Had written to local Nottingham MP to enquire after attitude to workfare.

As you can see, the Labour position on all this is not exactly satisfactory.

When addresing the lack of labour backbone in actually voting against the 'emergency legislation', I especially enjoyed the statement "I do understand why it would have sent a good message to the country if the government were shown to voted down on these issues, but there are reasons why this did not take place".

Labour’s 43 welfare sanctions rebels 19 March 2013

There were a total of 43 MPs rebelling against the Labour whip.

The vast majority of Labour MPs abstained on the Jobseekers Bill this afternoon – as they were whipped to do – despite the fact that the Bill sought to protect sanctions for a system that Labour thinks is worse than useless.

http://labourlist.org/2013/03/labours-40-welfare-sanctions-rebels 

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Labour 'pressed MPs to abstain on welfare vote'

MPs put under 'significant pressure' by party leaders to abstain on crucial vote, says outgoing parliamentary private secretary

Shiv Malik and Hugh Muir 24 March 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/24/labour-mps-abstain-welfare-bill