Labour is struggling to contain a rebellion by its own MPs over benefits cuts, the Guardian has reported.
According to a Guardian report on 17 April the government is offering MPs unhappy with the cuts the chance to abstain or even simply miss the vote altogether, without any threat of punishment.
Backbenchers claim there are now 55 MPs prepared to rebel at the vote and another 100 who are still considering their position.
The bill to introduce the 4-point rule for PIP and abolish the WCA was expected to be introduced in May, but has now slipped back to early June, giving campaigners a little more time to organise opposition.
According to a further report in the Guardian on 20 April Labour is trying to buy off rebels by offering money to reduce child poverty just before the vote.
But Labour MP Rachel Maskell, told the Guardian
“You can’t compromise with a trade-off under which you say you will take more children from poor families out of poverty by placing more disabled people into poverty. That simply cannot be right.
“The government really does need to start listening to MPs, civil society and the population at large because there is really widespread opposition to these policies.”
And another Labour MP, Neil Duncan-Jordan, who won his seat with a majority of just 18 votes but who has 5,000 constituents receiving PIP, told the paper “There is not a hierachy of need. The whole policy is wrong. It goes without saying that if these benefits cuts go through, I will be toast in this seat.”
Duncan-Jordan is also unhappy that MPs are being asked to vote on the changes before they the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) reports on how effective they are likely to be in returning people to the workplace. The OBR will deal with this issue in its next forecast, due in the Autumn.
More information about the effects of Labour’s policy are being uncovered by campaigners with each passing week. Such as the fact that almost nine out of ten current PIP standard daily living awards fail the new test or that 77% of all award for arthritis and 62% of cardiovascular disease awards will fail the new test.
The more that Labour MPs can be made aware of these facts, the more they are likely to realise that what the government told them the cuts are about and what they are really about are two very different things.
