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Welfare reform U-turn not enough, says MP

Mark Palmer
Assistant editor, BBC Wales News
EPA A crowd of people protesting, holding up signs which read things like "care not cuts" and "cut war not welfare".EPA
The planned reforms have been met with an outcry of opposition as people fear for their finances if they get the green light

A Welsh MP has rejected the UK government's concessions to party rebels over its proposed welfare benefits reforms.

Sir Keir Starmer's government faces a significant rebellion to the planned cuts, with many MPs supporting a bid to block them and the Welsh government also officially opposed them.

The UK government said it had listened and reached a "clear agreement", including a rollback on some of the cuts.

But Steve Witherden, who represents Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr and was one of the first Labour MPs to publicly criticise the plans, said the offer - described as a significant climbdown - was "not enough".

He added he was "uncomfortable" with a two-tier system in which the planned cuts would only affect future claimants.

"It still amounts to an almost £7bn cut annually to what's being spent on disability benefits at the moment," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

Stephen Kinnock, a UK government minister and MP for Aberafan Maesteg, said he was confident the revised welfare reforms would pass in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Following the concessions made on Thursday night, people who receive Personal Independence Payments (Pip) or the health element of Universal Credit will continue to do, with planned cuts only hitting future claimants.

The government made the climbdown after facing the prospect of defeat in the Commons if it failed to meet the demands of more than 100 backbenchers.

No. 10 said Sir Keir had listened to MPs "who support the principle of reform but are worried about the pace of change".

But Witherden said the concessions had not gone far enough and meant people would be "treated differently" based on when they became disabled or began claiming benefits.

"We're talking about people who can't eat unassisted, people who can't go to the toilet unassisted," he said.

"It'll be two different systems treating people who've become disabled at two different times. So it would still amount to approximately £4,500 annually less for a Pip recipient."

UK Parliament A man with grey hair, wearing a blue and white striped collared shirt and a grey blazer and looking at the camera with a half-smile.UK Parliament
Steve Witherden was one of the first Labour MPs to publicly criticise the UK government's reform plans

Kinnock said he had "huge respect" for colleagues standing up for their constituents, but that had to be balanced with "the need for reform".

The welfare system is run by the UK government, but the concession has been welcomed by the Welsh government's deputy first minister Huw Irranca-Davies.

He said the Welsh government had "made clear its discomfort as well at the proposals, because we knew of the impact on the people here in Wales".

Additional reporting by Matthew Webb

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