Corby MP: new welfare reforms will push thousands into poverty
Lee Barron is one of over 100 MP's who have signed a Commons bid to stop the cuts to disability benefits.
Sir Keir Starmer faces a showdown with Labour rebels after vowing to press ahead with welfare reforms despite a brewing revolt over planned cuts to disability benefits.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday said the Government must take "hard, honest choices" in a defiant message after some over 100 MPs from within his party, including signed a Commons bid to stop the changes in their tracks.
One of those was Corby MP Lee Barron. When the Green Paper was introduced back in March, he raised concerns:
"Over a quarter of a million more people will be pushed into relative poverty, including 50,000 children. That's the impact assessment that was done back in March. We've said over 370,000 people would be impacted directly by this.
"I didn't get involved in politics to push people into poverty, I came into politics, to work and live, lift people out of poverty and this just doesn't do that."
Meanwhile Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, who has already agreed to soften the impact of the welfare Bill, is locked in talks with backbenchers as she seeks to win over those opposed to the plans.
The size of the rebellion is enough to threaten Sir Keir's majority and defeat the Government's plans if opposition MPs sided with the backbenchers.
The amendment was published on Tuesday's order paper and calls for a pause allowing for further scrutiny of the Bill and for support to be in place before any further cuts are made.
Lee Barron says there's been no impact assessment of the changes:
"We're walking into this blind. No disabled charities have been consulted. All of them oppose it. We've got to do better than this because the, the worry that this is causing people in terms of their very existence, is incredible. Some people losing an average of £4500."
Asked whether he would consider pausing his plans in light of the rebellion,
The Prime Minister told reporters travelling with him to the Nato summit in the Netherlands, when asked about pausing plans: "We were elected to change what is broken in our country.
"The welfare system is broken and that's why we will press ahead with our reforms.
"It's very important that we do so, because the current system is not working for anybody.
"People are trapped in it and I'm not prepared to allow that to happen. So, we will press forward with our reforms."
He added that there was "a clear moral case" for the changes, with 1,000 people per day going onto personal independence payments (Pip).
Sir Keir said: "The additions to Pip each year are the equivalent of the population of a city the size of Leicester.
"That's not a system that can be left unreformed, not least because it's unsustainable and therefore you won't have a welfare system for those that need it in the future."
But that's just what Lee Barron and the other MP's are calling for, a delay whilst an impact assessment and feedback can be done on the proposed changes.
He says he is not apposed to changes to our welfare system, saying Labour inherited a bad system:
"Nobody is arguing or opposing the fact that the welfare system needs to change. Everybody accepts that we can naturally reduce a welfare bill by getting more people back to work and where people can work, they should work and we should be helping them to do that. Nobody opposes that at all.
"But the problem with this is, is that by following this bill, we're going to put a quarter of a million people into relative poverty."
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle would need to select the amendment when MPs debate the legislation at its second reading next Tuesday.
Three other amendments also call for the Bill to be denied a second reading, one signed by Independent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn and Plaid Cymru's MPs, another by the Green Party, and a third by the Westminster SNP cohort.
Under the proposals in the Bill, ministers will limit eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC).
However, the legislation published last week will give existing claimants a 13-week period of financial support, including those losing eligibility to carer's allowance, in what was seen as a bid to head off opposition.
Ministers have previously said the reforms could save up to £5 billion-a-year.
Number 10 said the Government recognised the "strength of feeling" surrounding the issue but rejected suggestions the plans were "dead on arrival"