Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab) calls on the Government to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit full service (18 October 2017).
Briefing on disabled people and universal credit
She began
“Our motion calls on the Government to pause the roll-out of universal credit while the issues associated with this key social security programme are fixed. I genuinely offer to work with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to fix the many and varied issues associated with universal credit. To understand what needs fixing, we need to understand how we got here. When universal credit was first introduced in 2012, it had the underpinning principles that it would simplify the social security system, bringing together six payments for working-age people in and out of work, and that it would make work pay.”
The motion was carried by 299 to 0, almost all the Conservatives abstaining except for Sarah Wollaston, the health select committee chair, who voted with Labour.
What does the vote mean?
In terms of halting Universal Credit roll out, nothing. The Government is adamant that this will continue. In terms of drawing attention to flaws in the system, a bit more. Faced with such a vote the Government needs to show that they are doing something to right some of the Universal Credit problems highlighted. Commons speaker, John Bercow has said it was for government ministers to decide how to respond to the “clearly expressed view of the House”.
Within the Conservatives there were concern expressed about the Government’s tactic of using the a three-line whip for Tories to abstain.
Former Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh said: “What worries me is that surely there is some sort of precedent here..... this is not and should not be a university debating society.
Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: “The Tories must now act on clearly expressed will of Parliament [and] pause its roll out.”