Rayner says vote on welfare bill will go ahead on Tuesday
Stride asks if Rayner can assure MPs the vote will go ahead on Tuesday.
Rayner replies: “We will go ahead on Tuesday.”
Key events
PMQs – snap verdict
At PMQs Angela Rayner defended the welfare cuts bill and said that the vote on it would go ahead, as planned, on Tuesday next week, despite growing speculation that minister will have to postpone. While it would be unfair to describe these comments as worthless, they were also about as devoid of significance as any political discourse can be. That is because Rayner was just delivering “the line”.
PMQs gets interesting when politicians go beyond the line, or it starts to shift. But Rayner was defending the bill with a script that is very familiar, and would not have been out of place being deployed by a loyal backbencher in the 6.50 slot on the Today programme. She certainly did not put in passionate, compelling defence of the bill. But there was nothing in what she said that implied she wants to see it fail. Maybe she does (most Labour MPs with her politics seem to think that way), and maybe Mel Stride was right to say she was defending a policy she did not personally support. But if that is the case, Rayner covered it up quite successfully.
And Rayner saying the vote will go ahead does not mean it will. But it does not mean it won’t either. It just means that, at this point, No 10 has not decided to pull the debate. It is a binary issue, and in situations like this the government always has to keep saying it is sticking to the plan until the moment comes to announced that it isn’t. Just ask Michael Gove. In December 2018 he told the Today programme that a vote on Theresa May’s Brexit bill was “definitely, 100% going to happen” – only for the vote to be abandoned a few hours later.
Perhaps the most interesting thing we learned in relation to the welfare bill was that Labour MPs opposed to it did not want to have that argument out at PMQs. Debbie Abrahams is the second signatory in the reasoned amendment, and as chair of the work and pensions committee this is her specialist subject. She had a question, but she asked about something else. As did Rebecca Long-Bailey, Rayner’s former flatmate and runner-up in the leadership contest won by Keir Starmer. She has signed the reasoned amendment, but did not bring it up at PMQs.
Rayner, in her exchanges with Stride and elsewhere during PMQs, seemed over-reliant on the ‘You Tories were rubbish’ response to any complaints about the government’s record. But that did not seem to matter much because Stride’s attack lines were predicatable and vulnerable to a fairly obvious comeback. Adam Bienkov from Byline Times summed it up quite well like this.
Conservative Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, whose party raised taxes to record levels and presided over a surge in welfare costs, accuses the government of planning to raise taxes and increase welfare costs #pmqs
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, asked the final question. He said the UK should not be selling F-35 parts to Israel given that those jets were used to attack Gaza. And he asked if Rayner would back his bill for a public inquiry into the UK’s complicity with Israeli war crimes.
Rayner said Israel’s recent actions in Gaza were “appalling”. But she said it was for international courts to determine when genocide has taken place, not governments.
Rayner says the Palestine Action attack at Brize Norton was “disgraceful”. But she says the attempt by Reform UK to blame the female officer commanding the base was “even more disgraceful”. They should have been blaming the criminals, not “an accomplished woman who has served her country”, Raynerr says.
Neil O’Brien (Con) says local people are opposed to the plan to expand the boundaires of Leicester’s local authority.
Rayner says what local people did not want was the last government.
Kanishka Narayan (Lab) accuses Reform UK of proritising the interests of millionaires with its latest policy, the Britannia card.
Rayner says Nigel Farage is demanding “billions more in unfunded tax cuts for the very richest” while voting against better sick pay for low earners.
Oliver Dowden, who used to respond to questions from Rayner when he was deputy PM, says it is nice to be asking her a question again. He asks what the government is doing to stop houses being transformed into houses of multiple occupation.
Rayner says councils have powers to deal with these applications.
Rayner says Kemi Badenoch said recently she was getting better week by week. She jokes that Badenoch has achieved that over the last two weeks by getting Chris Philp and Mel Stride to replace her. But she has not chosen Robert Jenrick, Rayner says.
Cameron Thomas (Lib Dem) asks about the nuclear test veterans. He asks if Rayner will attend a meeting to discuss appropriate compensation.
Rayner says the veterans minister will attend a meetting on this.
Earlier the Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey also asked about this issue, saying the veterans deserved “answers, justice and an apology”. She cited last night’s Newsnight report on this issue
James MacCleary (Lib Dem) asks what the government is doing to address the staffing problem in nurseries.
Rayner says the government is investing in the sector.
Natasha Irons (Lab) asks about youth centres, and the closure of a provision in Croydon. Youth centres should get statutory protection, she says.
Rayner says the last government was to blame. This government is making different choices, she says.
Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader, asks Rayner to condemn the recent disorder in Northern Ireland. Does Rayner agree the Windsor framework is stopping the government legislation for border controls on a UK-wide basis.
Rayner says the Windsor framework addressed longstanding issues. The government is appealing issues relating to immigration law. It wants immigration law to imply on a UK-wide basis, she says.
Robinson was referring to this case.
Debbie Abrahams (Lab) asks if the government will fix the affordable housing crisis.
Rayner says Abrahams is right to raise this issue.
Daisy Cooper, the deputy Lib Dem leader, says her party is opposed to the welfare bill. The government may have to push it through with Tory support, she claims.
She asks for an assurance that these reforms will not be implemented, if the bill passes, until the review of the carers’ allowance scandal has concluded.
Rayner defends the bill, but does not address the question.
Cooper says the government has reportedly agreed that President Trump’s state visit will take place in September. Will the government leverage that visit to get assurances for Ukraine?
Rayner says the government is really pleased Trump is coming for a second state visit.
Joe Morris (Lab) asks about a school in his Hexham community that has had to close because of crumbling concrete.
Rayner says this was one of the problems left by the last government.
Stride asks if Rayner is embarrassed to be defending policies she does not support.
Rayner says it is embarrassing that the Tories turn up every week and do not apologise for their record.