By Andrew MacAskill
THE HAGUE (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to lead his party into the next general election and rejected suggestions he was failing to listen to the concerns of his party on Wednesday, as he faces a growing rebellion from lawmakers over welfare reform.
Lawmakers from Starmer’s Labour Party have spearheaded an effort to kill the government’s welfare plan at a vote due next week, saying it failed to provide support for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions.
More than 100 lawmakers have vowed to vote for an amendment that would halt the proposed reforms, in what would be a major political embarrassment for the prime minister.
Starmer insisted he “can read the room” in response to a question at a press conference about whether he had the political skill to lead Britain.
Taking questions at the NATO summit in The Hague, Starmer said the same criticism was made in the run-up to last year’s general election, before he led his party to one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history.
“Is it tough going? Are there plenty of noises off? There always are, there always have been, there always will be,” Starmer said. “I’m comfortable with reading the room and delivering the change the country needs.”
Due to rising welfare spending, which had been on course to top 100 billion pounds ($129 billion) by 2030, Labour said in March it planned to cut more than 5 billion pounds from its welfare budget by 2029/30.
Asked if he was confident he would lead his party into the next election, due in 2029, Starmer said “very”, adding: “we were voted in absolutely clearly saying we need a decade of national renewal.”
Some of his lawmakers say the bill contains “dangerous and counterproductive cuts to entitlements aimed at disabled people” and lacked “measures to take proper account of the needs of people with … long-term conditions”.
Starmer insisted that the vote would go ahead on July 1 and said his party was “pretty united” about the need to reform the welfare state and the question was how to do it.
“We’re committed to reforming our welfare system. It doesn’t work, it traps people, and it has to be reformed,” Starmer said. “It’s really important I lead from the front and take the long-term decisions for the future of this country.”
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Writing by Alistair Smout; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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