Pressure mounts as Leeds West and Pudsey CLP speaks out against proposed disability benefit changes
Leeds, 17 May 2025 – Rachel Reeves is facing mounting pressure from within her own backyard as her local Constituency Labour Party (CLP) has formally opposed the Government’s proposed cuts to disability benefits, calling on the Chancellor to abandon the plans entirely.
The Leeds West and Pudsey CLP – the very local party that campaigned to return Ms Reeves to Parliament in the recent general election – passed a motion this week denouncing the proposals, which would tighten eligibility criteria for the personal independence payment (Pip) and reduce sickness-related support under universal credit.
The CLP’s motion, seen by the PA news agency, makes clear its view that disabled people “are not responsible for the state of the national finances and should not be made to pay the price for Tory economic mismanagement.” It calls on Reeves to reconsider her position and urges her to halt all efforts to implement the controversial reforms.
The Government’s Green Paper, unveiled earlier this year, outlines measures to scale back welfare provision for working-age people, in a bid to reduce the number claiming sickness-related benefits – a figure which spiked during the pandemic and has remained stubbornly high. Ministers claim the changes could eventually save up to £5 billion annually.
However, the proposed overhaul has triggered deep unease within Labour ranks, with internal opposition now spilling into public view. The Leeds West and Pudsey CLP resolved to write directly to both Ms Reeves and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, outlining its objections and warning that reducing benefit rates, raising eligibility thresholds, or increasing conditionality would disproportionately punish disabled people.
The motion argues instead for reforms that focus on employment support, particularly “reducing the taper” – the rate at which benefits decrease when claimants begin work. It also raises concerns about the quality and fairness of benefit assessments.
The backlash is not isolated. Reports suggest around 100 Labour MPs – more than a quarter of the parliamentary party – have signed a private letter to the Labour chief whip expressing their opposition to the cuts. This follows a separate letter last week, signed by 42 MPs, stating that the proposed measures were “impossible to support.”
Ian Byrne, the MP for Liverpool West Derby, was unflinching in his condemnation during a recent Westminster Hall debate, saying he would “swim through vomit” to vote against the measures. He was joined by other outspoken critics including Richard Burgon (Leeds East), Rachael Maskell (York Central), and Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornaby East), all of whom confirmed they would oppose the Government’s plans.
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Ellen Clifford, spokesperson for Disabled People Against Cuts, praised the Leeds West and Pudsey CLP’s stance. “We hope the Chancellor takes note of the contents,” she said. “The scale of the proposed cuts is horrific and will destroy communities, break public services through additional pressures and could well negatively impact the economy. They are cruel, badly thought through and entirely performative.”
A spokesperson for Ms Reeves’s office declined to comment directly on the CLP’s motion, but referred to previous remarks in which she acknowledged the need for welfare reform. Speaking last week, she told reporters: “I don’t think anybody, including Labour MPs and members, thinks that the current welfare system created by the Conservative Party is working today. They know that the system needs reform. We do need to reform how the welfare system works if we’re going to grow our economy.”
Nonetheless, with dissent growing and the Chancellor now under pressure from both within her constituency and the parliamentary party, the Government’s path forward on welfare reform appears increasingly fraught. The challenge for Reeves will be to reconcile her reformist ambitions with the deep unease from those she most directly represents.
