Scarborough and Whitby MP on support for welfare bill despite previous opposition

Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, has said she decided to support the Government’s controversial welfare bill “only after helping to win a key concession”.

The vote on the welfare cuts was pushed through parliament on Tuesday (July 1) after several last-minute concessions and U-turns made by the Government to more than 120 Labour rebels who had backed a legislative amendment.

Before the changes were announced, Scarborough and Whitby’s MP had said she could not “square my conscience as a Labour MP” with the harm to disabled people from the proposed cuts.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on Thursday (July 3), Ms Hume stated: “The criteria for PIP eligibility will now not be changed until the Timms Review is completed. Crucially, as I’d also called for, disabled people will be at the heart of the review.

“Removing the requirement for PIP claimants to score four points in a single daily living activity to receive their daily living allowance was a prerequisite for me. I reiterated this to the Prime Minister before Tuesday’s vote.

“It was removed from the bill.”

The disability campaigner and screenwriter who was elected a year ago, added: “As the mother of a disabled adult, I acutely understand how important PIP is to disabled people, their families and their carers.

“The original proposals, which had caused real concern among the 7,000 recipients within my constituency, were something I could not support. I am pleased the government has listened.”

However, Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, who had also supported the amendment to the welfare legislation, voted against the bill.

Speaking in the House of Commons, she said: “These Dickensian cuts belong to a different era and a different party – they are far from what this Labour Party is for.”

She was one of 49 Labour MPs to vote against their own Government, which won the vote by 335 votes to 260, a majority of 75.

Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, also opposed the legislation alongside his Conservative colleagues.