Brixton Labour MPs defy Government over disability benefit cuts in major Welfare Bill rebellion

Three Labour MPs representing the Brixton Buzz patch have publicly defied the Labour government by putting their names to a parliamentary amendment opposing the controversial Welfare Reform Bill.

The amendment rejects plans to cut Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a key benefit for disabled people.

Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood), Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green), and Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill) are among over 100 Labour MPs who have now backed a ‘reasoned amendment’ to the Bill – the largest Labour rebellion since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister one year ago.

Absent from the list is Steve Reed, MP for Croydon North and Streatham. As a Cabinet Minister for the Environment, Reed’s continued support for the Bill reflects his alignment with government policy. Any public opposition would have required him to resign from the Cabinet.

While Ribeiro-Addy’s opposition is consistent with her long-standing resistance to welfare cuts, the inclusion of Hayes and Eshalomi has come as more of a surprise.

Hayes, who chairs the Education Select Committee, has previously supported the leadership’s agenda.

Eshalomi, associated with the right wing of the party and closely linked to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, is a particularly unexpected name among the signatories.

The amendment expresses concern that the proposed reforms have not been subject to formal consultation with disabled people, nor co-produced with them or their carers.

It also highlights that key reviews into disability employment support are still ongoing and that the Office for Budget Responsibility’s analysis of the employment impact will not be available until autumn 2025.

It further points to the government’s own estimate that the Bill could push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children, while noting that most of the additional employment support funding would not be delivered until the end of the decade.

The growing number of Labour rebels suggests the government’s plans may now be in jeopardy. With a quarter of Labour MPs refusing to back the Bill in its current form, there is increasing speculation that the government may withdraw the proposals and return with revised legislation.

Full text of the amendment:

“That this House, whilst noting the need for the reform of the social security system, and agreeing with the Government’s principles for providing support to people into work and protecting people who cannot work, declines to give a Second Reading to the Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill.

Because its provisions have not been subject to a formal consultation with disabled people, or co-produced with them, or their carers. Because the Office for Budget Responsibility is not due to publish its analysis of the employment impact of these reforms until the autumn of 2025.

Because the majority of the additional employment support funding will not be in place until the end of the decade; because the Government’s own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of these provisions, including 50,000 children. Because the Government has not published an assessment of the impact of these reforms on health or care needs.

Because the Government is still awaiting the findings of the Minister for Social Security and Disability’s review into the assessment for Personal Independence Payment and Sir Charlie Mayfield’s independent review into the role of employers and government in boosting the employment of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.”