Ministers considering tweaks to welfare reforms amid rebellion threat – reports
Disability benefit claimants could get more time to seek support before Labour’s welfare cuts are implemented, reports have suggested.
Sir Keir Starmer is said to be considering “tweaks” to welfare cuts planned by his Government, according to the Times newspaper.
Reports the Prime Minister is seeking to soften the blow of the cuts comes as he faces the growing threat of a backbench rebellion over the package of measures, which ministers hope will save the public purse £5bn a year.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner (left) appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (Photo: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire)
Benefit claimants could be given longer “transitional periods” to seek out other benefits if they lose out as a result of the reforms, according to the Times.
A backbench rebellion over the proposals, which would tighten eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip) as part of a package aimed at getting more working age people currently on benefits into jobs, could spread to more than 100 MPs, some reports have suggested.
Peter Lamb, the Labour MP for Crawley, is the latest to publicly state he would vote against the plan.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour he would be “voting against anything which is going to restrict access to Pip further than it’s currently restricted”.
Many Labour MPs across different wings of the party are “deeply uncomfortable” with what ministers are planning, he also said.
Labour backbenchers have already secured a partial U-turn from Sir Keir over the winter fuel payment cut, and are ramping up pressure on the Prime Minister to also scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The Prime Minister announced the change of direction on winter fuel at PMQs in the Commons last week, though details of when and how more pensioners might get the payment were not revealed.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner yesterday indicated an announcement could come in weeks. Rayner suggested the Spending Review on 11 June was the “first opportunity” to make the change.
“I mean, the Prime Minister has announced it, so logically to me that indicates that the Prime Minister wants to do something in this area. And if the Prime Minister wants to do that, I’m sure the Chancellor is going to look at how we can achieve that,” she told Sky News.
Nigel Farage (Photo: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)
Elsewhere, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is expected this week to commit to restoring the winter fuel payment in full, as well as scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
The move is an attempt to outflank Labour with its traditional working class supporters, according to Reform sources.
Ministers have reportedly been considering scrapping the cap, which restricts the amount of benefits parents can claim for more than two of their children, as part of their child poverty strategy.
Critics of the cap say removing it would be one of the most significant ways to prevent child poverty.
The plan, which was due to be published in the spring, is now set to come in the autumn so it can be aligned with the budget.
The Deputy PM branded Farage a “snake oil salesman” when she appeared on LBC on Sunday, and suggested Reform does not have a fully-costed plan behind its commitment.