Keir Starmer with Andy Burnham at the launch of Labour’s election manifesto last year. via Associated Press
The mayor of Manchester said the PM’s concessions did not go far enough.
Andy Burnham has called on Labour MPs to vote down the government’s welfare cuts – despite Keir Starmer’s attempts to buy off his backbench rebels.
The Manchester mayor said the prime minister had only performed “half a U-turn”, which did not go far enough.
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He said Labour MPs “face the prospect, if they accept this package, someone could come to their surgery in two years saying ‘why did you vote to make me £6,000 worse off than someone exactly the same, but who was protected because they were an existing claimant’?”
“I hope they think carefully before the vote, because the vote will create that unfairness and divide in disabled people,” he added.
The government agreed to make two major changes to the welfare bill ahead of a House of Commons vote on Tuesday (Alamy)
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On Tuesday, we are being asked to vote for the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in its original form because the concessions promised are not written into the Bill yet. We are being asked again to ‘trust’ that the Bill will change in committee.
But even with the promised concessions, we are still being asked to tighten eligibility criteria. A cut in support for those who will need it the most.
I am one of several disabled MPs, and not once did anyone from the Cabinet or No 10 reach out to me. Even worse, it appears they didn’t reach out to the multitude of disabled rights organisations or trade unions in agreeing to those concessions. Why were they not in the room when vital decisions about their lives were made?
These concessions are about party management and saving face.
There is no new bill, there are no new explanatory notes, and there are no impact assessments on the new proposals, and no time for sufficient scrutiny. There has been no formal consultation with disabled people. The majority of employment support won’t be in place until the end of the decade, access to work is in a worse state than ever before, it is unclear what the impact on carers’ allowances will be, and it creates a two-tier benefit system where disabled people will be worse off.
