LONDON, June 27 — The UK government backed down on Friday on controversial plans to slash disability and sickness benefits after a a major rebellion by MPs — a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s authority.
Only days after the Labour leader insisted he would plough ahead with the reforms, Care Minister Stephen Kinnock confirmed concessions had been made to rebel MPs who had threatened to scupper the proposed reforms.
A total 126 of Labour’s more than 400 MPs publicly backed a move to block the proposals, forcing the third government U-turn in less than a month.
The turnaround comes just under a year since Starmer swept to power in a landslide election victory.
A spokesperson for Starmer’s Number 10 office said the government had “listened to MPs who support the principle of reform but are worried about the pace of change for those already supported by the system”.
It said a revised package of measures would preserve the welfare system for those “who need it, by putting it on a sustainable footing”.
The concessions, due to be set out in parliament later on Friday, include a “staggered approach” to the reforms, Kinnock said.
This means that the narrower eligibility criteria proposed will only apply to new claimants, not those already receiving the benefit payments.
“What’s clear from the announcement today is that it’s going to be a more staggered process whereby people who are existing claimants are protected,” Kinnock said.
The government U-turn comes at the close of a bumpy first year in power for Starmer during which finance minister Rachel Reeves has struggled to generate growth from a sluggish UK economy.
Rethinks have also been announced in the past month of other policies that were previously robustly defended.
On June 9, the government declared it had reversed a policy to scrap a winter heating benefit for millions of pensioners, following widespread criticism, including from its own MPs.
Less than a week later, on June 14, Starmer announced a national enquiry focused on a UK child sex exploitation scandal that had attracted the attention of US billionaire Elon Musk.
Starmer had previously resisted calls for an enquiry into the so-called “grooming gangs” — that saw girls as young as 10 raped by groups of men mostly of South Asian origin — in favour of a series of local probes.
Kinnock said he was now confident that the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (Pip) Bill, which contains the welfare reforms, would make it through a parliamentary vote due on Tuesday.
Starmer’s government had hoped to make savings of £5.0 billion (RM29 billion) as a result of the changes that have now been partly abandoned. — AFP