Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Kim Johnson Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Paula Barker]

No, I will not.

It is with sadness that I will vote for the reasoned amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), and I will vote against the Bill. I implore my Government to do the right thing: to pause, take a breath, and let us get this right.

Before entering Parliament I had served local government, the trade union movement and working people throughout my life. Service matters deeply to me, and I see it as my job to do exactly that as a Member of Parliament. I am a passionate believer in the dignity of labour and of secure, well-paid work being the route out of poverty and to opportunity and a life free from fear, but this Bill, I regret to say, will create poverty, and has already induced fear.

I think everyone in this House believes that we need to reform our welfare system, but we must be honest: the Bill before us today is not reform. It is simply cuts, which have been brought forward to fill an economic black hole. In the Liverpool city region, nearly 30% of residents are disabled—more than 10% above the national average. Liverpool has one of the highest disability rates in the country, and our region already experiences some of the highest poverty rates in the UK.

Even with concessions, this Bill still entails cuts, not reform. It will see 150,000 people pushed further into poverty, and create a stark disparity in our welfare state for disabled people. Despite a commitment to co-production, there is nothing that commits the Government to ensure that the PIP assessment review’s findings have any bearing on this legislation.

Over the last few weeks, we have heard a lot about the lack of time to scrutinise legislation when debating another Bill in this place, yet here we are with a Bill that has concessions that are not actually on the face of the Bill because there has been no time. There will only be eight days between Second and Third Reading, which is truly a lack of time to scrutinise proposed legislation.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a very good speech, and we are here as legislators. Does she agree that the fact that we have been denied the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill denies us the opportunity to make it right for disabled people?

[Paula Barker]

I thank my hon. Friend for her excellent intervention, and I absolutely concur with her views.

We must be crystal clear on what we are voting for tonight: we are voting for the Bill as it stands, unamended. The late changes, combined with the compressed parliamentary timetable, mean that MPs will have just a single day to debate and consider amendments, and the fact that this is a money Bill means that it will not be subject to amendments from the House of Lords.

Our movement, at its best, is the rising tide that lifts all boats—not some, but all. I cannot in good faith look my constituents in Liverpool Wavertree in the eye and tell them that this Bill would improve their lot, because quite frankly it will not.

Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill

Kim Johnson Excerpts

Committee of the whole House & 3rd reading
Wednesday 9th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steff Aquarone]

I look forward to the shareable case study from Clywd North when it is available, because things can be done, and doubtless they are being done, but we need to be doing them in every corner of the country and every coastal community around our country. I hope the Government accept my new clause 5 to force them to make a real assessment of how areas such as mine and that of the hon. Member’s will be affected by the proposals. However, I still urge them to scrap these badly designed changes, go back to the drawing board and come up with reforms that will support, not punish, our coastal communities.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)]

Today, I rise not just with a heavy heart, but with huge disappointment. Despite the concessions made last week, the Bill remains a danger to disabled people, and it is not just a bad policy, but economically reckless. When we take away essential support, we do not reduce costs; we shift those costs on to the NHS, local authorities, unpaid carers and working-class communities.

Despite the hard-won concessions, this Bill remains an assault on disabled people. It is not a strategy for inclusion or support; it is a calculated effort to slash funding and vital support from those of our constituents who need it the most. According to the Government’s own impact assessment, it will mean £2 billion-worth of cuts, which are set to cost around 700,000 future universal credit recipients an average of £3,000 each year by 2030. The Bill will push 50,000 people into poverty and will be disastrous for people already living in poverty. I was not elected as a Labour MP to take money out of the pockets of the poorest and most vulnerable.