The government is keeping a watch-list of potential ministerial resignations over Sir Keir Starmer’s benefit cuts, a Labour grandee has revealed.
Harriet Harman said she is bracing for resignations over the controversial move to slash billions from the welfare bill.
The Labour peer, a former minister and deputy leader of the party, said resignations would not be at the top level – meaning those who attend weekly cabinet meetings.
But she told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast “there are people on a watch list at the moment”.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall is already set to introduce additional protections to the Welfare Reform Bill which will implement the cuts, an important concession as fears grow of a major backbench rebellion over the measures.
The protections being offered by Ms Kendall will reportedly provide additional support to those with the most severe conditions who will never work. Hundreds of thousands of people who will lose payments intended to help with their living standards will also continue to receive payments for 13 weeks, a more generous transition than the four-week period more usually adopted by government. “These ‘concessions’ are not new and do not make any meaningful difference to the hardship these cuts to disability support will cause,” said Helen Barnard, director of policy at Trussell.
More than 100 MPs – understood to comprise primarily those who won their seats for the first time in 2024 – signed a recent letter to the chief whip warning that they are unable to support the proposals in their current form.
The package of welfare cuts is aimed at reducing the number of working-age people on sickness benefits, which grew during the pandemic and has remained high ever since.
While the government hopes the proposals can save £5bn a year by the end of the decade, there are fears they could push thousands of disabled people into poverty.
A Government impact assessment published alongside the reforms warned some 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, across England, Scotland and Wales, could fall into relative poverty after housing costs as a result of the changes.
The proposals have received strong criticism from charities and campaign groups since they were announced by Ms Kendall in March. Recent research from Trussell found that around 340,000 more people in disabled households could face hunger and hardship by the end of the decade as a result of the changes.
Ms Barnard stated that their calculations paint a more severe picture than previously anticipated “because we have looked at how many people are going to be pulled, not just into overall poverty but into the severest form of hardship.”
She added that while Trussell supports the government’s objective to reform employment support and facilitate more people entering the workforce, “these proposed cuts will utterly undermine this goal,” adding that “slashing support will damage people’s health and reduce their ability to engage in training and work.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told The Guardian there will be extra protections added to the Bill when it is published next week.
She said: “When we set out our reforms we promised to protect those most in need, particularly those who can never work.
“I know from my 15 years as a constituency MP how important this is. It is something I take seriously and will never compromise on.
“That is why we are putting additional protections on the face of the Bill to support the most vulnerable and help people affected by the changes.
“These protections will be written into law, a clear sign they are non-negotiable.”
Labour was asked to comment.
