In the UK area with the most disabled people, councillors have begged their MP to fight benefit cuts.

But they may have a hard job persuading him as he was instrumental in hoodwinking Labour Party members into believing that Keir Starmer was left-wing, in order to make Starmer party leader.

19 per cent of the population of Blaenau Gwent claim disability benefits – the most in Wales and Great Britain.

All 21 Welsh Labour councillors in the council area have called on Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney MP Nick Smith to stand against benefit cuts that were heralded by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last week (March 26, 2025).

In a letter, they stated:

Blaenau Gwent will be the hardest hit if these cuts go ahead. People will be harmed and pushed into poverty. These changes threaten the health and welfare of the most vulnerable people in society.

As Labour members and representatives, we cannot countenance supporting these proposals. We are vehemently opposed to them. We do not accept either the economic rationale, nor the disingenuous narrative that there is a moral imperative to make them.

Smith has said he will meet the Labour Group to discuss the issue soon.

But Nation.Cymru has reported an issue that may complicate efforts to persuade him to help:

Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer, the recently published book by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, reveals how Mr Smith played a crucial role in the preparations for Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership campaign.

Meetings of a small group including Morgan McSweeney, now the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, took place in the London home of Mr Smith’s wife Jenny Chapman, the former MP for Darlington. Ms Chapman – now Baroness Chapman – lived in Arlington Road, Camden Town, and the core Starmer-backing team, including Mr Smith, became known as the Arlington Group.

The book tells how Mr McSweeney manoeuvred Sir Keir Starmer into the leadership by presenting him as a candidate who was more left wing than in fact he is in order to persuade Labour Party members to vote for him as Jeremy Corbyn’s successor.

So it appears Smith has a history of deceiving his fellow party members, in order to achieve his own personal aims.

Even if he agrees to present their case to party leaders, how can these councillors trust him to do what he says he’ll do?

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