Labour MPs simply cannot help themselves. The Milburn review has not even been published, yet they are already revving the engines of rebellion. First out of the gate was the usual suspect, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a protégé of Diane Abbott. ‘I am not sure I could vote for cuts unless it’s very clear what we’re voting on,’ she warned.
Now fellow backbencher Neil Duncan-Jordan has joined the warm-up act – and even put pen to paper laying out his disgruntlement in a letter to the Prime Minister. The Labour MP for Poole said: ‘I’ve written to Government regarding the Milburn Review. Andy Burnham is right to oppose “crude cuts” and to defend social security. We cannot let a report commissioned under the previous leadership take us backwards. Cuts don’t create jobs. They create poverty.’
In a separate pre-publication attack, Clive Lewis bemoaned details of the report appearing in The Times before it was announced in Parliament. ‘This is not about Alan Milburn. It is about people’s lives. To generate this kind of fear and uncertainty through media interviews is deeply irresponsible. These are people’s lives and livelihoods, not headlines to be managed or media opportunities to be seized,’ he said.
The final proposals are not due until Tuesday, so Mr S is bracing for more complaints – despite Burnham’s efforts to frame the debate over NEETs as a moral question rather than a cost-saving exercise. As dear Pat wisely observed, the only thing you can rely on a Labour MP to ask is: who can we tax more to pay for benefits?
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