The outcome of the standoff between the government and more than 100 of its own backbenchers regarding next week’s benefit reform vote is uncertain. Either the prime minister’s team will persuade enough MPs to pass the bill, or they won’t. A third option is some kind of compromise. But whatever happens next, the campaign behind the “reasoned amendment” that could scupper the cuts, if the rebels hold their nerve, has dealt a blow to the authority of Downing Street and the Treasury. The MPs, including a group of select committee chairs, are right to resist the predicted damage to their constituencies and condemn the lack of consultation.
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, continues to promote her disability benefits bill with a barrage of statistics. Headline figures such as the £20bn rise in the disability benefit bill since the pandemic, and the fact that employment has not bounced back as in other countries, are undoubtedly concerning. Something has gone wrong with a system in which one in 10 working-age adults relies on sickness or disability payments. It is right to be troubled by the rise in young adults on benefits due to mental illnesses.
