theguardian.com
Labour rebel claims Starmer risks defeat on welfare bill with ‘loads’ of MPs planning to vote against it – UK politics live
Keir Starmer faces the toughest Commons challenge of his premiership this evening when MPs vote on his welfare changes
Compass, the leftwing group urging Labour to be more pluralistic, has put out a statement condemning the UC and Pip bill. Its director, Neal Lawson, said:
If your own friends are telling you to put the brakes on, then something has clearly gone wrong. Despite the government’s line, this legislation does not advance Labour values. It is fundamentally at odds with them, and with the views of the mainstream of the party and civil society.”
MPs from across the House, and especially the Labour side, must back Rachael Maskell’s reasoned amendment. This bill’s creation of a three-tiered social security system would condemn thousands to poverty and could lose Labour the next election.
A bill of this magnitude should have been co-produced with disabled people and our organisations from the very start.
Now, ministers scramble to promise ‘consultation’ as one small part of the process. That is too little, too late. Co-production is not a rushed tick-box exercise tagged onto legislation already steaming through Parliament. It means disabled people shaping the system at every step – not just commenting on the detail of changes already baked in. Continue reading...
