In a meeting of Labour MPs on Monday evening, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall defended the welfare reforms, arguing greater spending on benefits alone was “no route to social justice”.
“The path to fairer society – one where everyone thrives, where people who can work get the support they need, and where we protect those who cannot – that is the path we seek to build with our reforms,” Kendall said.
“Our plans are rooted in fairness – for those who need support and for taxpayers.
“They are about ensuring the welfare state survives, so there is always a safety net for those who need it.”
One of the main co-ordinators behind the amendment, who did not wish to be named, told the BBC the government’s U-turn on cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners “demonstrates that they are susceptible to pressure”.
They said the decision emboldened many of those who have signed the amendment, saying MPs “all voted for winter fuel [cuts] and have taken so much grief in our constituencies, so colleagues think why should I take that on again?”.
It is understood that plans for the amendment began when the government offered a partial olive branch, by expanding the transition period for anyone losing the personal independence payment.
The same MP who has been helping to co-ordinate the amendment said the offering by the government earlier this month was “pathetic” and “angered people even more”.
They said direct phone calls from Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves that were supposed to placate would-be rebels had instead “been entrenching people” to vote against the bill.
They accused Number 10 of thinking MPs can be “bullied into voting with them” and said the aim of the amendment was to “send the government back to the drawing board” by forcing them to withdraw next week’s vote.
The welfare package as a whole could push an extra 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into relative poverty, according to the government’s impact assessment.
The Department for Work and Pensions says it expects 3.2 million families – a mixture of current and future recipients – to lose out financially, as a result of the total package of measures, with an average loss of £1,720 per year.
This includes 370,000 current Pip recipients who will no longer qualify and 430,000 future claimants who will get less than they would previously have been entitled to.
But ministers have stressed the figures do not factor in the government’s plans to spend £1bn on helping the long-term sick and disabled back into work, or its efforts to reduce poverty.
Ministers hope these efforts will boost employment among benefits recipients, at a time when 2.8 million people are economically inactive due to long-term sickness.
If nothing changes, the health and disability benefits bill is forecast to reach £70bn a year by the end of the decade, a level of spending the government says is “unsustainable”.
The government is planning to put the welfare reforms in place by November 2026 and no one will lose out on benefits payments until that happens.
