108 Labour rebels have signed an amendment to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill which, if it secured a majority, would kill the bill.
The amendment was published on the Parliament website this morning. It declines to give a second reading to the PIP cuts bill, giving a devastating set of reasons for this, including:
- its provisions have not been subject to a formal consultation with disabled people, or co-produced with them, or their carers;
- because the Office for Budget Responsibility is not due to publish its analysis of the employment impact of these reforms until the autumn of 2025;
- because the majority of the additional employment support funding will not be in place until the end of the decade;
- because the Government’s own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of these provisions, including 50,000 children;
- because the Government has not published an assessment of the impact of these reforms on health or care needs.
The amendment is signed by at least 11 Commons committee chairs, including:
- Dame Meg Hillier. Treasury select committee
- Debbie Abrahams. Work and Pensions select committee
- Helen Hayes. Education select committee
- Sarah Owen. Women and Equalities select committee
- Florence Eshalomi. Housing, Communities and Local Government committee
- Paulette Hamilton. Health and Social Care select committee
- Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi. Defence select committee
- Cat Smith Procedure committee
- Ruth Cadbury. Transport select committee
- Patricia Ferguson. Scottish Affairs committee
- Ruth Jones. Welsh Affairs select committee
The amendment would need to be selected by the Speaker in order for it to be voted on. If it was passed it would mean no vote would take place on the bill itself and it could not proceed further.
But, even if it is not selected, it gives a clear indication of the minimum number of Labour MPs considering voting against the government bill. A minimum of 83 Labour MPs would need to vote against the bill for it to fail, but only if every opposition MP joined them.
However, according to the BBC, the Conservatives have now indicated that they are yet to decide whether to support the bill, with Kemi Badenoch saying she did not want to alert Labour to her plans before the bill was voted on.
This raises the possibility that the Labour leadership could get the bill through by relying on Conservative votes. Whether ministers would be prepared to risk the fracturing of the party such a move would cause is another matter.
There has not yet been any reaction to the amendment from the Labour leadership, but this is unquestionably a massive blow to their plans to cut benefits and suggests that their attempts to bully MPs to vote for the Green Paper reforms have backfired spectacularly. With so many committee chairs signing the amendment, and the probability that non-cabinet ministers are waiting in the wings to resign if necessary, disciplining the rebels seems to be out of the question.
Full alphabetical list of Labour MPs who have signed the amendment
If your MP is on the list below, you might want to send them an email thanking them for their support. And if they aren't on the list, perhaps drop them an email and ask them to consider signing, for all the reasons listed in the amendment.
Abbott, Ms Diane
Abrahams, Debbie
Al-Hassan, Sadik
Allin-Khan, Dr Rosena
Arthur, Dr Scott
Baker, Richard
Bance, Antonia
Barker, Paula
Barron, Lee
Beavers, Lorraine
Begum, Apsana
Betts, Mr Clive
Billington, Ms Polly
Bishop, Matt
Blake, Olivia
Brash, Mr Jonathan
Burgon, Richard
Butler, Dawn
Byrne, Ian
Cadbury, Ruth
Coleman, Ben
Collinge, Lizzi
Cooper, Andrew
Cooper, Dr Beccy
Craft, Jen
Creasy, Ms Stella
Davies, Paul
De Cordova, Marsha
Dixon, Anna
Duncan-Jordan, Neil
Eccles, Cat
Edwards, Lauren
Efford, Clive
Ellis, Maya
Entwistle, Kirith
Eshalomi, Florence
Fenton-Glynn, Josh
Ferguson, Patricia
Foxcroft, Vicky
Francis, Daniel
Furniss, Gill
Gardner, Dr Allison
Gilbert, Tracy
Hack, Amanda
Haigh, Louise
Hall, Sarah
Hamilton, Paulette
Hamilton, Fabian
Hayes, Helen
Hillier, Dame Meg
Hinchliff, Chris
Hume, Alison
Hurley, Patrick
Hussain, Imran
Jermy, Terry
Jogee, Adam
Johnson, Kim
Jones, Lillian
Jones, Ruth
Kelly Foy, Mary
Lamb, Peter
Lavery, Ian
Leishman, Brian
Lewell, Emma
Lewis, Clive
Long Bailey, Rebecca
Maskell, Rachael
McDonald, Andy
McDonnell, John
McKenna, Kevin
Midgley, Anneliese
Mishra, Navendu
Mohamed, Abtisam
Morris, Grahame
Naish, James
Naismith, Connor
Niblett, Samantha
Nichols, Charlotte
Onn, Melanie
Opher, Dr Simon
Osamor, Kate
Osborne, Kate
Owen, Sarah
Paffey, Darren
Pitcher, Lee
Platt, Jo
Quigley, Mr Richard
Qureshi, Yasmin
Ribeiro-Addy, Bell
Riddell-Carpenter, Jenny
Rimmer, Ms Marie
Rushworth, Sam
Smith, Cat
Stainbank, Euan
Stewart, Elaine
Sullivan, Kirsteen
Tanmanjeet, Mr
Trickett, Jon
Tufnell, Henry
Turner, Laurence
Vaughan, Tony
Webb, Chris
Western, Matt
Whittome, Nadia
Williams, David
Witherden, Steve
Yang, Yuan
Yasin, Mohammad
Full text of the amendment
That this House, whilst noting the need for the reform of the social security system, and agreeing with the Government’s principles for providing support to people into work and protecting people who cannot work, declines to give a Second Reading to the Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill because its provisions have not been subject to a formal consultation with disabled people, or co-produced with them, or their carers; because the Office for Budget Responsibility is not due to publish its analysis of the employment impact of these reforms until the autumn of 2025; because the majority of the additional employment support funding will not be in place until the end of the decade; because the Government’s own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of these provisions, including 50,000 children; because the Government has not published an assessment of the impact of these reforms on health or care needs; because the Government is still awaiting the findings of the Minister for Social Security and Disability’s review into the assessment for Personal Independence Payment and Sir Charlie Mayfield’s independent review into the role of employers and government in boosting the employment of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.
