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| Welfare bill: Labour is in emotional trauma after revolt, says David Blunkett | Welfare bill: Labour is in emotional trauma after revolt, says David Blunkett |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The Labour party is in emotional trauma, former home secretary David Blunkett has said after just under a quarter of Labour MPs defied the party whip and voted against government welfare plans. | The Labour party is in emotional trauma, former home secretary David Blunkett has said after just under a quarter of Labour MPs defied the party whip and voted against government welfare plans. |
| Harriet Harman, the interim leader, had urged Labour MPs to send a message to the electorate that they were listening to concerns over welfare payments. She wanted them to abstain on the government’s welfare bill after voting for an amendment that set out the party’s objections to the bill. | Harriet Harman, the interim leader, had urged Labour MPs to send a message to the electorate that they were listening to concerns over welfare payments. She wanted them to abstain on the government’s welfare bill after voting for an amendment that set out the party’s objections to the bill. |
| The whips said 193 of Labour’s 216 MPs voted for the amendment as proposed by Harman, but 48 rebelled and voted against the welfare bill. | The whips said 193 of Labour’s 216 MPs voted for the amendment as proposed by Harman, but 48 rebelled and voted against the welfare bill. |
| “I think the Labour party is understandably in emotional trauma,” said Blunkett, who served in Tony Blair’s cabinet. “It’s bound to be after the loss in May and the bewilderment about where we go from here.” | “I think the Labour party is understandably in emotional trauma,” said Blunkett, who served in Tony Blair’s cabinet. “It’s bound to be after the loss in May and the bewilderment about where we go from here.” |
| Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Blunkett said that Monday night’s vote had once again placed the focus “on [the Labour party] being divided rather than what the Tories are doing, a lot of which is unacceptable”. | Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Blunkett said that Monday night’s vote had once again placed the focus “on [the Labour party] being divided rather than what the Tories are doing, a lot of which is unacceptable”. |
| Jeremy Corbyn became the only Labour leadership contender to unreservedly reject the welfare bill, as Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall all abstained in the vote on a second reading. | Jeremy Corbyn became the only Labour leadership contender to unreservedly reject the welfare bill, as Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall all abstained in the vote on a second reading. |
| Blunkett described Corbyn’s approach as the “the course of opposition”. He acknowledged that Labour needed to be an effective opposition, but said it also needed to be a party that could govern. | Blunkett described Corbyn’s approach as the “the course of opposition”. He acknowledged that Labour needed to be an effective opposition, but said it also needed to be a party that could govern. |
| Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday morning, Corbyn said of many of those who abstained that “their hearts were certainly in the lobby with those of us who voted against [the bill]”. | Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday morning, Corbyn said of many of those who abstained that “their hearts were certainly in the lobby with those of us who voted against [the bill]”. |
| He said: “We ought to be as a society deeply concerned about the levels of child poverty, deeply concerned about the levels of homelessness and rough sleeping.” | He said: “We ought to be as a society deeply concerned about the levels of child poverty, deeply concerned about the levels of homelessness and rough sleeping.” |
| Last week, Helen Goodman, Bishop Auckland MP, tabled an amendment to block the government’s welfare plans without consent from the party’s acting leader, announcing on Twitter that 40 Labour MPs had signed her “reasoned amendment” to the bill, which in the end was not selected by the speaker to be voted on. | Last week, Helen Goodman, Bishop Auckland MP, tabled an amendment to block the government’s welfare plans without consent from the party’s acting leader, announcing on Twitter that 40 Labour MPs had signed her “reasoned amendment” to the bill, which in the end was not selected by the speaker to be voted on. |
| With 40 other MPS i've put down a motion to reject Tory Welfare bill, because it will push more children esp in big families into poverty. | With 40 other MPS i've put down a motion to reject Tory Welfare bill, because it will push more children esp in big families into poverty. |
| Goodman, who was one of the 48 and is backing Cooper’s leadership bid, said she thought the size of the rebellion was “very respectable” and had “shifted the debate quite significantly and in a very important and useful way”. | Goodman, who was one of the 48 and is backing Cooper’s leadership bid, said she thought the size of the rebellion was “very respectable” and had “shifted the debate quite significantly and in a very important and useful way”. |
| She said the fact that Stephen Timms, shadow employment minister, had tabled a long list of amendments to the welfare bill had demonstrated that the party’s leadership had been forced to listen to dissenting voices. | She said the fact that Stephen Timms, shadow employment minister, had tabled a long list of amendments to the welfare bill had demonstrated that the party’s leadership had been forced to listen to dissenting voices. |
| She added that the size of the rebellion was “emphatically not” an indication that Corbyn was going to be the next Labour leader. “There were people supporting Yvette and people supporting Andy in that lobby.” | She added that the size of the rebellion was “emphatically not” an indication that Corbyn was going to be the next Labour leader. “There were people supporting Yvette and people supporting Andy in that lobby.” |
| Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, was one of the 18 MPs newly elected in May who rebelled. “It was a very, very difficult decision obviously and it certainly wasn’t one that I wanted to make within my first few weeks of being an MP,” she said. “I didn’t want to go out of my first term already rebelling.” | Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, was one of the 18 MPs newly elected in May who rebelled. “It was a very, very difficult decision obviously and it certainly wasn’t one that I wanted to make within my first few weeks of being an MP,” she said. “I didn’t want to go out of my first term already rebelling.” |
| Haigh said she thought the 2015 cohort was different from previous years because many new Labour MPs came from different backgrounds and had not entered politics through the “special adviser route”, so were “not as beholden to certain forces within the party”. | Haigh said she thought the 2015 cohort was different from previous years because many new Labour MPs came from different backgrounds and had not entered politics through the “special adviser route”, so were “not as beholden to certain forces within the party”. |
| “We’re always on the back foot, we’re always responding,” she said. “We don’t have a positive, constructive welfare policy of our own at the moment and that’s understandable given that we have interim leadership in place.” | “We’re always on the back foot, we’re always responding,” she said. “We don’t have a positive, constructive welfare policy of our own at the moment and that’s understandable given that we have interim leadership in place.” |
| Addressing Labour MPs, Blunkett said: “I need to say to colleagues who were elected in May, you were very lucky. Think about those colleagues [that were not elected] and above all that electorate that suddenly found it had a Conservative government and ask yourselves why. | Addressing Labour MPs, Blunkett said: “I need to say to colleagues who were elected in May, you were very lucky. Think about those colleagues [that were not elected] and above all that electorate that suddenly found it had a Conservative government and ask yourselves why. |
| “We should develop over the next two years very clear alternative values and a philosophy that leads again and doesn’t just respond to what the Conservatives are doing,” he said. | “We should develop over the next two years very clear alternative values and a philosophy that leads again and doesn’t just respond to what the Conservatives are doing,” he said. |
| Related: George Osborne’s assault on welfare must not go unchallenged | Polly Toynbee | Related: George Osborne’s assault on welfare must not go unchallenged | Polly Toynbee |
| Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, who is backing Liz Kendall and voted against the bill, said he wanted to see more “political agility” from the leadership and that the party seemed to have forgotten the lesson of Scotland “where we committed political suicide by aligning ourselves with Tories in the Better Together campaign”. | |
| “There isn’t room for political subtlety when we have a budget that most of us would regard as evil,” said Flynn. “It’s giving to the rich and taking from the poor. Most of our potential supporters would want us to vote against it. With a budget like that, the only response is a big no.” | “There isn’t room for political subtlety when we have a budget that most of us would regard as evil,” said Flynn. “It’s giving to the rich and taking from the poor. Most of our potential supporters would want us to vote against it. With a budget like that, the only response is a big no.” |
| The Labour mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said the party’s MPs who abstained on the vote had failed the country’s poorest. He lamented the lack of viable candidates in the Labour leadership race, including Jeremy Corbyn, saying he would rather opt for a “none of the above box” if it was available. | |
| Anderson said none of the leadership contenders have shown they know how to solve the problem of making savings without targeting the poorest and are failing to be imaginative and creative in opposition. | |
| “The Labour Party are just in 2015 May general election mode and fighting the Tory press and trying to nail this flag into George Osborne territory, while he is trying to nail a flag into Labour territory,” he said. | |
| Well done to all of our Labour MPs who have shattered my belief that we stand for fairness, equality and hope. http://t.co/5CUGUlGd6c | |
| Three of the candidates to be Labour’s nominee for London mayor – Diane Abbott, Sadiq Khan and David Lammy – voted against the bill. Khan, the MP for Tooting, said the welfare bill would disproportionately affect poor Londoners. | |
| “I came into politics to make life easier for working people not harder, to lift children from poverty, not push them into it and to have a united London, not one socially cleansed,” said Khan. “This bill is bad for Londoners and bad for Britain. The people who will be affected by this need someone to stand up for them.” | |
| Tweeting after the vote, Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said: “Sorry for colleagues who knew it was wrong but abstained. We weren’t sent to parliament to abstain.” On Tuesday morning, she continued: “330,000 children will be hit by Tory Welfare bill and single mothers hit hardest. How do the abstainers feel this morning?” | |
| Writing in the Guardian ahead of the vote, Osborne urged progressive MPs in the Labour party to back his welfare changes, saying they should recognise that the proposals not only chime with the public but build on mainstream Labour thinking. | |
| The chancellor called on Labour to stop blaming the public for its defeat and recognise that welfare requires public consent. | The chancellor called on Labour to stop blaming the public for its defeat and recognise that welfare requires public consent. |
| Speaking in parliament on the morning after the vote, the chancellor said there had been “a new intake of old Labour MPs” who were “dragging [the party] back to the 1980s”. “We know the direction they are heading in,” said Osborne, “left, left, left, away from the centre ground of British politics and away from support for working people.” | |
| Corbyn, the MP for Islington North, currently has the most nominations from constituency Labour parties (CLPs), with 70, compared with Burnham’s 69, Cooper’s 58, and Kendall’s 12. | |
| Analysis from the blog Labour List, which takes into account the number of members in each CLP, suggested that Corbyn’s lead might be larger than it at first appears, with around 36.3% of members being attached to a local party that is backing him, compared with 29% of Burnham, 25.1% for Cooper and 9.7% for Kendall. |
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