Starmer Faces Labour MPs Amid Brewing Disquiet over Benefits Cuts

£5 billion welfare cuts needed to ‘save’ system, Kendall to say

The Government appears intent to press ahead with the plans amid mounting opposition. The Work and Pensions Secretary will stand firm on Labour’s £5 billion plans for welfare cuts on Wednesday, arguing that reform is needed to make sure the system survives. Liz Kendall is expected to say there is a “risk” the welfare state would collapse without the proposed changes, which include tightening the eligibility criteria for the main disability benef…

Deputy PM on housing, benefit cuts and working class roots

It’s been a difficult few weeks for the Labour Party, facing criticism on Gaza, winter fuel and PIP disability benefit payments. As it tries to meet the threat from Reform, it’s been criticised for ‘losing its way’. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was speaking at the UK Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum in Leeds, where she made housing pledges. We asked her whether her promise to build 1.5m new homes is a realistic one.

Starmer tells welfare rebels that benefits crackdown is 'Labour cause'

The Times SIR Keir Starmer told his welfare rebels last night that cracking down on benefits was a “Labour cause”. At a tense meeting of MPs, the PM acknowledged they faced a “tough decision” to back his squeeze but warned he was not backing down. GettyMPs have signed a secret letter expressing their fury at the PM’s cuts to disability benefits[/caption] He is currently battling a revolt of up to 170 Labour MPs, who have signed a secret letter e…

Starmer faces his unhappy backbenchers

Monday’s meeting could have gone very differently for Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister, flanked by the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, was met with rapturous applause as he entered the stuffy committee room where more than 200 Labour MPs awaited him. This rousing welcome is pretty standard for a prime minister (particularly for one only nine months into the job). Privately, however, the party’s backbenches are, as one MP put it to me “almost univ…

Starmer faces Labour MPs amid brewing disquiet over benefits cuts

The Prime Minister is said to have ‘acknowledged that MPs were having to face incredibly tough decisions’ as he met backbenchers.

Keir Starmer defends huge welfare plan as he faces major Labour revolt

The Prime Minister is facing the prospect of up to 170 of his MPs refusing to back plans to make it harder to claim disability benefits