Pat McFadden's welfare warning will be a gift to Labour's critics for years to come, writes Natasha Clark |
Among more than 1,000 pages of documents in the Mandelson Files released yesterday by the government, one stands out as the most toe-curling.
Listen to this article
Speaking with Lord Mandelson on 24 May 2025 about the brewing welfare rebellion, the then Cabinet Office chief Pat McFadden agreed that the Parliamentary Labour Party were in a "mutinous state".
He said: "Yes. Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'. They're asking the wrong questions."
He's since become the man responsible for taking on the welfare brief, and may in future have to fight another battle with Labour MPs over how much money is being spent.
The £5 billion in cuts had to be abandoned after Labour MPs made it clear they wouldn't back them.
Yet the increase in the number of people across the UK receiving incapacity benefits, Personal Independence Payments, and, indeed, the ever-rising costs of the triple lock for the state pension may make those conversations........