Starmer Faces Humiliating No-Confidence Vote as 130 Labour MPs Plot to Kill Benefits Bill
Sir Keir Starmer was scrambling to save his premiership today after hinting at humiliating concessions to quell the biggest rebellion of his time in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister signalled he was ready to water down controversial welfare reforms as more than 130 Labour MPs threatened to torpedo his flagship benefits legislation in a crunch Commons vote on Tuesday.
In extraordinary scenes in the House, Sir Keir desperately appealed for MPs to “make change together” – effectively admitting his plans needed reworking just days before the showdown that could determine his political fate.
The intervention came after Labour grandee Lord Blunkett delivered a devastating warning that losing the vote would force the PM to hold a confidence motion that could end his premiership after just one year.
“If they lost it, they’d have to go for a vote of confidence, I think,” the former Work and Pensions Secretary told LBC. “But the embarrassment of that one year in leaves you with two problems. One is you’ve been humiliated, and the second is you’ve still got the problem.”
Regime Change Demands
In an astonishing sign of how quickly Sir Keir’s authority has crumbled, furious Labour MPs are now openly calling for “regime change” in Downing Street and demanding the head of his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.
Rebels have turned their fire on the PM’s inner circle, with bitter complaints that No10 is dominated by “over-excitable boys” who have mishandled the crisis from start to finish.
One disgruntled MP told The Times: “It’s so depressing to think Keir and Morgan did all that work to cleanse the party of this self-indulgent rubbish, only for it to erupt back.
The revolt has exposed deep divisions at the heart of Labour, with MPs from across the party – including 13 select committee chairs – publicly backing a “reasoned amendment” that would kill the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill stone dead.
PM’s Desperate Plea
Making his first Commons appearance in two weeks after jetting around the world, Sir Keir struck a notably different tone from his previous dismissal of rebels as mere “noises off.”
On social security, I recognise there is a consensus across the House on the urgent need for reform,” he told MPs, his usual confidence replaced by conciliation.
“I know colleagues across the House are eager to start fixing that, and so am I, and that all colleagues want to get this right, and so do I. We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday.”
The climbdown came after Commons Leader Lucy Powell confirmed the vote would go ahead despite frantic behind-the-scenes efforts to delay it. But she was immediately confronted by rebel Rachel Maskell who demanded: “Will the leader of the House go back and urge her cabinet to withdraw this Bill?
Overnight Defections
The scale of the crisis deepened overnight as six more Labour MPs added their names to the rebellion, taking the total to 130 – easily enough to overturn the government’s 156-seat majority if opposition parties join forces against the legislation.
The new rebels include select committee chairman Toby Perkins and MPs who won their seats in Labour’s 2024 landslide – North Ayrshire’s Irene Campbell and Colchester’s Pam Cox – showing the revolt spans from veterans to newcomers.
A No10 source attempted damage control, insisting: “The broken welfare system is failing the most vulnerable and holding too many people back. It’s fair and responsible to fix it. There is broad consensus across the party on this.”
But the source’s claim that reforms were “underpinned by Labour values” rang hollow as MPs lined up to denounce plans they say will push 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children.
Blunkett’s Blistering Attack
Lord Blunkett didn’t hold back in his assessment of why the crisis has spiralled out of control, pointing the finger directly at the Prime Minister’s globe-trotting schedule.
“Keir Starmer, for very understandable reasons, has been diverted on to the international agenda,” he said. “I think he now needs to come back from Holland and be absolutely focused on this.”
The Labour grandee urged Sir Keir to delay the vote until autumn, warning that pressing ahead risked not just humiliation but leaving the underlying problem unresolved.
His intervention carries particular weight given his role as Work and Pensions Secretary under Tony Blair – a reminder of when Labour could pass legislation without fearing defeat from its own benches.
Chancellor’s Nightmare
The revolt represents a nightmare scenario for Rachel Reeves, who has been among the strongest backers of the £5billion welfare cuts as she desperately struggles to balance the books without further tax rises.
Even with the proposed changes, the benefits bill was still projected to keep spiralling – just at a slightly slower rate. Any watering down of the reforms would blow a massive hole in her fiscal plans.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has faced particular fury for pushing ahead with cuts that critics say will strip vital support from disabled people at their most vulnerable.
The proposed changes would tighten eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and limit the health component of Universal Credit – measures the government claims are essential to get spending under control.
Nuclear Option
There is growing speculation that Sir Keir could be forced to offer significant concessions to avoid disaster – potentially widening PIP eligibility or weakening Universal Credit restrictions despite the multi-billion pound cost.
The Daily Telegraph reported potential sweeteners being considered include speeding up support payments and publishing policy reviews – though one rebel warned: “I don’t think you can tinker with this. They need to go back to the drawing board.”
The PM has so far dismissed the nuclear option of abandoning the package altogether, but with his authority hanging by a thread, all options may soon be on the table.
History in the Making
No government Bill has failed to pass second reading – typically a verdict on broad principles rather than details – since 1986, underlining the magnitude of the crisis facing Sir Keir.
The rebellion dwarfs previous revolts, including when seven Labour MPs defied him over the two-child benefit cap last year. All seven had the whip withdrawn and remain outside the parliamentary party – a warning that hasn’t deterred the current rebels.
Already, former whip Vicky Foxcroft has resigned from the frontbench rather than vote for what she called cuts to “disabled people’s finances,” with speculation mounting about who might follow.
The atmosphere has become so toxic that Angela Rayner was directly challenged at PMQs about whether rebels would lose the whip, refusing to rule it out despite the impossibility of suspending 130 MPs.
Tory Opportunity
The Conservatives have signalled they will oppose the legislation unless Sir Keir rules out more tax rises, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the government to “go back to the drawing board.
The prospect of a Labour government relying on Tory votes to pass welfare cuts – or failing to pass them at all – represents a political disaster that could define Sir Keir’s premiership.
As MPs prepare for Tuesday’s showdown, the Prime Minister who swept to power with a massive majority just 12 months ago faces the humiliating prospect of a confidence vote that could end his time in No10 before it’s properly begun.
One rebel MP summed up the mood: “To leave it until a few days before the vote, it’s not a very good way of running the country.”
With Lord Blunkett’s warning ringing in his ears and his own MPs in open revolt, Sir Keir Starmer faces the fight of his political life – and time is rapidly running out.
Image credit: Photo by Jessica Taylor, © House of Commons, taken on 24 July 2024 during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Image page: View on Wikimedia Commons – “Prime Minister’s Questions, 15 May 2024”
1 comment
If the Labour Party are trying to save 5 Billion Pounds, instead of trying to cut PIP to Disabled People, why don’t they concentrate stopping the illegal boat people, stop any benefits of any kind, put them in tents instead of 4 & 5 star hotels, you’d save more than £5 billion, but oh no, stopping pip is much easier to do, so they thought, that is till some Labour MP’s got a backbone & started voting against the bill. They can’t stop the whip or deselect them as they won’t have a majority then
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