Rebel Tories back Labour in vote for £20 benefit top-up
TORY backbenchers last night defied Boris Johnson’s orders by backing Labour calls for weekly £20 Universal Credit top-ups to be extended.
Six Conservatives voted with the opposition, demanding that payments carry on beyond April, despite the prime minister telling his MPs to abstain.
Rebels included former work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb and education select committee chairman Robert Halfon. But none of those who voted were Tories occupying seats in the north and Midlands that once formed part of Labour’s ‘red wall’.
The non-binding vote was passed by 278 to zero – hours after the PM had repeatedly refused to give a firm answer about the top-ups continuing.
The government temporarily raised the benefit by £20 a week to help families through the Covid crisis, but the increase is due to expire in April, hitting up to 6million families.
After last night’s vote, the Labour whips’ office said: ‘It’s clear that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak cannot win the argument amongst Conservative MPs on cutting Universal Credit.’
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: ‘It is disappointing that the Conservative government refused to vote with Labour to provide families with certainty and secure our economy. They can still do the right thing and drop their plans to cut Universal Credit. Britain is facing the worst recession of any major economy because of the government’s incompetence and indecision. Families cannot be made to pay the price.’
Questioned on the issue before the vote, the PM said: ‘We will put our arms around the whole of the country, we’ll keep all measures under review.’ Pressed again, he added: ‘I think you’ve heard me say that we want to support people throughout the pandemic.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had branded the PM ‘pathetic’. ‘Quite a lot of Tory MPs know that cutting this money to people who desperately need it in the middle of a pandemic is the wrong thing to do,’ he said.