seems to indicate the public are also losing faith in Labour on welfare issues, with 69% saying the government is handling welfare issues badly. A DWP spokesperson said: "We are determined to create a welfare system that supports people into work and out of poverty. 'At the heart of the government's reforms is £1bn scheme to help the long-term sick or disabled find good, secure jobs. 'Our Plan for Change will change people's lives for the better. That is why we have raised the national living wage, increased benefits, and given additional help to the poorest households.'
Mint
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Mint
Delhi braces for more rain, thunderstorms after downpour kills 4
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for Delhi, forecasting partly cloudy skies with the possibility of thunder and lightning today, and has predicted rain on Monday. The weather office has predicted thunderstorms accompanied by rain in the national capital over the coming week, with maximum and minimum temperatures expected to settle at 38 and 27 degrees Celsius, respectively. Read | Dust storm chokes Delhi, AQI soars to 'poor' category – when will monsoon hit city? The warning comes on the heels of heavy downpour accompanied by a strong windstorm on Saturday, which claimed four lives in two separate incidents of wall collapses. In central Delhi's Paharganj, three men lost their lives and one was injured when the wall of an under-construction basement collapsed, also damaging part of the tin roof at a newly built RRTS station. Read | Dust, hailstorm lash parts of NCR; metro shed damaged at New Ashok Nagar-station: Check IMD forecast Former Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi expressed sorrow over the incident. AAP MLA Imran Hussain, who visited the site, stated that the district magistrate has been directed to provide compensation to the victims' families and initiate an inquiry into the matter. Another man was killed and his partner injured when a wall collapsed during welding work at a building in the Prahladpur area under the jurisdiction of Shahbad Dairy police station. According to the police, the deceased has been identified as 35-year-old Ashok Kumar, while the injured individual is Sumit Kumar. A section of the steel roof at New Ashok Nagar station on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor was also damaged due to the heavy rain, news agency PTI reported. Meanwhile, over the next few days, several parts of India will experience widespread rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds. These include regions of Northeast India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura), South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Lakshadweep), Western India (Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada), Central and Eastern India (Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Bihar), and parts of the Northwest and Northern states (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi).
Express Tribune
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK president lauds APPG Kashmir chair for timely meeting after Indo-Pak conflict
Fahim Kayani, President All Parties Alliance UK and President Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK, has extended his heartfelt congratulations to Imran Hussain MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Kashmir, for organising a successful and timely APPG meeting in the wake of India's recent aggression that violated Pakistan's sovereignty. The heightened tensions brought both countries to the brink of nuclear war, underlining the urgent need for a political resolution to the Kashmir conflict. The APPG meeting, attended by cross-party Members of Parliament, served as a critical platform to highlight the ongoing human rights violations iand to reaffirm the Kashmiri people's inalienable right to self-determination. Imran Hussain MP Chair APPG for Kashmir made it unequivocally clear to UK Ministers that the central issue in the Kashmir conflict remains the right of the Kashmiri people to determine their own future. He emphasized that this decades-old dispute must be resolved in line with international law and relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions, which guarantee Kashmiris a free and impartial plebiscite to decide their destiny. While commending the APPG for Kashmir's principled role, Fahim Kayani, President TeK UK, stated during a media briefing: 'Kashmir remains a nuclear flashpoint between two neighbouring powers—India and Pakistan. Without addressing the core issue of self-determination, lasting peace in the South Asian region cannot be achieved. The Indian government's current trajectory under its extremist Hindutva ideology poses a direct threat not only to regional peace but also to international security.' Kayani further called on the United Kingdom to recognise and fulfil its long-standing responsibilities: 'The UK, as a former colonial power in the region and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has a unique legal, moral, and historic obligation to ensure the implementation of UN Resolutions on Kashmir. The people of Kashmir must be allowed to determine their own future, free from Indian occupation, oppression, and systemic state terrorism .' Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK reiterated its unwavering commitment to the peaceful struggle for justice, human rights, and self-determination for the people of Kashmir, and called upon the international community to hold the Indian government accountable for its continuous violations of international law and human rights standards.
Sky News
12-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Politics latest: Watch Sophy Ridge live from Category B jail
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.
