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More than 40 Labour MPs have warned the prime minister that planned disability cuts are “impossible to support” and have called for a pause and change in direction.
The letter from parliamentarians spanning the new intake and veterans, and from the left and right of the party, sets Keir Starmer up for the biggest rebellion of his premiership when the House of Commons votes on the measures next month.
There has already been widespread concern among Labour MPs about proposed changes including a significant tightening of eligibility for personal independent payments (Pips), saving about £5bn annually.
They would also involve cuts or freezes to incapacity benefits for people who apply for universal credit but are judged unfit to work.
According to internal Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forecasts, the planned disability benefit cuts would affect 700,000 families who are already in poverty.
A vote on the proposals is expected in June, and a number of MPs are concerned they are being asked to approve the plans without proper knowledge of the consequences.
The letter has so far been signed by 42 Labour MPs, putting the government on course for its biggest rebellion yet.
The proposals, set out in a government green paper, have “caused a huge amount of anxiety and concern among disabled people and their families”, according to the letter.
“The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity and over 3 million of our poorest and most disadvantaged will be affected,” it says.
“Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine. Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.”
The letter calls on ministers to delay any decisions until they see full assessments on the impact of any cuts, and for “a genuine dialogue with disabled people’s organisations to redesign something that is less complex and offers greater support, alongside tackling the barriers that disabled people face when trying to find and maintain employment”.
It goes on: “We also need to invest in creating job opportunities and ensure the law is robust enough to provide employment protections against discrimination. Without a change in direction, the green paper will be impossible to support.”
Among the signatories are some MPs on the left of the party such as Diane Abbott and Kim Johnson, but also a series of more centrist backbenchers, and there are 14 from the 2024 intake, including Lorraine Beavers, Cat Eccles, Terry Jermy, Peter Lamb and Simon Opher.
The benefit changes, set out by Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, in March, would tighten eligibility criteria for Pips so that people need to score four points in at least one activity to qualify for the daily living allowance.
Also, while the basic rate of universal credit for those in, or looking for, work would rise by about £15 a week from April 2026, the incapacity benefit would be cut for new claimants judged as unfit for work. Support would be frozen for existing claimants.
People under the age of 22 wanting the health top-up of universal credit would no longer qualify under plans being consulted on.
Kendall said her department would spend up to £1bn a year extra on helping people back into jobs.
When the plans were set out, Debbie Abrahams, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons work and pensions committee, warned against “balancing the books on the backs of sick and disabled people”.
While a series of individual backbenchers have voiced their serious concerns about the plans, the letter makes plain the scale of that concern, even if the language of being unable to support the plans holds out the possibility of abstention as well as voting against.
Starmer’s government has so far only experienced small Commons revolts, in part because of the very robust No 10 response the first time it happened.
Downing Street suspended seven MPs from the Labour whip shortly after the general election in July when they voted in favour of a Scottish National party amendment to scrap the two-child benefit limit.
A DWP source said: “At the heart of these reforms is a determination to help more people into work. We understand that there are concerns.
“The secretary of state is engaging and talking to colleagues, explaining why these reforms will help transform people’s lives.”
