Labour Minister Signals Welfare Bill U-Turn – Guido Fawkes

Labour Minister Signals Welfare Bill U-Turn

Trade minister Douglas Alexander was wheeled out on the morning round for damage control as the welfare rebellion against Starmer continues to grow. On Sky News, he hinted at a climbdown, saying: “discussions have started and are ongoing.” He went on:

“Discussions are certainly ongoing. 120 of our colleagues in the parliamentary party have signed that reasoned amendment, and so in that sense we’ve read very carefully what that reasoned amendment says. That’s brought forward the discussion of how to give implementation to those principles.”

Translation: Number 10 is scrambling to water down the bill to stave off a humiliating Commons defeat – as Guido was the first to report yesterday. Douglas went on to lament on the Today Programmer that disability cuts “touch the soul of Labour members, they run very deep, of course those concerns should be listened to”. He also tried to deflect pressure mounting on Morgan McSweeney – again, first reported by Guido – brushing it off as “gossip.” Starmer preparing for yet another U-turn. Wouldn’t be the first time…