Keir Starmer is headed for a major rebellion from his own MPs, as shown in a letter signed by more than 40 MPs. Labour’s plans for Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability benefit cuts have come in for severe criticism from disabled people, charities, and other organisations.
As the Canary’s Hannah Sharland reported:
The paper included a suite of regressive reforms to make it harder for people to claim disability benefits like PIP. As expected, the changes it’s proposing will target certain claimants in particular, namely young, neurodivergent, learning disabled, and those with mental health disorders.
Moreover, disabled people who need help with things like cutting up food, supervision, prompting, or assistance to wash, dress, or monitor their health condition, will no longer be eligible.
Certain MPs have spoken out over the proposed DWP reforms. Now, however, that dissent appears to be more organised in a worrying sign for Starmer.
Labour’s cross-party rebellion
As the Guardian reported:
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.
The letter sets out how the proposals have created “a huge amount of anxiety and concern” for disabled people. According to the DWP, the proposals would hit 700,000 families who are already in poverty. Even so, Starmer has persisted with the plans in an attempt to deliver a saving of £5 billion.
However, as Scottish finance secretary Shona Robison said, the government would be:
balancing books on backs of disabled people.
The letter continued that:
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.
It’s unlikely that a broken DWP benefits system is the problem, when just 10% of individuals hold more than half the wealth in Britain. But, it is undeniable that cuts don’t create jobs, or for that matter, savings. Labour’s proposals may wish to pretend that cutting benefits will create savings. However, analysis from Katie Schmuecker at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation actually found that the proposals:
will drive more people to the doors of foodbanks and more children deeper into poverty – the opposite of what the Labour manifesto pledged to do.
‘Impossible to support’
The letter from Labour MPs calls on Starmer to halt proceedings and change direction over the DWP:
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.
A list of the signatories of the letter showed MPs from across the left, centre, and right of the party:
🚨Disability benefit cuts impossible to support, 42 Labour MPs tell Starmer
MPs from across the party call for a pause and rethink.
Full list of names here pic.twitter.com/5ySXQeDNl6
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) May 8, 2025
Labour veteran Diane Abbott warned that the proposed DWP cuts were a big reason why voters were turned off:
The single biggest reason cited by voters for Labour's crushing defeat in the local elections was the government's decision to cut welfare provision.
Instead of doubling down, they need to drop the cuts. pic.twitter.com/3RiJbnSAo2
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) May 8, 2025
Richard Burgon shared calls for a tax on the wealthiest, rather than the poorest:
In Parliament today, I called for the planned cuts to disability benefits to be scrapped.
We should not be balancing the books on the backs of the poorest. Instead, we should be taxing the wealthiest.
If the Government does not drop its plans, I'll be voting against the cuts. pic.twitter.com/69L225X01u
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) May 7, 2025
Crunch time over DWP cuts
Meanwhile, YouGov’s latest poll shows that only 15% of adults surveyed approve of Labour’s government. 18% said they didn’t know, a whopping 67% said they disapprove of the government. Whilst Starmer has largely suppressed dissent from within the party – especially over the DWP cuts – it’s clearly going to be more difficult for him to continue to do so.
This is the least these Labour MPs can do as disabled people face cuts that will leave many of us struggling to survive. However, this government have attacked the rights of the most vulnerable people in society so much that the news of this letter may well be met with justified surprise.
Featured image via the Canary
