LABOUR MP Natalie Fleet has said that the benefits reform bill has given her sleepless nights and that it is unclear what will happen next, even though she intends to vote in favour of it.
Speaking during PMQs Live on GB News, the MP for Bolsover said: “I have thought a lot about welfare. I grew up on welfare, and then I was a benefits advisor once I started working. This has given me sleepless nights.
“And then we saw the detail, and I thought…right, okay, so now we’ve got the facts in front of us. Who is it that I’m responsible to?
“There’s only one group of people that I’m responsible to, and that’s my constituents. There are disabled people in my constituency that are really scared…
“The conclusion that I have come to has kept me up at night to get to. I don’t judge anybody that’s come to a different conclusion.
“These are good people in the most diverse government we have ever had. We all want the same thing, we just have very different ideas about how we get there. That’s okay, to disagree. We’ve got different avenues of how we get here.
“The reason it kept me up at night is because I was just as scared as everybody else.”
She added: “I have no idea what happens over this next week, and I feel like I’m living as part of history.
“I feel the responsibility to my constituents, disabled people, and taxpayers, very heavily on my shoulders. I don’t know what happens, but what I do know is that a year ago, we elected a prime minister to run a government that has got an insane majority, one that is better than I ever thought…
“I tell you, what we’ve achieved in 11 months, some really incredible stuff, making sure that kids aren’t hungry. What happens over this next week, I don’t know, and we’ll see.
“We’ve heard from Angela today that there will be a vote on Tuesday, and if we do have a vote on Tuesday, I absolutely will be voting for it because it’s the right thing.”
Joe Robertson, Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, said: “They’re not trying to get a grip of it. In fact, even if this bill goes through, there will be more people on welfare benefit year on year on year.
“This bill does not reduce the amount of people on welfare. What it is is a cash grab for £5 billion because the Chancellor has ground the economy to a halt and she needs money.
“This isn’t reform. It’s not targeted. It’s unfair. It’s taking money from some of those, yes, who shouldn’t be on benefit. It will also take money from those who should and deserve it.
“So, thousands of children will be pushed into poverty by this, according to the government’s own impact assessment.”
Asked for his prediction on what will happen with the vote, he said: “It won’t go ahead on Tuesday.
“I think there’s no guarantee the vote will go ahead on Tuesday. It’s six days away, a lot is going to happen.”
