Sir Keir Starmer has admitted his focus was on matters involving Nato and the Middle East while a rebellion over welfare cuts took hold of his party at home.
The prime minister has faced a growing backbench rebellion over proposed disability benefits cuts. Some 126 Labour backbenchers have signed an amendment that would halt the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in its tracks when it faces its first Commons hurdle on 1 July.
Responding to questions about what went wrong during the difficult week, Sir Keir claimed full responsibility for the welfare U-turn.
“All these decisions are my decisions and I take ownership of them,” he told The Sunday Times. “My rule of leadership is, when things go well you get the plaudits; when things don’t go well you carry the can. I take responsibility for all the decisions made by this government. I do not talk about staff and I’d much prefer it if everybody else didn’t.”
He continued that this was due to his heavy concentration on foreign affairs instead of domestic matters, first at the G7 meeting in Canada and then a Nato summit in the Netherlands. He also had to deal with the US’s strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“I’m putting this as context rather than excuse: I was heavily focused on what was happening with Nato and the Middle East all weekend,” he said. “I turned my attention fully to it [the welfare bill] when I got back from Nato on Wednesday night. Obviously in the course of the early part of this week we were busy trying to make sure Nato was a success.”
He added: “From the moment I got back from the G7, I went straight into a Cobra meeting. My full attention really bore down on this on Thursday. At that point we were able to move relatively quickly.”
The government’s original package restricted PIP eligibility, the main disability payment in England, and cut the health-related element of Universal Credit in a bid to save £5bn a year by 2030.
The government has offered Labour rebels a series of concessions in an effort to head off the prime minister’s first major Commons defeat since coming to power, as discontent bubbles among backbenchers surrounding welfare cuts, but campaigners have warned that these concessions could continue to cause problems
Instead, the PIP eligibility changes will be implemented in November 2026, applying to new claimants only, while the existing recipients of the health elements of Universal Credit will have their incomes protected in real terms.
While lead rebel Dame Meg Hillier has accepted the prime minister’s £1.5bn U-turn as a “positive outcome”, Sir Keir has been warned that his decision to protect existing benefits claimants from upcoming welfare cuts would only create a “generational divide” as hundreds of charities and campaigners urged MPs to continue their opposition to the proposed cuts.
Disability charity Mencap warned that the changes will create a “generational divide in the quality of life for people with a learning disability”.
Think tank the Resolution Foundation warned earlier this week that the prime minister’s U-turns on benefit cuts and winter fuel payments have blown a £4.5bn hole in the public finances that will “very likely” be filled by tax rises in the autumn Budget.
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