The Prime Minister has been urged to “urgently rethink” his welfare reforms by the Mayor of London, who is the latest Labour figure to hit back at Sir Keir Starmer.
Sadiq Khan has warned Starmer’s proposals, and the impact will be “substantial” and the government’s welfare reforms will destroy the “financial safety net” for many disabled Londoners.
Khan said, “Analysis of the proposals shows that the impact will be substantial, destroying the financial safety net for too many disabled Londoners,” he wrote on social media.
Khan added, “I have always said that more must be done to support people to go from relying on benefits to getting back into work. It’s vital for a healthy and prosperous London.
What we can’t do is take away the vital safety net that so many vulnerable and disabled Londoners rely upon.
Khan is the latest senior figure to publicly reject Starmer’s welfare Reforms and at least 119 Labour MPs have signed an amendment which could scupper the vote next Tuesday.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has also said that Starmer’s welfare changes will “trap too many people in poverty,” but the Prime Minister has insisted the government will “press ahead” with the reforms and he said the current welfare system simply is “not working for anyone.”
The Prime Minister has been warned that the “sharks are circling” and the vote on the welfare reforms will be treated as a confidence vote.
However, Starmer has hit back saying that the vote next Tuesday is “not a confidence vote” over him being Prime Minister and he will press on getting the reforms voted through.
He told Sky News, “It’s not a confidence vote. It’s a vote about reform of our welfare system. It isn’t working, it doesn’t help people in to work – quite the contrary. It actually makes it harder for people to get into work.”
Starmer believes that “most colleagues do accept the case for reform,” adding, that they have “got to get on and make that reform because the options are: leave the system as it is, trapping people and not helping them,” this is “not a Labour option.”
“The Labour option is to reform it and make it fit for the future. So we’re going to press ahead with these reforms,” he said.
