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The UK government refused to say it is confident it will win a major welfare reform vote this week as it argues that the minister’s concessions have not been made well as a result of a considerable number of rebel MPs still threatening to kill the bill.
Health Secretary Wes Street said on Sunday that the government is “in a better position” with MPs after shunning changes in disability welfare reform, but he is not convinced there are numbers after more than 120 Labour lawmakers threatened to resist legislation.
The government must assume that of the 165 people, about 80 Labour lawmakers will vote against the bill and vote in response to abstention, and that other parties will oppose it.
“We’re in a much better position than last week,” Streeting told the BBC on Sunday morning, but admitted there was still “a lot of trust that needs to be rebuilt.”
Tuesday’s vote became an important test for Kiel’s Prime Minister Stage as Prime Minister Kiel approaches his first anniversary of office.
Starme moved last week to ease reforms after the government began to appear to have lost votes despite its majority.
The changes to the government’s bill are seen as priority u-turns, including vowing not to take disability benefits from those already receiving them, and critics say there is a risk of creating a “two-tier” welfare system with people who become disabled after reforms are lost.
The priorities argue that reforms are essential to boost welfare budgets to date, but the change will reduce government savings from nearly £5 billion to around £2 billion. Combined with the previous U-turn on winter fuel payments, Prime Minister Rachel Reeves has a £4.25 billion hole in his budget.
Many rebels have said they are ready to support the bill now, but dozens are understood to be postponed, and many have spent the weekend thinking about their options.
On Monday, the Labor and Pensions Secretary will issue a statement to the House confirming changes to the government planned reforms and laying out a review of interests with disability charities.
As it is not possible to change the actual text of the bill at this stage, the MP is asked to take the Minister’s statement as a promise that the changes will be enacted in the next reading.
Paula Barker, a Labour MP from Liverpool Wavertree who helped organize the rebellion against the bill, said it was “unquestionable,” but many enemies were won by the government.
“Some colleagues are waiting for the minister to hear what he’s saying tomorrow,” Barker said. “The key issue is that whatever the written minister’s statement is not on the surface of the bill, and trust is at the lowest ever.”
MP Louise Hay, one of the leading rebels, said he would vote for the bill on Sunday, claiming that “slight concessions” had been made, but said the government must learn from the crisis.
“I think this week’s crisis was caused by a sense that we weren’t listening. But the Prime Minister accepts that we need to take a different approach and this is an opportunity to learn serious lessons,” Hay told the BBC.
“There were problems with both economic policy and political strategy, which drove many colleagues to take this unprecedented step,” she added.
