Many figures in the Labour Party are beginning to list the planned cuts to benefits, and personal independence payment (PIP) in particular, as one of the major causes of Labour’s electoral losses at this week’s elections.  But so far, it seems the leadership is not listening.

According to the BBC, the Labour mayor of Doncaster who held on to her post with a much reduced majority, blamed the means-testing of the winter fuel allowance and the threat to PIP for her losses.

In the same article the BBC claim that they are being approached not just by the usual left wing MPs but also, off the record, by MPs from across Labour making the same points about why Labour is doing so badly.

One MP told the BBC "this is not a verdict on our failure to deliver.

"It is a verdict on what we have delivered. People on the doorsteps are using the word 'betrayal.'

"It's winter fuel. It's fear of Pips, it's a bit of immigration.”

And another long-standing Labour MP said "And it turns out that cutting disability and winter fuel payments comes at a cost – these are not Labour things to do".

In a separate piece, the BBC said a Labour campaigner in the Runcorn by-election told them the government's controversial decisions to cut winter fuel payments for pensioners and disability benefits had affected the result in what had been a safe Labour seat.

"On every door it was the same story - winter fuel and PIP," they said.

Emma Lewell MP, who has represented South Shields for Labour since 2013, said in a post on X:

“Trust matters. If you promise people that you will be focused on serving the public and then do not listen to them, do not expect them to vote for you.

“Withdrawal of winter fuel, denial of compensation for the Waspi women, and proposed disability cuts, have all broken that trust.”

And York Central Labour MP Rachel Maskell told BBC Breakfast: " . . . We’re not any other political party, we were created to serve the needs of people across working areas of our country so that people had a real voice of the kind of change that they wanted to see. . .  So, scrapping these proposals to push disabled people into hardship is an absolutely crucial part of that change, showing that we’re going to be listening to the country and protecting the people at their time of need."

Unfortunately, there is no sign yet that the Labour leadership is getting the message. 

Reacting to the results, Starmer said “I get it, we were elected in to deliver change, we've started that change – waiting lists down, wages up, interests rates down.

"The message I take out of these elections is we need to go further and faster on the change people want to see and that's what I'm determined to do."

Clearly, the cracks in the Labour party are beginning to spread beyond the “usual suspects”, but campaigners will need to go further and faster if they are to convince enough of the backbenches to dare to rebel against an unmoving leadership by June.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 13 hours ago
    This is an absolutely true comment that I made to my wife this afternoon.

    Instead of Keir Starmer - I had a major Spoonerism moment.

    I called him Steer Kalmer.

    Well he really needs to be a hell of a lot calmer whilst steering through the PIP crisis ?
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 13 hours ago
    This is the problem when you have millionaires in charge. They are out of touch. Reform would be no better. And we’ve already seen what the Tories were planning with their voucher nonsense.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 13 hours ago
    The bad results for labour in the local elections could just be the kick off point for the break through we need to get the green paper out the commons, starmer is so arrogant with his reaction, the public will see through him eventually, hopefully sooner than later. As I've said before on here, this is not what the labour party was formed for, starmer and his vile cronies just don't understand what it takes to connect with the general public. They have caused so much anxiety and panic over the proposed benefits cuts and hopefully sometime soon they will get their just deserts. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 15 hours ago
    If there was an election tomorrow 
    Starmer 
    They couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 20 hours ago
    You really could not make this up!
    Very well done Camden Disability Action Group
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 21 hours ago
    Starmer is a Tory. Shame on labour MPs going alone with this attack on the old and disabled. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 9 hours ago
      @Darren "Starmer is a Tory"

      Is our new slogan.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 21 hours ago
    Are they thick or just in denial hoping things calm down .
    Starmer you need to resign & take your horrible cronies with you .
    Betrayal after Betrayal .
    Oaps winter fuel ,Pip & inhumane decisions your making on the disabled & ill that will cause poverty & deaths .
    The economy you have destroyed .
    You need to change your name from Labour to the incompetent Party .
    Bunch of Amateurs !!!!

    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 9 hours ago
      @tintack Come on, Labour, the Lib Dems etc. have the The Guardian, The Mirror, The Observer, The Independent, The BBC and CH4 all on their side. They should be holding Labour to account on these issues but they aren't doing that. Whataboutism going on about the right wing press which are never going to back our campaign against welfare cuts. You are letting these media outlets of the hook by focusing on those that aren't on our side anyway. The above are the ones that have influence on Labour and can cause them to change course.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 10 hours ago
      @Jane That's exactly what I've said to a few friends of mine with whom I've discussed yesterday's English local elections. Neither of them does seem to even be trying to capitalise on this opportunity, as t

      As far as I'm concerned, I showed my anger early last year when I cancelled my membership as I used be a Labour Party member, following the ejection of Jeremy Corbyn  from the parliamentary Labour party.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 11 hours ago
      @tintack The Daily Mail is pro Tory, not pro Reform.


    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 15 hours ago
      @Jane
      They certainly need to up their game, though to be fair it's not easy when Reform have billionaire-funded right wing media pumping out their propaganda. That alone should give anyone inclined to vote Reform pause for thought: if Reform are really the anti-establishment insurgents they claim to be, why is the billionaire class so happy to give them so much support? If they were really any kind of threat to the establishment's wealth and power would they be getting that kind of support?


    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 16 hours ago
      @tintack This is a huge opportunity for the Lib Dems and Greens, but they don't appear to be grasping it
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 22 hours ago
    I wonder if Starmer will delay the proposed Pip legislation until the Autumn, and possibly later? Starmer and Reeves may be in denial mode publicly, but privately there are to stormy relations with a very large cohort of newly elected backbenchers   I think there MIGHT be some compromise proposals, possibly after the close of the "consultation"
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 1 days ago
    “…waiting lists down, wages up, interests rates down”

    Wages up - because of inflation. 
    Interest rate setting - not government controlled. 
    Waiting lists down - really. 

    Couldn’t starmer’s speech writer found a better triplet to illustrate Labour “achievements”.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 1 days ago
    This proves that yesterday's vote was not motivated by love for Nigel Farage and his party, as the Reform Party claims, but rather a punitive vote for Keir Starmer and his team by the disabled, the poor, pensioners, and the Labour Party voters. A year ago, Labour was at the height of its historic glory, and in just months we will witness the decline of Labour, just as the Conservatives did, and the end of traditional parties whose lies and broken promises people have grown tired of.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    · 1 days ago
    Let’s keep the pressure up. Every drop makes up the ocean. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 9 hours ago
      @Gingin Everybody appreciates the substantial efforts you've made for the cause, Gingin. You are a wonderful person. Thank you
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      · 12 hours ago
      @Gingin Get rid of the Labour PM and his team. Four years of hell.
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