A new benefits dashboard released by the TaxPayers' Alliance shows a surge in the number of benefit claimants in North Hertfordshire ahead of the Welfare Bill vote on Tuesday 1 July, aiming to slow the rising cost of personal independence payments (PIP). 

TPA analysis revealed there were 858,142 PIP claimants in the constituencies of the 110 English and Welsh MPs who signed a reasoned amendment aimed at bringing down the government's landmark benefits bill.

This amounted to 112 out of every 1,000 people across these constituencies.

The new benefits dashboard breaks down the number of claimants of various benefits including PIP using a number of geographical areas including region, local authority, constituency and postcode. 

Between January 2019 and April 2025, the number of PIP claimants in the North Hertfordshire District rose from 2,537 to 5,510 people, an increase of 117.2 per cent (TPA).

"And yet even minor adjustments that seek not to reverse this rate of increase but instead to simply slow it down seem to be beyond the pale for this profligate posse of Labour MPs" said the Chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, John O'Connell (TPA). "Politicians across the spectrum need to now put country over party and radically reform the benefits system to avoid it crippling the nation's finances while ensuring that more and more people are liberated from a life of benefits and dependency."

Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is braced for the biggest rebellion of his tenure so far in the vote for the planned benefit cuts.

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In a bid to win over rebel Labour MPs, Starmer has limited the disability benefit cuts to only new claimants, among other tweaks.

Still unsatisfied with the proposals, Mr Naismith said: "Unfortunately, I do not believe these concessions yet go far enough to satisfy my concerns about the system that vulnerable people will inherit.

"It is clear to me from statements we have heard from Ministers and from esteemed colleagues, including the Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, that the outcome of the Timms Review will not be implemented ahead of the cut off point for protection under the current system (November 2026).