Labour MPs vote against welfare bill despite 11th-hour U-turns
Sir Keir Starmer suffered a huge blow on Tuesday (July 1) after 49 Labour MPs voted against the controversial bill’s second reading.
It managed to fend off an amendment from York MP Rachael Maskell designed to halt the legislation, but the bill only passed after a last-minute announcement saw plans to restrict eligibility for personal independence payment (Pip) dropped.
The change to the bill, which passed with 336 votes to 261, means any changes to Pip will now not happen until after a review of the benefit has concluded.
Among those against the Government’s plans were its own MPs – Durham’s Mary Kelly Foy, Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East Andy McDonald, and Easington MP Grahame Morris.
Ms Foy, who stood up in Parliament to voice her concerns yesterday, previously branded the proposals unfair, saying it would create a “two-tier system of social security”.
She said: “This isn’t a level playing field. The scale of ill health in the North is 50% higher than it is in the South. The North East has a higher rate of people living with a disability than any other region.
“And the ‘Ageing in the North’ Report recently published by the Northern Health Science Alliance and Health Equity North suggests that in the South, people leaving the jobs market later in life overwhelmingly retire. In the North, they leave due to ill – health.
“So the impact that these changes to PIP will have on individuals of any and every age, communities and the economy in the North East are huge, regardless of these changes to the Bill.”
Following the vote, she said it had been a long, hard, frustrating and emotional day”: “It’s never easy voting against your own Government, but I simply couldn’t support the UC and PIP Bill, even with the concessions offered.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall insisted the Labour Party was “100%” behind the Prime Minister, but acknowledged there were “lessons to be learned” after the rebellion.
She also appeared to express regret over the handling of the issue, saying: “I wish we had got to this point in a different way.”
But Ms Kendall also insisted it was “really important we passed this Bill”, saying: “We need to make changes, because too many people have been written off, are left to a life on benefits, when being in good work is so important.”
On Wednesday, Angela Rayner sought to reassure people who had been “scared” about the proposed benefits changes.
Speaking to ITV’s Lorraine, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “Anyone listening to your show today, they know that there will be no changes to their welfare.
“I want to make sure that people are reassured by that, because a lot of people have been scared about what’s going to happen.”
Bill reforms ‘should not be last minute reversals’
Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash abstained on Tuesday, saying he remained concerned over the “lack of clarity” and the “way this process has been handled”.
He said: “Reforms that affect disabled people’s lives must be developed through proper consultation, with compassion and care, not rushed changes and last minute reversals.
“I therefore chose to abstain at the second reading.
“I could not support a Bill developed in this way, but I also recognise that the most harmful proposals, those I was prepared to vote against, have now been removed.
“I will continue to press the Government to protect those in genuine need and ensure that future reforms are built on evidence, respect and decency. Once we have a final version of the Bill, I reserve the right to vote against it at Third Reading if it does not meet those standards.”
Another MP who voted against was Jarrow and Gateshead East’s Kate Osborne, who said the Government should “not be taking more money away from the most vulnerable in society”.
After voting against, she said: “Even if all of the compromises that the Government had spoken about were implemented,150,000 disabled people would be pushed into poverty.
“Over 400,000 new PIP claimants would losing £4,500 on average. Over 700,000 new UC-health claimants losing £3,000 on average.
“I refuse to be part of this and if the Government insists on pushing it to a third reading without fundamental changes (in just 8 days time!) I won’t be part of it then either.”
Andy McDonald branded yesterday as “chaotic” – and despite welcoming the postponing of Pip cuts, he voted against the bill.
He posted online that this was “due to continued cuts of billions of pounds from the Universal Credit health element.”
Meanwhile, Mr Morris previously told The Northern Echo that he did not think the previous changes went far enough, and therefore voted against.
He said on Monday: “A two-tier system is being created, where disabled people are treated differently depending on the date of their claim rather than the nature of their health condition. This is simply unjust.
“The Bill still represents a significant attack on our social security system. It will deepen poverty in the most deprived parts of the country – including areas like mine, with high levels of deprivation and a legacy of industrial disease.
“I was not elected to make my constituents poorer or to make life harder for those living with illness and disability. I will be voting against this Bill.”
Here’s how North East and North Yorkshire MPs voted:
MPs who did not support bill:
- Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) – Labour
- Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East) – Labour
- Matt Vickers (Stockton West) – Conservative
- Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) – Labour
- Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) – Labour
- Emma Lewell (South Shields) – Labour
- Grahame Morris (Easington) – Labour
- Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East) – Labour
- Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) – Liberal Democrats
- Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) – Conservative
- Sir Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) – Conservative
- Rishi Sunak (Richmond and Northallerton) – Conservative
MPs who supported bill:
- Luke Akehurst (North Durham) – Labour
- Lewis Atkinson (Sunderland Central) – Labour
- Sir Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) – Labour
- Mark Ferguson (Gateshead Central and Whickham) – Labour
- Emma Foody (Cramlington and Killingworth) – Labour (Co-op)
- Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Gateshead South) – Labour
- Chris McDonald (Stockton North) – Labour
- Lola McEvoy (Darlington) – Labour
- Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) – Labour
- Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) – Labour
- Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) – Labour
- Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) – Labour
- Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland) – Labour
- Joe Morris (Hexham) – Labour
- Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) – Labour
- Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) – Labour
MPs with no vote recorded:
These MPs were listed as not recorded in the official division list. This does not necessarily mean abstention—they may have had permission to miss the vote:
- Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) – Labour
- Sir Alec Shelbrooke (Wetherby and Easingwold) – Conservative
Keir Mather (Selby) – Labour. Teller for the Ayes