Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Debate between Graham Stuart and Kemi Badenoch

2nd reading
Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

rose—

[Mrs Badenoch]

I will give way to the hon. Member for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner) first.

[Mrs Badenoch]

The hon. Gentleman is simply wrong. He needs to get an education and look at the facts.

[Graham Stuart]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the chief architect of the fiasco faced by people with disabilities and every member of the Labour party today is the Chancellor of the Exchequer? The fact that she is not here to face up and take responsibility is all we need to know about her and those on the Government Front Bench.

[Mrs Badenoch]

My right hon. Friend is quite right: this is a fiasco, and it is the Chancellor’s fault. She marches Labour Members up and down the hill all the time, and they are the ones who have to face their constituents. We are trying to help to get a welfare system under control and get people into work.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) is right to raise the Chancellor. When the economic outlook worsened this spring, she chose to force through these changes to welfare, which are designed not to reform or improve the system, but to address a hole in her numbers. Those changes were rushed for Rachel, as we say. I watched when she made that Budget, and it was quite clear that she had no idea of the consequences of her decision. The country should not have to pay for the mess she has made, and neither should disabled people. Even with the changes in this Bill, welfare spending will still be billions higher at the end of the Parliament. Slowing down how much you increase spending is not a cut.