Afternoon summary
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, have agreed that “a new deterrent” is needed to stop the small boat crossings. (See 4.57pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
DWP minister Stephen Timms claims people with fluctuating conditions protected from risk of having health UC benefit cut
In the Commons MPs have been debating amendments to what is still called the universal credit (UC) and personal independence payment (Pip) bill – even though all the Pip elements of the bill were removed last week, when No 10 realised that without a massive concession the government might lose the vote.
Dozens of Labour MPs are still unhappy about what’s left of the bill, which will raise the standard rate of universal credit by more than inflation, while reducing the health element of UC for people unable to work as a result of an illness or disability for new claimants. Ministers claim the current system incentives people to switch to the UC health element because it is a lot more generous than the standard rate.
Some government MPs are expected to rebel in votes later, but as a result of the concessions last week the government’s majority is now longer at risk.
Here are some of the key points from today’s debate.
The Green party is calling for the bill to be amended to make the increase in the standard rate of UC more generous than currently planned. This plan is set out in amendment 39, tabled by Siân Berry from the Greens, which was selected as the lead amendment for today’s debate. All the amendments are here.
More than 40 MPs have signed an amendment tabled by Labour’s Richard Burgon that would block the cut to the health element of UC. The health element is set to be cut from £97 per week to £50 per week. Burgon said:
The halving of the universal credit health element is an especially cruel cut - targeting disabled people already assessed as too sick to be able to work.
Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP who led the revolt against the bill last week, described the bill, even in its amended form, as “a stain on our great party, founded on values of equality and justice”.
Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and the disabled, has claimed the bill will protect people with fluctuating conditions. In her speech Maskell said:
If someone has a fluctuating physical or mental health condition like multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, cystic fibrosis, or other recurring muscular-skeletal condition, if following a period of remission and work then relapse and returning to universal credit, unless unequivocally stated, they will return onto the pittance of £50-a-week for their health element.
But Timms intervened to say “the bill protects people in exactly the situation that she describes”. He said that if a pre-2026 claimant slips out of being eligible for universal credit but meets the eligibility criteria again within six months, the bill would demand that they be considered “continuously entitled to an award”. It would mean that they could go “straight back onto the position they are in at the start”, Timms said.
Debbie Abrahams, Labour chair of the work and pensions committee, urged the government to delay its reform of health benefits until November 2026. She said:
This is to allow for the NHS capacity to ramp up and to ensure funding follows health need, so that people with newly required conditions or impairments can receive early treatment and a better aligned labour market that will enable them to return to work quickly.
Zarah Sultana, the independent MP who last week said she was leaving Labour to set up a new party with Jeremy Corbyn, said the bill showed the government was “not out of touch, but also morally bankrupt”.
Updated
