Harlow MP Chris Vince backs Prime Minister over planned reforms to disability payments
Chris Vince / Wed 25th Jun 2025 at 05:03am
HARLOW MP Chris Vince is standing firmly with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over planned reforms to disability payments.
More than 120 Labour MPs have signed up to an effort to block plans to cut disability and sickness-related benefits payments to save £5bn a year by 2030.
The PM told the BBC that the current welfare system “traps people” on benefits, and was set to fuel “unsustainable” rises in the cost to taxpayers.
He added that the projected increase in the number claiming Personal Independence Payments (Pips) each year was “the equivalent of the population of a city the size of Leicester”.
“So those that care about a future welfare system have to answer the question: ‘how do you reform what you’ve got, to make sure it’s sustainable for the future?”
YH asked Mr Vince if he would be joining the rebels Labour MPs?
He replied: “I am not. While this government keeps delivering for Harlow I will continue to support it.
“When I have concerns about policy I will raise them with ministers in private, which is more effective.”
Click below for more details.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04dn3v616yo
David Forman
2025-06-25 05:40:13
Chris Vince is a total careerist who has forgotten any lessons he may have learned from working in the charitable sector. Vince sat in Harlow Labour Party meetings with me prior to June 2018 when I explained on a number of occasions the harm Conservative benefits rules were doing to the seriously ill, disabled and mentally ill. I also explained the hoops people had to jump through to get the help they deserved. I never thought the benefits system could get any worse, but Vince has just voted for it. Shame on you Chris Vince.
gary roberts
2025-06-25 06:01:18
So after "listening" to his disabled and ill constituents MP Vince is showing again his complete and utter contempt for those who will lose their PIP payments. If this so-called Labour government lose the vote next week what will MP Vince say? Will he do another U-turn and suggest it was wrong to even consider removing the benefit? I suspect so but he can't hide his voting record that will return to kick him out next time. And of course on current predictions the vote will only go through with Tory support a party he keeps saying destroyed public services..... Hypocrisy gone mad and bad MP Vince!
David Forman
2025-06-25 06:04:53
I should have said Vince will vote for making the benefits system worse as the vote is on July 1st. But you can see he is slavishly supporting the government.
Max
2025-06-25 06:38:33
Good,that is the reason country is in mess ,because we are giving ppl too much for free.
Brian Ashton
2025-06-25 07:24:12
As a disabled person living in harlow I can categorically say he and labour are not delivering for me. Longer wait times for critical appointments, cut to disability benefits, no new hospital, lack of good jobs in Harlow and an MP who will blindly follow our PM into an abyss without any apparent thought for the people. Party before country i think
Guy Flegman
2025-06-25 08:07:22
I am confused. Earlier today there was an article where our MP was challenging the government changes to PIP payments. Yet here he is in full support of the bill. It’s all very confusing
Resident
2025-06-25 09:06:27
The disability welfare system needs reforming but this is not the way to do it. In its current guise this is a blatant money saving exercise with little or no thought on how it will impact people who rely on this money and the carers who will lose income when a substantial number of families and individuals are no longer able to afford their services. The government has blocked consultation on the key areas around the 4 point requirement for example. The consultation questions are all around how to support those who will lose their money, it's a foregone conclusion as far as Labour are concerned. This isn't a consultation it's a farce. I personally am incredibly disappointed Chris plans to vote this way, 130 MPs have stated they won't be voting for these cuts because of the damage they will cause, this is a terrible decision by Chris. As for trapping people in unemployment, PIP is an in work benefit and actually enables people to work. Old style ESA used to allow permitted work without impacting on the benefits people receive, the disability element of universal credit no longer has this, even those who are seriously ill or disabled will lose 55p in every £1 if they wish to try work. This, plus removal of PIP will have a massive negative impact on people's ability to work. It is, without a doubt, a money saving exercise dressed that will cause significant hardship and is already having a negative impact on people's mental health. All those who say benefits are far too easy to claim, you need to actually look into how difficult this process is and step away from the Daily Mail and media who want you to look at the vulnerable as the problem, rather than mismanagement of the country for 20+ years and lack of investment in services.
Kim
2025-06-25 10:22:46
MR VINCE, YOU ARE ONLY WATCHING YOUR OWN BACK. PIP IS NOT AN OUT OF WORK BENEFIT, ITS AN INDEPENDENT PAYMENT. MANY ON PIP DO WORK, AND THOSE THAT DONT CAN NOT. YOU TAKE THERE PIP, YOU TAKE, THERE CARER'S, AIDS, EQUIPMENT, PUTTING MORE PRESSURE ON NHS. YOU TAKE THERE PIP, YOU ALL TAKE REST BITE ,FROM THOSE ADULTS AND KIDS, THAT LOOK AFTER THERE PARENTS. MOST PROBABLY DO PART TIME,SO THIS BENEFIT TOPS UP THERE PAYPACKETS . YOU TAKE THIS AWAY THERE BE THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS PLUNGED INTO POVERTY, AND WILL LOOSE THERE HOMES.. MOST OF US ,I WOULD THINK KNOW, ITS OTHER BENEFIT S THAT NEED TO BE LOOKED AT, BUT THIS PIP IS AN INDEPENDENT PAYMENT, WHICH IS VETED AND VETED AGAIN. TRUST ME I KNOW, IVE SEEN THE BOOK,THESES PEOPLE HAVE TO FILL IN. CHRIS VINCE MAYBE WATCHING HIS BACK, BUT ASK YOUR SELF, WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO SLEEP AT NIGHT BETTER.
David Forman
2025-06-25 12:52:11
Good points by Resident and Kim. Chris Vince at every opportunity says he worked for Streets2Homes and a young carers charity. Like Guy Flegman so politely puts it, Vince is trying to have his cake and eat it. This is the hallmark of a political opportunist, which Vince undoubtedly is.
Seamus
2025-06-25 14:00:30
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of a tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
gary roberts
2025-06-25 15:03:52
Are you angry? Have you been deceived? Is the country really unable to feed its children? Is the country really unable to pay full benefits to the ill and disabled? Are all politicians' and civil servants unable to deliver important public services? A rich country should be ashamed of its record on all these issues and if Starmer really believes that removing important benefits and payments will improve his macho image then I would suggest he and MP Vince resigns now and not wait another four years!
Mark Lavender
2025-06-25 15:25:19
It is all by the by. Harlow's residents could be all requiring PIP or nobody at all but this affects the country rather seeing things through the prism of your constituents
Adam
2025-06-25 15:42:29
Has Chris ever not backed the PM he is the ultimate yes man. That said we cannot afford the benefits bill it is outrageous and not getting better.
gary roberts
2025-06-25 16:14:47
After fourteen years of lies and deceit MP Vince should remember the vote in this town was for change not for the same nonsense. I have no faith that under this rubbish anything fundamental will change in the next four years so if anyone has a spare ticket to Vancouver come October...........! Apparently you get what you voted for and what you voted for was a slightly tinged blue replacement on a 34% turnout with Attlee and Nye Bevan shouting, is that it? With the even sadder reply, Yes. Am I losing the plot or factually correct?
Richard P
2025-06-25 19:06:56
To the poster bemoaning no new Hospital well Johnson and his friends left no money to build the new Hospital which was not funded when Jonson made his original promise anyway , a bit rich to say Labour have not built one in 12 months in power .! The Tories in government left a right old mess behind them including record Hospital waiting lists .
Ted
2025-06-25 19:09:30
I didn't expect anything else from Starmers poodle , can you hear yourself Vince , your a joke. Can't wait to hear what you will have to say when Starmer U turns. And I can't post what I think would save money , they would take it off , it's to do with salt water.
charlie
2025-06-25 19:11:42
In reply to Max's comment. I agree that some people are getting too much for free. But the problem with the slashing of benefits, is that it seems to be hiitting the sick and disabled who need it, and not those who are fit for work but can't be bothered to look for work. I have a relative who is well over pension age and is blind. Yet she has had her PIP'S cut or stopped altogether, and has been told she is fit for work.. Absolutely disgusting by this awful Government. But for those who are fit for work, but can't be bothered as they hold their hands out for benefits, if I had my way, if they won't work, then I would not give them a penny.
Ted
2025-06-25 19:19:30
Max , I hope you never become an invalid, you may not be so quick to say good then
Deborah
2025-06-25 20:27:48
Labour 🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢
abbie
2025-06-25 21:00:18
Support the principle that we should put a lid on the ever increasing proportion of the country who are getting handouts, but we know that this government will make a complete mess of it. The person who struggles to boil an egg because they have trouble walking or because they have arthritis will lose their payments, whereas the person who “can’t cook because it makes them anxious” will continue to get the full range of handouts for their ‘invisible disability’. We were promised ‘GROWTH & CHANGE (FOR THE BETTER)’. I don’t see any of that here. This is a town that probably has more sick and infirm people than any of the communities around, so NO Chris, you are not standing up for your constituents. The neighbouring MPs with integrity are for theirs.
Pedro
2025-06-25 21:37:06
Chris Vince will vote whatever his puppet master Starmer tells him to do, he has no interest in the residents of Harlow, he is just another career politician, He will definitely not retain his seat at the next GE
abbie
2025-06-25 21:40:58
Our previous two MPs (Labour & Tory)were both brown nosing, toadying, low grade sycophants, so it’s a bit of a tradition for the town. You have to go right back to Jerry Hayes for someone with a bit of chutzpah. Incidentally, Chris Hinchliff Labour MP for villages like Little Hadham has said that he is willing to lose the Labour whip over benefit cuts and Hertford and Stortford Labour MP Josh DeanIt say ‘It pains me that I cannot support the Government, but my first responsibility is to my constituents, for whom I believe this would be the wrong policy’ So Harlow Labour, you’ve given us another dud - Thanks!
Adrienne
2025-06-26 01:50:53
Hey David, could you please tell me some figures. How many unemployed fit people are there and how many actual full time jobs are there? It seems to me that we have billions to spend on a war that is none of our goddam business. But when push comes to shove our MPs who want to vote against disability cuts are being bullied. This is not on.I am not in favour of party whips in general. In so far as they try to skew MP votes.That being said the MPs shouldn't be able to be marginalised .They are actually speaking for there constituents who have told them that they don't agree with there governments policy. If the prime minister refuses to acknowledge this(and remember it was the Tories that forced the bill through originally.and I am finding it really hard to distinguish between the parties ATM).Then we may as well scrunch up parliament like a piece of paper and bin it. You have no right to behave this way.An ex human rights lawyer. Disgraceful,if you were taking your exams,you would fail with flying colours.
gary roberts
2025-06-26 09:08:43
Concession here, concession there and in the end you get a mashed up, valueless and empty vessel devoid of principle. They call it Starmer in action. Read this article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/26/labour-party-disabled-people-mps-disability-cuts
Brian Ashton
2025-06-26 12:49:13
I think the biggest thing is this government are hitting the vulnerable in society, pensioners, the sick and disabled, while seemingly to have out inflation busting payrises to the unions and then looking around to see who they can punish (sorry pay the bill) for these decisions. And for the record I am disabled, work a full time job, don't claim. Any allowances and have worked every day since I left university
Mark Lavender
2025-06-26 14:43:52
Tying two threads on this website, there appears to be a hierarchy when it come to disability. We had this issue with the previous administration. Disabled people are disabled people irregardless. I see our local MP raised autism with the DWP secretary: why stop there? There is also the matter of suitable employment or employers sensitive to their employees' needs. That goes for everybody!
AB
2025-06-26 16:22:37
Sadly and disappointingly, Chris is total lobby fodder for Starmer.
Marie
2025-06-26 21:41:19
Chris Vince is looking out for himself. If Starmer said jump Chris Vince would ask how high? This Government is Hammering the old, Sick and vulnerable. But giving everything to those illegals who pay nothing in and yet get everything for free ! Please tell me Chris Vince where is that right? Your a disgrace to your constituents and to your country. When this goes belly up will you still be singing from the same hymn sheet. I doubt it.. labour is finished, there is nothing this government can do to turn things around. You have taken from the elderly, those in need of help and support and have given it to those who should not even be here.
gary roberts
2025-06-27 05:52:11
You turn if you want too, the man is not for turning. Well until he did and now MP Vince looks out of place with no place to go after his leader turned. I still doubt that it is enough to help the ill and disabled but reputation has been damaged completely and respect for the office dented beyond repair.
Ted
2025-06-27 16:41:33
Chris Vince. I told you your mighty leader would U TURN. Can't wait to see how you get out of this one. Go on ,go against him I dare you.
Adrienne
2025-06-27 17:38:31
Have you guys read the news.The one hundred MPs have rebelled. I keep trying to tell you reform the government you have. No way can they beat the power of the people. The MPs have been lobbied by their constituents and won.End of conversation. Learn to lobby MPs. Well-done People you are gold keep it up. Now this is the way to settle. Do you lot want another Ten years of the same. Or are you going to put your big girl knickers on and reform the government we have. It really is that simple.
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