PM mauled by his own backbenchers
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Your support makes all the difference.Less than a month after the election landslide, Tony Blair was thrown on to the defensive last night as he faced waves of criticism from Labour MPs over an array of government policies.
Plans to subject disability benefit claimants to regular check-ups on their fitness to work dominated Prime Minister's Question Time. Labour MPs also criticised the state of the rail network and government backing for President Bush's "son of Star Wars" missile defence shield.
Plans for checks on incapacity benefit claimants were revealed yesterday by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alistair Darling. They were immediately denounced as "MoT tests" by disability campaigners.
The veteran left-winger Dennis Skinner was cheered as he referred to a backbench rebellion four years ago over benefit cuts for lone parents. He said: "Can I have an assurance we're not going to travel down that road we travelled down in 1997 because it is bound to be strewn with difficulties?" In a reference to the former chief executive of Railtrack, he said ministers should "get stuck into those fat cats like Gerald Corbett and the rest and leave the disabled alone".
Mr Blair said the proposals were "entirely sensible and justified". He said: "It cannot be right we have a situation where people coming on to incapacity benefit will be paid roughly, on average, around £4,000 a year for say 10, 15, 20 years, with no one ever checking whether people have recovered from their injury and are able to work."
David Winnick, MP for Walsall North, said: "Will you give a commitment that you would be willing to meet the organisations representing the disabled before any firm proposals are put before this House? We want to avoid a row, don't we?"
Mr Blair said: "What I won't do is apologise for the reforms Mr Darling has put forward because they are important."
Chris Mullin, who quit the Government last month, denounced George Bush's defence plans as a "mad-cap scheme".
Ann Clwyd, Labour MP for Cynon Valley, demanded taxpayers' handouts to Railtrack be used as a "lever to block the fat-cat pay-offs to some of the former directors ... who have so clearly failed the public".
The MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, Lynne Jones, joined the attack last night. "The party isn't Tony Blair's. It's the party of every one of us members. It's not too late to have some reform within the leadership of the Labour Party. I think the leadership needs to reform its attitude to members."
A GMB union spokesman said the union was considering an emergency motion on the disability benefit issue at Labour's annual conference.
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