A SCOTTISH Labour MP has been accused of acting as if “truth is a variable” after she told the BBC she had not supported the UK Government’s plans to cut billions from welfare.
Joani Reid, who was elected to represent East Kilbride and Strathaven in the 2024 General Election, told BBC Scotland that she believed the Labour Government’s disability benefit cuts would pass a crunch vote on Tuesday evening.
Keir Starmer had been facing a rebellion of more than 120 Labour MPs until his Government offered concessions on their £5 billion annual cuts to disability, instead only pushing applicants after November 2026 onto a reduced system in plans projected to cut some £2bn per year.
Reid told the BBC that the “vast majority” of the Labour MPs she had spoken to “do feel reassured of the concessions that the Government has made over the last few days”.
The BBC host then said: “But you didn’t need that reassurance, did you? Because you supported the initial proposals that were put forward.”
Reid responded: “No, I didn't support the initial proposals.”
However, Reid had in fact spoken in support of the UK Government’s proposals on numerous occasions.
In March, she was one of 36 Labour MPs in the “Get Britain Working” group to sign a letter in favour of plans to cut billions from benefits in a bid to push people into employment.
It added: “We believe reforming our broken system is not only necessary, but also a truly progressive endeavour. And so we have established the Get Britain Working Group to make that argument, insistently.”
The letter was reported widely in the media, including under the Daily Record headline: “Five Scottish Labour MPs back UK Government's expected £6bn benefits cut.”
Days later, Reid gave an interview to the Sunday Mail in which she again backed the UK Government.
While she acknowledged that “for many long-term ill and disabled people these are worrying times [because] news reports have repeatedly told of a coming slashing of the welfare payments that so many rely on”, Reid then added: “Too often, our current system traps people in dependence.
“Instead of supporting their ambitions, it leaves them feeling stuck, afraid of losing support if they try something new. That’s wrong, it’s unjust and it’s expensive.
“Many of our critics claim to be radicals but are really either conservatives who oppose all change or purists for whom no change will ever be good enough.”
Later in March, after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall had outlined the proposed £5 billion cuts in greater detail, Reid again spoke out in support.
In an article posted on her website, the Scottish Labour MP outlined what she called the “approach, aims and impacts of those reforms outside of media speculation and sensational headlines”.
“With more incentives not to work for people who want to and all the emphasis on trapping people in a broken benefits system, everyone has been losing,” she said.
“I believe the Government is well intentioned in trying to get people into work whilst still providing the safety net to those most vulnerable.”
“They believe that truth is a variable and can be changed at any time given the circumstances.”
The SNP’s Collette Stevenson, whose Holyrood constituency overlaps with Reid’s Westminster one, said the “residents of East Kilbride and Strathaven deserve honesty from their MP – Joani Reid has consistently supported the cuts to Pip [Personal Independence Payments], which will have a devastating impact on claimants in England and Wales”.
“In Scotland, the SNP is stepping in to protect disabled people by ensuring there are no cuts to Adult Disability Payment – our equivalent of Pip,” she added.
Dornan urged MPs at Westminster to vote against the changes to disability welfare, saying it was “perfectly clear” that rebel Labour MP Simon Opher was correct to say the UK Government was set to bring in a “two-tier system”.
He added: “It's not even just going to be a two-tier system between those that are on benefits just now, and those that will receive them sometime in the future.
“It's a two-tiered system between those who are on it and those who may have to be reassessed because of some slight change in their circumstances. You could lose some of your benefits for the simplest or most minor of reasons.
“This is nothing to do with reforming the welfare system, and it's all got to do with their obsession with the OBR.”
Dornan clarified that he was referencing the Office for Budgetary Responsibility and Rachel Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules.
A spokesperson for Reid denied her position had changed, saying after we approached her for comment on this story: “Not one of the three examples quoted sustains the claims being made by The National.
“Joani Reid has always supported the principle of rebuilding the welfare state around work and all these quotes do is demonstrate that. A year ago Labour promised change and is now delivering.”
