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• Thu Jul 3 2025

Welfare system will 'explode' without reform, says Murray

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Getty Images Ian Murray said he was "100%" confident the prime minister would be in his job come the next election

The UK's welfare system will "explode" and become unaffordable if it is not reformed, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has said. Sir Keir Starmer's government has been forced into a series of climbdowns on its benefits bill by Labour backbenchers at Westminster. Murray insisted that "really positive, progressive" changes were being made to fix a "broken" system. It comes after First Minister John Swinney accused the UK government of taking an "absolutely appalling" approach to reform.

Labour ministers were forced to U-turn on some cuts to Universal Credit and plans to introduce stricter eligibility rules for personal independence payment (Pip) claimants. The changes to Pip would not have directly applied in Scotland, where the benefit is being phased out for a devolved alternative but could have affected the amount of money allocated to Holyrood.

Despite being gutted of its most significant measures, Murray said the bill would make important changes to Universal Credit and employability support, and that Pip would be reformed after the publication of a government review late next year. "These are really positive progressive reforms," he told BBC Scotland News. "If we don't reform the welfare system it will explode in terms of there being unsustainable financially for the taxpayer, but also we're writing hundreds of thousands of people out of the workforce." More than 120 Labour MPs - including 12 from Scotland - had threatened to vote down the bill until initial concessions were made. Four Scottish Labour MPs - Brian Leishman, Irene Campbell, Tracey Gilbert and Euan Stainbank - ultimately voted against the final bill, which was further watered down. Asked what he would say to Scottish Labour rebels, Murray replied: "The one thing that unites us all is that the welfare system is broken and it needs to be reformed and therefore we have to do that properly."

Brian Leishman is one of four Scottish Labour MPs who voted against the bill

He said that involved helping people back into work while "looking after those who could never work and have the most severe disabilities". "Those are two key Labour value principles," Murray told the BBC. "We are the party of work, we need to make sure we've got a system in place that doesn't trap people on benefits, trap people in poverty, and gives them those pathways back into work." The Scottish secretary accepted that it had been a "very difficult" year for the Labour administration, but said that the hard choices taken since last July would bear fruit and that people would feel the difference in their pockets. He added he was "100%" confident the prime minister and chancellor would be in their jobs come the next general election.

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