A Labour backbencher has said she cannot “look my mum in the eye and support” the government’s plan to cut benefits.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are looking to cut what the PM has called the “unsustainable” and “unfair” welfare budget, which is due to hit £70bn by the end of this decade.
The government promised to put growth at the centre of their time in office, while also hiking defence spending and trying to fund improvements to public services.
Eight months into office, Labour has now found itself desperately on the hunt for cash as the economic picture turns gloomier by the day.
But going after the welfare system may be a step too far for some Labour MPs.
The MP for Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that she cannot support these cuts.
“No one has argued that we haven’t inherited a huge financial mess from the Conservatives,” she said. “But how we deal with that problem is a question of political choices.”
The backbencher said “we should not be placing that burden on disabled people who have borne the brunt of 14 years of austerity” and “we can make different choices”.
She said a tax for the super-rich should be brought in instead, pointing out that the collective wealth of UK billionaires rose by £35m a day last year.
Whittome added: “If we implemented something very moderate, like a 2% tax, a threshold of assets over £10m a year, that would only impact an estimated 20,000 people in the UK but would raise £24bn.”
Asked if she was willing to rebel against these cuts, Whittome said her family was once on these benefits and her mum had to stop work to care for her as a teenager.
“I represent disabled people, all of us do, and we all hear their stories every day and what a difference these payments make,” she said. “I can’t look my constituents in the eye, I can’t look my mum in the eye and support this.”
Presenter Justin Webb then asked: “Even if you lost the Labour whip?”
She replied: “It’s my responsibility as a backbench Labour MP. I’m not doing this to be difficult, I love my party, I want our government to succeed desperately, because the consequences of not succeeding are dire both in the short-term and the long-term, it could open the door to the far-right.
“But it’s my responsibility to speak out when my party is getting it wrong and we are getting it badly wrong on this.”
It remains unclear how large the Labour rebellion against Starmer’s proposed cuts might be.
ITV reported that all Labour MPs have been invited to No.10 this week to talk about the planned cuts.