MP who backed out of welfare rebellion apologises

A Labour MP has apologised to those who might be “hacked off” with her after she backed out of supporting a rebellion on the government’s welfare bill.

Samantha Niblett, the MP for South Derbyshire, had previously joined 120 other Labour MPs and added her name to an amendment calling for the proposals to be scrapped.

The government has pledged to press ahead with a vote on the plans next week despite the possibility of an embarrassing defeat.

Ministers have said the bill is crucial to slow down the increase in the number of people claiming benefits.

The government’s Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill changes who would qualify for certain disability and sickness benefits.

Of the numerous MPs who have signed the amendment, Niblett is the only one to have removed her name.

In a Facebook post seeking to explain her actions, she said that while she will continue to lobby the government to rethink its position, “the stakes are just too high” if the amendment passes.

“If this amendment passes, we lose all the good elements of the bill along with the problematic ones,” she said.

“The most vulnerable people who desperately need protection from constant reassessments would remain trapped in the current broken system.”

Niblett said more scrutiny would be able to be applied to the bill as it passes through Parliament to address the concerns of MPs.

However, she added that she “desperately” wants the government to listen to those concerns.

“I don’t know how I look people in the face, including the some of the many people I have helped bring together for my South Derbyshire SEND Network, disabled people who have come and spoken with me at my surgeries and coffee mornings, and my own mum who would be excluded from a Pip [Personal Independence Payment] under the new scoring system,” she said.

“By this point I have hacked off the government, hacked off those of my colleagues who signed the amendment, hacked off those who haven’t, and most importantly hacked off people who are affected by all of this – and it is to YOU that I am so sorry, sorry that you’re going through the worry of all this.”

Overall, the government estimates 3.2m families will be worse off as a result of the changes to pip and universal credit, while 3.8m families will be better off.

Under the government’s proposals, assessments for the daily living part of Pip will be tightened, which the official forecaster – the Office for Budget Responsibility – says will affect about 800,000 people.

Labour critics of the bill have argued there has not been sufficient assessments of the impact of the measures, which they say will push large numbers into poverty.

Heather Wheeler, a former minister and Conservative MP for South Derbyshire, said Niblett must show she is “on the side of workers and disabled people who want to get into work with help”.

“So many people agree that welfare costs have got out of hand and even worse are projected to grow,” she said.

“Our Labour MP has obviously had a word from the whips team and pulled back from rebelling.

“A life on benefit should not be accepted and passed down from generation to generation.”