Seven North East MPs sign amendment to kill welfare reforms

It potentially represents the largest rebellion Sir Keir Starmer has had to face since becoming Prime Minister last July and would be enough to defeat the government if opposition MPs also voted in favour of the amendment.

MPs argue that the government has not had a consultation with disabled people before pushing the bill through Parliament and that reforms will push 250,000 people into poverty – ‘including 50,000 children’.

Bishop Auckland MP Sam Rushworth said: “Having examined the details of the Bill published last week, it does not contain the changes I hoped for, and I cannot, with integrity, support it. 

“So, over the weekend, I told my whips and Number Ten that, with a heavy heart, I will oppose the bill in its current form, and accept whatever consequences follow.”

Sam Rushworth MP. (Image: UK Parliament) The seven are from a broad spectrum of internal Labour politics, including Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash, who is a member of the centrist ‘Blue Labour’ group, and left-leaning MPs like Andy McDonald and Ian Lavery.

The full list of North East Labour MPs who have signed the amendment are: Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool), Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland), Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East), Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington), Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East), Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham), Grahame Morris (Easington).

Mary Kelly Foy, MP for the City of Durham, said in a social media post: “I’ve said time and time again there needed to be meaningful consultation with disabled people and charities – that has not happened.

“I refuse to standby in silence when policies that will have catastrophic consequences on thousands of vulnerable people in my constituency, the wider North East and other regions which already suffer from deepening inequalities, are being made in Whitehall. 

“To implement cuts like those being proposed are not why I became an MP.”

Mary Kelly Foy MP. (Image: UK Parliament) The MPs who signed the amendment “want the Government to listen and to think again on this Bill”, Ms Abrahams said.

She added: “We are being asked to vote for this Bill before disabled people have been consulted, before impact assessments have been conducted and before we have given enough time to some of the Government’s key policies – investing in the NHS, to the right to try, and to work coaching – (to) have been able to bed in.”

Vicky Foxcroft, the former Government whip who resigned over the welfare plans, has also signed the amendment.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would need to select the amendment when MPs debate the legislation at its second reading.

Amid the growing threat of rebellion, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden warned on Tuesday morning it would be a “very serious thing” for Labour MPs to effectively vote down the Bill at its first major outing in the Commons.

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He added: “You’re right to point out that this phrase reasoned amendment isn’t just a small tweak. It would stop the legislative process if it succeeded.”

Mr McFadden insisted the growing costs of welfare were unsustainable, as a “city the size of Leicester” was being added to the population on benefits each year.

“I don’t think as the party of labour, the party of work, we can sit back and be relaxed about so many people going on to long-term sickness and disability benefits,” he added.