A good old fashioned parliamentary dust-up seems quite tame compared to the political tsunamis that have engulfed our parliaments in recent years.

From referendums to Brexit to Covid, there have been plenty of disruptive events that haven’t always painted our institutions in the greatest of lights.

But this most recent one matters. More than most. It’s heartening that we have seen a rebellion in the ranks from the new UK Labour cohorts to their government’s reforms to welfare.

As unamended, the Pathways to Work Green Paper was far from green. It was blue and might as well have been typed on Tory headed letter paper. As I am writing this column, details are emerging of a significant, if still insufficient softening in approach.

Whatever its final form, I remain of the view that this Bill should be defeated and never to return. It is predicated on an instinct to punch down rather than punch up. It also still contains an underlying narrative that people are ‘at it’ rather than getting to the heart of why so many people who want work can’t get it and why so many jobs are ill-suited to the very real barriers that sick and disabled people face.

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It seems now, that some of the key provisions of the Bill will not affect current claimants. There is also the undertaking to engage in consultation and design with disabled people at the table. Though it is breath taking that this is a late concession rather than an obvious first step in policy redesign.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a need to increase funding to support people that can work, into work. But legislating to take billions from........

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