‘UK taxpayers will pay price’: How people are reacting to the Welfare Bill vote

Yesterday evening saw one of the most dramatic and confusing votes since Labour returned to power almost exactly a year ago.

A welfare bill was passed, much to the relief of government ministers. But it wasn’t the same welfare bill that MPs thought they would be voting on at the start of the debate just hours earlier.

Instead, while that debate was taking place, it was announced that a huge chunk of the legislation concerning the Personal Independence Payment (Pip) disability benefit would be scrapped wholesale.

Measures to change the assessment criteria for the benefit were dropped, with the government saying any alterations would instead come following a review from disability minister Sir Stephen Timms due in autumn next year.

That meant the proposed legislation, titled the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, would no longer affect the Personal Independence Payment.

Metro readers have had plenty to say about the bizarre passage of the bill and the impact it could have.

Reader Karen Louise Meakin wrote on our Facebook page: ‘It’s not even a bill at this point – it’s a b.’

It was a drastic U-turn to cap off a fortnight of high-profile U-turns from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but it saved the government from a backbench rebellion and a potential humiliating defeat.

What it hasn’t saved, though, is money. Chancellor Rachel Reeves was banking on Pip savings to help balance the budget, but they’re no longer coming.

Reacting to the news on Facebook, Metro reader Kevin Ward wrote: ‘So it’s going to save £0.00 and Reeves will now have to find £5billion, that means higher taxes coming.’

Marian Ringer Crossan argued: ‘We do know there are thousands of people, including many young people who are dodging going to work on the basis of mental health, claiming benefits in my opinion fraudulently.

‘We know this is true but it has yet to be evidenced properly. Due to Starmer’s stupidity the whole bill is now caput! So UK taxpayers are the ones, yet again, to pay the price for our Government’s ineptitude and incompetence!’

Independent economic thinktank the Institute for Fiscal Studies agreed that tax rises ‘look increasingly likely’ as a result of the backtrack.

Incoming IFS Director Helen Miller said: ‘This will doubtless intensify the speculation over the summer about which taxes may rise and by how much.’

Many others were troubled about the potential impact of the bill if it passes through the rest of its parliamentary stages.

While the Pip measures have been massively watered down, the changes to Universal Credit (UC) – including almost halving the health element for new claimants – were kept.

Charities covering disabilities, mental health, and poverty all expressed concerns over the current version of the bill after yesterday’s vote.

Charlotte Gill of the MS Society said: ‘While we’re relieved that the government are dropping some of their most catastrophic plans for Pip, and committing to a review before any changes go ahead, we still believe this bill risks causing harm to disabled people.

‘Pushing through cuts to those on Universal Credit who are unable to work is unfair and cruel.’

Reader Helen Solorz Bamford was sceptical the welfare changes would achieve one of the stated aims of encouraging those on benefits into work.

She wrote on the Metro Facebook page: ‘I totally get the “helping disabled people into work”, as there are many who would love to work, except there is no workplace suitable, employers often don’t have the ability to offer changes to/in the workplace, needed for a disabled person.’

However, not everyone was unhappy over the plans.

Ricky John said on our Facebook page: ‘The Labour party have actually done something right for a change, too many people in this country want something for nothing.’

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