Blow For Keir Starmer As Labour Whip Vicky Foxcroft Quits Over Welfare Cuts

A Labour MP has quit as a government whip over controversial plans to slash the welfare budget by £5 billion.

In a major blow for Keir Starmer, Vicky Foxcroft said she could not vote for the policy and had no option but to resign.

In a letter to the prime minister, she said: “I have wrestled with whether I should resign or remain in the Government and fight for change from within.

“Sadly it now (seems that we are not going to get the changes I desperately wanted to see.

“I therefore tender my resignation as I know I will not be able to do the job that is required of me and whip – or indeed vote – for reforms which include cuts to disabled people’s finances.”

A government spokesperson said: “This Labour government was elected to deliver change. The broken welfare system we inherited is failing the sick and most vulnerable and holding too many young people back. It is fair and responsible to fix it. 

“Our principled reforms will ensure those who can work should, that those who want to work are properly supported, and that those with most severe disabilities and health conditions are protected.”

Foxcroft is the first Labour frontbencher to resign over the proposed benefit cuts, which will be voted on my the Commons on July 1.

More than 100 Labour MPs have written to the government’s chief whip making clear their opposition to the plans, which would see cuts to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Universal Credit.

The government’s own assessment of the policy has suggested that 250,000 people could be pushed into poverty as a result, including 50,000 children.

However, ministers have insisted the reforms are needed to bring down the spiralling welfare bill while also encouraging more people off benefits and into work.

The latest data, published on Tuesday, showed 3.7 million people in England and Wales claimed PIP, up from 2.05 million in 2019, with teenagers and young adults making up a growing proportion of claimants.

Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said the legislation “marks the moment we take the road of compassion, opportunity and dignity”.

But Neil Duncan-Jordan, the Labour MP for Poole and one of the backbenchers opposed to the change, said the government was “rushing through” the changes and urged ministers to think again.