Plaid leader calls on First Minister to back Labour rebels

Emily Price 

Plaid Cymru’s leader has called on the First Minister to urge her party to rebel against the UK Government’s controversial welfare Bill.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to press ahead with major changes to the benefits system despite 108 MPs from within his own party signing a Commons bid to stop the changes in their tracks.

This could be enough to block the benefits changes when the welfare reform Bill is voted on next week.

The amendment was published on Tuesday’s order paper and calls for further scrutiny of the Bill and for support to be in place before any further cuts are made.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is currently locked in talks with the backbenchers as she seeks to win over the rebels.

Welsh MPs

Only 3 Welsh Labour MPs are on the list of those opposed to the policy – Ruth Jones for Newport West, Steve Witherden for Montgomeryshire and Henry Tufnell for mid and south Pembrokeshire.

The overhaul to the welfare system is expected to disproportionally affect Wales due to the higher proportion of the working-age population relying on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) compared to England.

In the Senedd on Tuesday (June 24), Plaid’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth asked Baroness Eluned Morgan whether she would urge her members in Westminster to rebel – or ask them to remain loyal to Sir Keir.

Responding, the Welsh Labour leader described the reforms as “very serious”.

Speaking in the Chamber, she said: “This is an issue that’s causing concern to a lot of people in Wales. As you know, benefit reform is not devolved to Wales – but Welsh Labour will always be the party that wants to encourage and support people back into work.

“We are the Labour Party and we are not going to apologise for that. But on the other hand, it is important that we have fairness in the system.

“And that we protect the most vulnerable on every occasion. We have made the case very clearly to the Secretary of State responsible in terms of the impact that we think it will have on people in Wales.

“We have urged her to consider the case we have made and obviously it will be up to the MPs to determine how they vote.”

Concerns

Sir Keir says there is a “a clear moral case” for the changes, with 1,000 people per day going onto PIP in the UK.

But Plaid Cymru have raised concerns about how often the UK Government made time to speak directly with Wales’ leader about the plans to slash spending on welfare by billions over the next decade.

Back in early March, Baroness Morgan told Senedd Members she had personally spoken with Number 10 about the changes.

Asked by a Senedd scrutiny committee who she spoke to at Downing Street – the FM said she would provide a list of names.

Three months later, the Welsh Government still won’t reveal the names or job titles of the officials the First Minister had discussions with.