At 5.25pm yesterday disabilities minister Sir Stephen Timms got to his feet in the Commons chamber to intervene on a speech by Labour backbencher Andrew Pakes.
His purpose was in effect pull up the white flag on the government’s flagship welfare legislation, in the view that a vote in favour of the government on a completely hollowed out bill was better than defeat. They removed personal independence payments (PIPs) from a bill with the PIPs in the title.
