The Labour mayor of Liverpool has lashed out at the majority of his party’s MPs who abstained in the vote on the government’s welfare cuts, accusing them of failing the country’s poorest.
Joe Anderson lamented the lack of viable candidates in the Labour leadership race, including Jeremy Corbyn – who voted against the changes – telling the Guardian he would rather opt for a “none of the above box” if it was available.
Despite 48 out of 216 Labour MPs going against the party whip and voting against the welfare reform and work bill, far more abstained, including leadership contenders Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, letting the bill pass with a large majority.
“In my view abstaining is weak leadership,” Anderson said. “You either have a position or you don’t have a position.”
Labour’s interim leader, Harriet Harman, originally said Labour would not vote against the government’s welfare bill, which outlines £12bn worth of cuts sought by ministers by 2020, provoking a storm of criticism from within the party.
Harman tried to defuse a rebellion by tabling an amendment setting out why the party disagrees with the government’s proposed bill, suggesting Labour MPs abstain rather than vote against.
Anderson vented his frustration on Twitter on Monday night as the results of the vote came in.
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
— Joe Anderson (@joeforliverpool) July 20, 2015
Labour abstaining on the Welfare Bill is saying to people we can't solve how to save £1.2 billion per year so we will take it from the poor.
— Joe Anderson (@joeforliverpool) July 20, 2015
A Labour Leader would have said £20 million over five years, I can make those savings elsewhere not at the expense of the hardworking poor.
— Joe Anderson (@joeforliverpool) July 20, 2015
Anderson said none of the leaderships contenders had shown they knew how to solve the problem of making savings without targeting the poorest and were 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.
“This is about leadership, about changing things like welfare. I agree there has to be a cap for work but there also has to be incentive to work. We need to make sure there are jobs.”
Anderson’s outrage underlines how the Labour post-election disarray spreads far beyond Westminster to the party’s grassroots support.
Asked where the result of Monday’s vote left the leadership contest, the elected Liverpool mayor said: “At the end of the day if there was a box saying ‘none of the above’ it would probably win in the first round.”
Anderson said he wanted to the candidates to “talk about the problems we face in creative ways”.
“Instead of saying we agree the welfare budget has to be reduced, we should say it’s best to reduce it in a progressive way, not a regressive way. Let’s do it in an ‘invest to save’ way, rather than say we’re going to make these savings without hitting the poorest because we have not got a clue how to do that.”
Anderson said Harman had “handled this badly” and accused the interim leader of being part of the “Westminster bubble”.
“They don’t see how people are living on a day to day basis. They don’t see what’s happening on the ground,” he said.
“It’s the weakest and the poorest who pay the most.”
