Most Labour MPs back Welfare Bill after U-turn

BUT STOURBRIDGE MEMBER ECCLES STANDS HER GROUND

- JANE HAYNES Politics Reporter

ALL bar one of the West Midlands' Labour MPs who had threatened to rebel against the Government over disability welfare cuts ended up backing a watered down Bill after chaotic last minute concessions.

Laurence Turner, Birmingham Northfield, and Paulette Hamilton, Birmingham Erdington, had been among those who had expressed their intention to oppose the Bill because of its likely adverse impact on those who receive Personal Independence Payments, PIP for short.

But as the debate unfolded, Minister for Social Security and Disability, Stephen Timms, revealed a major concession by pulling the Bill's critical Clause 5, which introduced changes affecting those claiming or likely liable in future for PIP, and so averted a potentially humiliating defeat.