The government’s welfare bill will become law after passing its third reading, but 47 Labour MPs still rebelled despite a series of concessions.
After a succession of votes on amendments, all of which were defeated, the bill passed its final Commons stage by 336 votes to 242.
The rebellion by Labour MPs was only slightly below the 49 who opposed it at second reading last week, when Keir Starmer had been forced to dramatically abandoned the bill’s central plank of deep cuts to personal independence payments (Pip) to get it through.
The bulk of the rebels on Wednesday were from the broad left of the party or were MPs who had submitted or signed amendments.
Earlier, ministers made another concession to the bill over an amendment tabled by the Labour MP Marie Tidball in an attempt to enshrine safeguards for disabled people.
Tidball’s amendment called for a series of protections, including that future changes to the personal independence payment (Pip) be co-produced with disabled people and experts; that the government commit to a clear summer consultation before new eligibility rules for Pip are applied to new claimants; and that measurable targets be set to close the disability employment gap.
Ministers had already scrapped a proposal to tighten Pip rules for existing claimants, removing the clause entirely from the bill last week to avoid a big rebellion. It also delayed changes for new claimants until after a review led by Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, concludes later this year.
Speaking at the end of a debate on the report stage of the bill, which was called the universal credit and personal independence payment bill, but has now been renamed the universal credit bill, Timms said the government would accept much of Tidball’s amendment, calling it a “helpful checklist” for changes.
This included, he said, Tidball’s suggestion in her amendment that his review work with a “disability co-production taskforce”, which would have a majority of representatives who either had a disability or were representatives from disabled people’s groups.
Any conclusions on the review would be based on “consensus”, he said, adding: “The outcome of the review will be central to the legislation that follows.”
However, Timms said he would not accept Tidball’s proposal for a 12-month timetable for the review, saying he did not want to “rush” a process scheduled to end in autumn 2026.
It marks the second time in just over a week that the government has been forced to make big revisions to its controversial legislation, after a week of chaos in the Commons that left Starmer’s authority bruised.
Alongside Tidball’s proposals, several backbench Labour MPs, including Rachael Maskell, tabled their own amendments, with Maskell’s arguing that someone who has slipped out of and then back into the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) eligibility criteria either side of April 2026 should still be able to claim the higher rate.
The UN organisation for disabled people’s rights on Tuesday asked the UK government for details about the impact of its welfare bill, expressing its concerns about potential adverse effects, in a rare intervention.
The UN committee said it had received “credible information” that the welfare changes would “deepen the signs of regression”, and sought information on “any measures to address the foreseeable risk of increasing poverty rates amongst persons with disabilities if cuts are approved”.
