Welfare reform bill: Hackney MPs vote split as government avoids defeat

Hackney’s MPs Diane Abbott and Meg Hillier. Photographs: House of Commons / Roger Harris

Hackney’s two Labour MPs were at odds in yesterday’s contentious vote on the government’s welfare reform bill.

The plans, which include cuts to disability benefits and Universal Credit health payments, were originally designed to save £5 billion by 2030.

But they caused a huge fracture within the Labour party, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer twice forced to make concessions in order to ward off a major rebellion.

It culminated in a showdown yesterday that saw the bill pass by 336 votes to 261 – a majority of 75.

Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott was one of 49 Labour rebels to vote against it.

In a speech to parliament ahead of the vote, she said she was opposed to the reforms on “moral, legal and political grounds”.

Millions of people with disabilities would “not be able to believe that the Labour party is putting through legislation like this”, she added.

“If this legislation means anything at all, it means money coming out of the pockets of the disabled.”

Meg Hillier, who represents Hackney South and Shoreditch, was won round by the government’s climbdowns and eventually voted in favour of the bill.

The Treasury select committee chair had been a key figure in the rebellion, with plans to table an amendment that had been signed by more than 120 Labour MPs.

But she later scrapped it after the government agreed to exclude current claimants from the benefit cuts.

Reacting to yesterday’s vote, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he’d had “serious concerns” about the reforms, but that he was “pleased that the government has started to listen”.

“I have always said that more must be done to support those who are able to work to be able to do so,” he added.

“The government must now be true to their word and engage meaningfully with disabled groups and charities about any proposed changes to welfare eligibility.

“The concerns of disabled people, who have been frightened and anxious since these plans were first announced, mustn’t be treated as an afterthought, but be central to how reforms are designed.”

Islington South MP Emily Thornberry, who now represents Hackney residents in De Beauvoir following recent changes to constituency boundaries, voted in favour the bill.

Tottenham MP David Lammy, whose constituency now contains Hackney’s Brownswood and Woodberry Down wards, also voted for the reforms.

Update: this article was amended at 12.20pm on 3 July 2025 to include information about how Emily Thornberry voted.

Update: this article was amended at 5.45pm on 3 July 2025 to include information about how David Lammy voted.