Starmer confirms 'talks with Labour rebels' over concessions to welfare reforms amid growing benefits backlash

The Prime Minister is facing a major rebellion of more than 120 Labour MPs who oppose his government's welfare reforms.

While Sir Keir has insisted these are "progressive" as the current system is "broken", he has confirmed he is willing to make concessions.

He said in a statement: "On social security, I recognise there is a consensus across the house on the urgent need for reform of our welfare system, because the British people deserve protection and dignity when they are unable to work, and support into work when they can.

"At the moment, they are failed every single day by the broken system created by the Conservatives, which achieves neither.

"I know colleagues across the house are eager to start fixing that, and so am I, and that all colleagues want to get this right, and so do I.

"We want to see reform implemented with Labour values of fairness. That conversation will continue in the coming days, so we can begin making change together on Tuesday."

Read more: Keir Starmer is trapped between Mr Rock and Mr Hard Place on welfare cuts, writes Andrew Marr

Read more: Keir Starmer will face vote of no confidence if MPs reject benefits bill, Lord Blunkett tells LBC

The Prime Minister will push ahead with a vote on the bill on Tuesday despite nearly 130 MPs planning to vote down the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.

Under the government's proposals, ministers will limit eligibility for the personal independence payment (Pip), the main disability payment in England, and limit the sickness-related element of universal credit (UC).

Existing claimants will be given a 13-week phase-out period of financial support, a move seen as a bid to head off opposition by aiming to soften the impact of the changes.

The government has argued the changes will save £5bn a year by 2030.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said talks between backbenchers and the Government were “ongoing” as six more Labour MPs added their names to the rebel amendment that would halt the legislation in its tracks.

The reasoned amendment argues that disabled people have not been properly consulted and further scrutiny of the changes is needed.

The new signatories include the Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee chairman Toby Perkins, Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Gareth Snell, Newcastle upon Tyne MP Mary Glindon and Tamworth MP Sarah Edwards.

North Ayrshire and Arran MP Irene Campbell and Colchester MP Pam Cox, both of whom won their seats in the party’s 2024 landslide election victory, have also added their names.

The new names take the total number of Labour backbenchers supporting the amendment, tabled by Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier, to 126.

The fact so many Labour MPs are prepared to put their names to the “reasoned amendment” calling for a change of course shows how entrenched the opposition remains.

One backbencher preparing to vote against the Bill told the PA news agency: “A lot of people have been saying they’re upset about this for months.

“To leave it until a few days before the vote, it’s not a very good way of running the country.

“It’s not very grown-up.”

They said that minor concessions would not be enough, warning: “I don’t think you can tinker with this. They need to go back to the drawing board.”

On Wednesday, Former work and pensions secretary Lord David Blunkett told LBC a failed vote could see the end of the Prime Minister, just 12 months into his time in Downing Street.

Lord Blunkett told LBC’s Andrew Marr: "If they lost it, they'd have to go for a vote of confidence, I think.“But the embarrassment of that one year in, the difficulty of that leaves you with two problems.

“One is you've been humiliated and the second is you've still got the problem. You know, the welfare issue has not gone away, so solving the problem, not taking the hit, is the sensible solution.”

LBC has approached the Cabinet Office for comment.