See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy GREG HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Published: 11:05 BST, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 11:07 BST, 28 July 2026
Andy Burnham has been warned by Labour's Left that they could revive their rebellion against 'punitive' benefits cuts.Since taking office, the Prime Minister has said Britain 'must get really serious' about curbing welfare spending.But he has been told by Labour MPs not to 'ignore the lessons of the last Parliament' when his predecessor, Keir Starmer, faced a mass revolt over proposed changes.The former PM was forced into a humiliating climbdown last summer on his plans to restrict access to disability benefits.Sir Keir wanted to tighten rules for claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in an effort to save billions of pounds from Britain's ballooning welfare bill.A huge rebellion from his own MPs derailed his plans, with Sir Keir instead ordering disability minister Stephen Timms to undertake a major review of PIP.Ahead of Sir Stephen publishing his final review in the autumn, Mr Burnham has suggested he is ready to make a renewed case for benefits changes to his party.Kim Johnson, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, told the new PM not to 'revive the failed politics of welfare cuts instead of asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share'. Andy Burnham has been warned by Labour's Left that they could revive their rebellion against 'punitive' benefits cuts Data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed there were four million claimants entitled to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) at the end of AprilThe Liverpool Riverside MP told Bloomberg she was concerned that Mr Burnham's appointment of John Healey, the former defence secretary, as his Chancellor 'signals a return to a 'warfare, not welfare' approach'.'If the new leadership believes it can revive the failed politics of welfare cuts instead of asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share, it will be repeating not only Keir Starmer's mistakes but 14 years of Tory austerity,' she added.'If the first instinct of a new leadership is to target disabled people and low-income families rather than challenge the wealth and inequality at the top of society, then nothing has been learned.' Ms Johnson added that it would be 'absolutely mad to ignore the lessons of the last Parliament' and forget that Labour MPs 'made our opposition to welfare cuts crystal clear'.She warned Mr Burnham would face the 'same resistance' if he opted for the same approach.John McDonnell, another member of the Socialist Campaign Group who was Labour's shadow chancellor during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party, said any future welfare reform 'must be based upon a strategy of providing positive support to people rather than punitive sanction'.He said it would otherwise not be backed by Labour MPs and the party's wider membership.'I believe Andy Burnham gets that and my hope is that those around him appreciate it too,' the Hayes and Harlington MP added.
