UK’s Starmer offers concessions on welfare cuts to quell Labour revolt
Move aims to placate a rebellion of over 100 Labour lawmakers threatening a major blow to the government’s welfare bill
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made concessions to dissenting lawmakers from his Labour Party on planned welfare cuts, two lawmakers said on Thursday, as the British leader tries to avoid a damaging parliamentary rebellion at a vote next week.
Those lawmakers have spearheaded an effort to kill the government’s welfare bill at the vote on Tuesday, presenting a potentially major blow to Starmer a year after he won a large majority in Parliament.
One Labour lawmaker, who did not wish to be named, said Starmer had agreed late on Thursday evening to change the plans so that the cuts only apply to new welfare claimants, with existing recipients of so-called Personal Independent Payments (PIP) remaining unaffected.
The lawmaker said he was still undecided whether the changes would convince him to back Starmer’s plan at the vote.
Starmer’s Downing Street office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.