Hackney MPs split over welfare bill

Speaking out: Diane Abbott at the Hackney Citizen’s General Election 2015 hustings. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval

A vote on the government’s welfare bill which underlined fractures within Labour has also divided the party’s Hackney MPs.

The bill, containing welfare spending cuts of £12 billion, was passed at its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday (20 July) by 308 votes to 124.

It includes moves to cut entitlement to tax credits and housing benefit, to impose a ‘cap’ on a household’s entitlement to welfare and bring in a new ‘living wage’.

Meg Hillier MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch abstained from the vote, following orders from interim Labour leader Harriet Harman.

Ruth Wheatley, a governor at Clapton Girls Academy who campaigned for Hillier in May’s general election, told the Hackney Citizen she felt “aggrieved” by her MP’s vote. She said: “It’s pretty surprising given she represents one of the poorest areas in the country.

“Many of those who voted for her will be pushed further into poverty by the welfare bill – so I’m not sure I understand why she didn’t vote against it.”

Hackney Liberal Democrat councillor Dawood Akhoon also criticised Hillier’s abstention. He tweeted:

@Meg_HillierMP do you know the impact this is having on your constituents in Hackney. Where is your moral compass?

— Dawood E Akhoon (@deakhoon) July 21, 2015

Meg Hillier MP told the Hackney Citizen: “I voted for Labour’s amendment to the Government motion which sought to prevent the Bill from having a Second Reading and so opposed the Bill.

“Hackney has suffered under Tory policies for 5 years and I continue to campaign for better opportunities and life for people in my constituency.”

But 48 Labour MPs, including MP for Hackney North Diane Abbott and her fellow candidates in the London Mayoral race Sadiq Khan and David Lammy defied the party whip to vote against the bill.

Following the vote, Diane Abbott told the Hackney Citizen: “The benefits cap in particular will be damaging to residents in Hackney because it may result in thousands of families losing their homes and moving out of the area they call home.

“On the whole the Welfare Bill is a real hammer blow for the working poor and I was glad to vote against it.”