WARRINGTON’S Labour MPs Charlotte Nichols and Sarah Hall have vowed to continue to fight for a “supportive, dignified and sustainable welfare system” following last night’s Welfare Bill debate.
Both MPs had signed a ‘reasoned amendment’ with over 120 other Labour MPs prior to the Second Reading of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.
In a joint statement issued today, the MP for Warrington North and Warrington South said:”Last night there was a vote on the Welfare Bill. This was not the final vote on the Bill, which will take place next week after much more debate and after it has been amended.
“Over the past weeks we have both heard from hundreds of constituents with their concerns about this Bill, particularly the restrictions on who will be eligible to receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) that support disabled people in their everyday lives. We would like to thank everyone who has been in touch and have valued all of these discussions, as well as with charities representing national and local disabled people.
“There were already positive elements of the Bill with measures to help people into work, an end to the demeaning insistence on repeat reassessments for people with severe conditions, and a significant increase to Universal Credit. Work can be a good place not only to earn an income but for a sense of purpose, for friendships and mental health. Our welfare system does need reform, to ensure a more healthy country, dignity for people who need assistance, and sustainable costs. Disabled people must be an integral part of this designing these policies.
“However the original details of the Bill were not acceptable to us. PIP is not an out-of-work benefit, but many people on PIP are simply not well enough to work or have no suitable job to go to. Many have conditions that mean they might be able to work some of the time and could be too ill to work at others. These people need the security of financial support that our society rightly provides.
“As residents of Warrington will know, last week we both signed a ‘reasoned amendment’ with over 120 other Labour MPs that would have scrapped the Bill. We signed this to apply pressure to the Government to rethink their plans. We wanted disabled people and organisations who work with them to be properly involved in co-producing any policy and changes to the Welfare system before they are brought in. This forced the government to guarantee that no existing claimants will lose PIP because of these changes.
“This was a step forward, but still not enough and we do not want future claimants to be treated differently, especially people with fluctuating conditions. We both continued to have constructive meetings with Ministers throughout yesterday, pressing this case. This meant that further concessions were given during yesterday’s debate in Parliament including that there will now be no immediate changes until after a review that will consult disability groups, due to report in Autumn 2026.
Although we are still not happy with the Bill, nor how this process has been handled, there are now promises to address this properly and so we chose neither to support nor oppose it in the vote yesterday. If it had been voted down we would have lost all of the positive aspects and there would have been no guarantee that the concessions would have survived. Supporting it was however not possible either, as the amendments agreed come in at the next stage are not on the face of the Bill as it currently stands.
“There is now an opportunity to amend and improve the Bill as it is considered in committee and its final vote next week. There are specific changes we are still pushing for, including ensuring that 18-22 year olds do not fall through the cracks as we fear they currently do. Our support for the Bill will be predicated on the agreed changes being properly worked through, and we reserve the right to vote against in the next stage if this is not the case.
“Our loyalty will always be first and foremost to our constituents, and we are committed to getting the best legislation we can. There can be no decisions about disabled people without including disabled people, and we will fight for a supportive, dignified and sustainable welfare system.
