Both highs and lows have marked Keir Starmer’s premiership.
With achievements such as beginning the process of renationalising railway services, committing more funding to securing Britain’s defence capabilities, and the slow march towards renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU, you could be forgiven for assuming Labour’s period in power has so far been a success.
That is, of course, until we consider the more harmful decisions this government has made.
The government had, for the longest time, defended cutting the Winter Fuel Allowance for millions of pensioners, until mounting backlash forced them to reverse their decision. Most recently, it has decided to make one of the most significant cuts to welfare since the 2010 Coalition government took office. The decision, as analysed by the government, will result in the removal of Personal Independent Payment (PIP) benefits for 800,000 people. This is despite numerous charities, including The Big Issue and Scope, along with Martin Lewis’ Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, calling on the government to rethink its strategy and avoid what they call “catastrophic impacts”.
And it seems it’s not only charities that oppose the government’s decision, with more than 120 Labour MPs set to rebel against the vote, and one of its whips, Vicky Foxcroft, resigning over the reforms. Despite these setbacks, Keir Starmer has vowed to press on with his plans to cut welfare, stating that the current system is “unsustainable” and that “1,000 people a day [are] going on PIP”.
The question remains: how will Starmer get his reforms through? The answer might present itself in the form of an unlikely alliance: the Conservative Party. Speaking to Sky News, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch suggested that her party would be willing to vote in favour of the reforms if the government met three key commitments: reducing the welfare budget, increasing employment, and not raising taxes.
Will Starmer accept the support of Labour’s longtime political rivals to get his reforms through? That remains to be seen. But what is a sure bet is the possibility of rebelling Labour MPs calling for a vote of no confidence in their leader if he does.
* Jack Meredith is a member of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and an active campaigner and canvasser with Swansea and Gower Liberal Democrats. His writing focuses on democratic reform, social justice, trade unionism, economic democracy, and the institutional foundations of effective government. He has written for the Fabians, Lib Dem Voice, Liberator, Nation Cymru, Bylines Cymru, and Centre Think Tank.
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2 Comments
Another possibility is that the Tories will abstain. If they do the Labour rebels probably won’t have the numbers to defeat the Government.
This will almost be as embarrassing for the Starmer government as if the Tories had sided with it. At the same time it allows the Tories the fig leaf of respectability.
We’ll have to see what happens next week but it looks like Starmer, Reeves and Kendall will get their “reforms” through one way or another.
“It traps people. I think it’s 1,000 people a day going on to Pip. The additions to Pip each year are the equivalent of a city the size of Leicester. That is not a system that can be left unreformed”…..
A significant number of those are young people with mental health issues. All well and good being against those reforms – but ultimately the pm is right, it cannot be sustained indefinitely.