What the Welfare Reform & Work Act has in store for us — and the BBC rarely, if ever, mentions

Voting on the then Welfare Reform & Work Bill — now an Act of Parliament — occurred on Monday 20 July 2015, almost exactly a year ago today. As previously stated on this blog, a majority of Labour MPs abstained while 48 Labour MPs including Hampstead & Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq and Brent Central MP Dawn Butler defied the Labour Whip to vote against that legislation.(1)

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas outlined her opposition to that legislation, saying that that legislation was aimed at "dismantling" the welfare state. She said that George Osborne was 'playing politics with poverty', and said that the legislation would "lock in child poverty' and 'leave ministers significantly less accountable for their policies."(2) The diminished 'accountability' is linked to use of 'statutory instruments', by which new measures can be brought through without an obligation for them to be debated in Parliament.(3)

Link addresses

1. http://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/brent-labour-mps-2-1-against-welfare.html
2. https://www.carolinelucas.com/latest/the-welfare-bill-caroline-stands-against-dismantling-of-the-welfare-state
3. https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A9mSs2uKN4ZXqaEABA5LBQx.;_ylc=X1MDMjExNDcxNzAwMwRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTQyMy1zBGdwcmlkA2l2MXY5b2dxUU9DSjJseXF6MGY5N0EEbl9yc2x0AzAEbl9zdWdnAzAEb3JpZ2luA3VrLnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDMTE5BHF1ZXJ5AyUyMnN0YXR1dG9yeSUyMGluc3RydW1lbnRzJTIyJTIwd2VsZmFyZSUyMHJlZm9ybSUyMGFuZCUyMHdvcmslMjBiaWxsJTIwc2l0ZSUzQSUyMGh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cuYmVuZWZpdHNhbmR3b3JrLmNvLnVrBHRfc3RtcAMxNDY4NDEzOTk1?p="statutory+instruments"+welfare+reform+and+work+bill+site%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fwww.benefitsandwork.co.uk&fr2=sb-top-uk.search&fr=yfp-t-423-s