Sir Keir Starmer was forced to abandon a key plank of his welfare reform agenda to get the legislation through its first Commons test.
In a late climbdown as MPs prepared to vote, the Government shelved plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (PIP), with any changes now only coming after a review of the benefit. Despite the late concession, there were 49 Labour rebels, the largest revolt so far of Starmer’s premiership.
So can the Prime Minister restore faith in his project or has his authority been fatally wounded?
Sir Keir Starmer managed a joke and a chuckle with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy on the frontbench on Tuesday night as he waited to vote on a humiliating climbdown on welfare. Onlookers were astonished.
Quite how the Prime Minister recovers from such a significant blow to both his authority and the exchequer is yet to be spelled out. Starmer had staked his reputation on the welfare reforms, citing them as evidence that he was prepared to make the “difficult” decisions.
Now, held hostage by his own backbenches, he needs do contradictory things. First, reassert his authority – and fast, perhaps by sacking Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall. The second is to both coddle his MPs while simultaneously making clear they can’t keep voting against spending cuts.
Despite appearances, it really is no laughing matter.
Kitty Donaldson is The i Paper’s Chief Political Commentator
Andrew Fisher: ‘Labour is wasting its large majority’
Unpopular in the country, forced into retreat by his own MPs, and still without a clearly articulated set of policies, Keir Starmer sits in a very weak position.
The shambolic denouement of his attempt to drive through £5bn of cuts to disability benefits yesterday in Parliament in the words of one Labour MP, “laid bare the incoherent nature of this process – it is the most unedifying spectacle I’ve ever seen”.
Just a week ago, the Prime Minister was dismissing the concerns of his own MPs as “noises off”. He has been given a reminder that, in democracies, leaders govern by consent.
There has been a complete lack of judgment by figures in No.10, the Chancellor and the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall. But the origins of Starmer’s crisis go beyond individual failures, and back to the gaping chasm at the heart of their election manifesto, which was bereft of the policies necessary to address the colossal mess they inherited from the Tories.
As a result Starmer and his Cabinet have stumbled around directionless, devoid of any discernible principle or strategy to guide them. Most rebellious MPs still want this Government to succeed, but won’t throw their constituents under a bus to save the Prime Minister’s blushes.
The next general election is four years away, but lessons need to be learned urgently. Labour is currently wasting its large majority and has squandered the goodwill of the electorate.
Andrew Fisher is a columnist at The i Paper
Hugo Gye: ‘Starmer is Labour’s only hope’
There is no question that Sir Keir Starmer’s authority has been diminished by the farce that has unfolded over his attempt to reform (and cut) benefits.
The best-case scenario now is that the Prime Minister must simply abandon welfare as a policy area, and hope the Labour Party’s taste for rebellion does not spread to other issues.
Because the problem for all of us is this: if Starmer cannot lead, then no one can.
No putative successor would be better at uniting Labour than the incumbent. Angela Rayner would alienate the centrists, Wes Streeting would alienate the leftists, Rachel Reeves would alienate everyone. It was Starmer who took the party to its stonking election win last year – it is inconceivable that a different leader could command more loyalty than him.
What about a general election? Forget it: polls suggest a hung Parliament with Reform UK as the largest party, a recipe for even more chaos.
Starmer is Labour’s only hope, which means that for the next few years he is the country’s only hope too. It remains to be seen if Labour MPs realise this.
Hugo Gye is The i Paper’s Political Editor
As Keir Starmer prepares to mark his first year anniversary as Prime Minister, he must be thinking this is not the start he would have wanted.
While his government has had a good story to tell on NHS waiting lists, defence spending and infrastructure, the chaos surrounding the welfare bill has exposed problems in party management and inside the Downing Street operation.
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But it has also underlined a lack of an overarching vision from the PM himself.Ministers cannot seem to decide whether reforms to disability benefits are a “moral” case to give people dignity at work or a drive to cut spending to balance the books.
If Starmer had one core message to sell to voters it would be easier to explain to his own MPs why they need to back his policies in parliament.
So here is an idea. The PM, who always looks more at ease dressed as a football manager than in a suit, could say everything his government is doing – on the NHS, the economy, defence spending and welfare – is to get the country “match fit” for the immense challenges it is facing at home and abroad.
Jane Merrick is The i Paper’s Policy Editor
Ian Dunt: ‘This simply cannot go on’
This needs to be a moment of reckoning, for every part of the administration: Reeves, Starmer, Kendall, the whips. A sensible approach should be taken to the annual implementation of the fiscal rule, large taxes have to go up to create a solid buffer against market movement, a decent relationship needs to be re-established between the Government and the parliamentary party. Most of all: policies must be grounded in logic and genuine moral sentiment, not the cynical misrepresentation we’ve seen here.
This simply cannot go on. It must not. Unless there are big changes now, this will only be a prologue to what’s to come.
Ian Dunt is a columnist at The i Paper
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